Explain turkeys to me please

[Patchouli]

Why is it mostly in November that an abundance of turkeys are available? Yes, of course, Thanksgiving.
Are they too expensive to raise otherwise? I know we get turkey deli meat, turkey legs and "roasts" can be found in stores, but where are the turkeys?
They can raise chickens year round. I'd really like to have turkey more often, but I'm not eating deli meat.

 

[Terri9630]

Turkeys don't lay as well as chickens and hatcheries only sell them part of the year. They are large birds that require time to cook. People are lazy. They are abundant in Nov because of thanksgiving and people want to have a large family dinner. Other than that its fast meals.

 

[Amish Heart]

We have a pair of slates and a pair of Royal Palm. They are not "meat" turkeys (those that grow crazy fast that you HAVE to butcher). I considered sparing them, and we did get a number of chicks from them that sold, but they stopped laying a few weeks ago and probably won't lay again till spring. So they are not earning their keep and they will feed us. I'll put my order in for new chicks from the hatchery. We do have two more young ones (Royal Palms) offspring that we'll keep. Too small to butcher. People pay a good price for organically raised fresh butchered turkeys. I'll sell one. Two stay here, and the last goes to my sons girlfriend's family for their meal.

 

[Terri9630]

We've got a lady that will pay $3.50lb for our turkeys.

 

[Patchouli]

Is it the same thing with turkeys, as chickens and other poultry? You want to eat them before they get too old? What is the better age for slaughter?
They don't lay so well, eh?
What about turkey hunting? Wrong forum? How would you know what is a good turkey to bag in the wild?

 

[Terri9630]

The skin is tougher on older birds. The meat can be too. You just have to use a pressure cooker or cook them longer. Like Coq Au Vin.

 

[Amish Heart]

Some people just wipe out their flocks before winter and start again. I keep them around. We have two old hens (Cochins) on their 5th year. They're entertaining and don't eat much. I wouldn't roast an old hen, maybe pressure can. Our roosters are butchered right around the time they start to crow. We keep our best rooster in each run, and the rest are just meat and bone broth. The hens that hatch, we keep. Mean roosters in a run get booted a few times, and if they're still mean, they get eaten. The younger the fowl, the better. But they need to be big enough to eat. The gardener at our school likes it if we have an extra gallo for him to take home after working all day.

 

[Terri9630]

We keep our laying hens and, for now, order meat birds when we get low.

 

[Patchouli]

Wow, those Royal Palm and Slate Turkeys are beautiful colors!
https://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/royalpalm

https://www.cacklehatchery.com/blue-slate-turkey.html

 

[Amish Heart]

They are. We did get them from cacklehatchery.com, too. I think next season I'll order those again and some Heritage breeds. In the past we've raised the double breasted white meat turkeys and also the bronze and bourbon.

 

[Patchouli]

Very impressive. You all win gold medals

 

[Amish Heart]

You need to get a turkey, Patchouli.

 

[VThillman]

Hey, all this turkey talk and no finger pointing. You are civilized folk.

Answering the 'shoot a wild one' question - the meat is tough, though edible. It also falls under the eating wild meat dictum, which is Cooked Well Done.

 

[Patchouli]

Nice to hear from you, @VThillman . We thought we were all alone here, 5 or 6 of us.
Really? Even if you get a younger one? I don't know the hunting laws for turkey around here but I have seen them often enough.

 

[Terri9630]

Nice to hear from you, @VThillman . We thought we were all alone here, 5 or 6 of us.
Really? Even if you get a younger one? I don't know the hunting laws for turkey around here but I have seen them often enough.

Wild ones are constantly on the move hunting for food, running from predators and such. They can also pick up nasties from wild birds.

 

[Patchouli]

OKAY, but a while ago one of you slayers posted that you ate some road kill partridge. Maybe it was @angie_nrs . Do they carry nasties?
What are the other wild birds that are safer to hunt for? Or to raise as food?
Doves? Partridge/quail? Do you eat those ever? I've had pheasant. Bleh.

 

[Terri9630]

Domestic birds can be vaccinated and dewormed. Wild ones aren't. All wild game should be thoroughly cooked.

 

[VThillman]

Terri answered the question. The 'nasties' concern applies to all wild meat - because its out there in the wild, and there are nasties out there.

 

[Terri9630]

Domestic birds can be vaccinated and dewormed. Wild ones aren't. All wild game should be thoroughly cooked.

I've never eaten wild game. We've always raised our food.

 

[VThillman]

On the subject of eating wild birds, Patch, you may be familiar with the phrase 'fatted goose'. I've never had the pleasure, but a couple folks who have, told me of their "shock and dismay" when treated to a dinner featuring Canada goose. Very not fatted.

 

[Patchouli]

When i asked why we never had duck or goose my mom said ew. no. greasy. gamey.

 

[angie_nrs]

OKAY, but a while ago one of you slayers posted that you ate some road kill partridge. Maybe it was @angie_nrs . Do they carry nasties?
What are the other wild birds that are safer to hunt for? Or to raise as food?
Doves? Partridge/quail? Do you eat those ever? I've had pheasant. Bleh.

Well, I'm still alive but if I stop posting anytime soon......you'll know why.

The reason I was surprised that the partridge tasted good was b/c when I used to pheasant hunt with my dad when I was young, I never really liked to eat them.......probably b/c they were full of buckshot. Wild bird is hard to cook b/c there's not much fat so they tend to be tough and dry. The same applies to the wild turkey I've had. You won't get a nice butterball type turkey with any wild turkey. I would have no idea how to cook one of those since they won't fit in my crock pot. Geesh, I hope DH doesn't hit one of those on the road, which is a very good possibility around here. They're stupid as all get out and wander in the roads all the time! Plus, they're a real pain to clean.

I'm not afraid of wild game. I've eaten it all my life. I'm not an expert at cooking it, but I've found out that you can put pretty much anything in a crock pot with a can of soup and come home to a pretty decent meal.

 

[Amish Heart]

Wild turkey at my cousin's farm....They only harvested the breast meat, left the rest for the coyotes. Then smoked the meat. The wild turkeys they did had skinny, muscular legs with not good meat on them. The only meaty parts were the breasts.
We raise our own duck.
But what about those Duck Dynasty people who hunt and eat wild duck all the time?
Our son is saying we can do Turducken this year. We raise all three critters.

 

[angie_nrs]

I'll bet the Robertsons are skilled at making duck taste awesome. I'd like to hang out with them for a while and learn their tricks. I've never tried to cook duck, but I'd imagine it's a lot like other fowl. When I was a kid and went to eat dinner at the local sportsman club every month, most of the game birds were served in sauces or broths. They served all kinds of wild game such as goose, rabbit, squirrel, bear, etc. It was a great way to try a bit of everything.

I know folks who eat wild meat all the time and I have never heard of anyone getting sick from it. I think the instances of illness from eating wild game are pretty remote. It is recommended that all meat be properly cooked to prevent illness in any meat (wild or not). We get our beef from a local farmer and I eat that rare. I'm still here to tell the tale........

 

[VThillman]

Near as I can figure out, domestic ducks and geese are apt to put on fat. I'm informed that if cooked in an oven the roaster should have a rack with significant clearance under it for the carcass to set on.

"Gamey" is a quality subject to human modification, that's my experience. When my upstream neighbor got a deer he would let it hang in the hide for a week or so - because he liked the meat gamey. Some folks, especially in 'times gone by', hung partridge (grouse) and pheasant for several days before skinning them - for the flavor.

 

[Terri9630]

Brining helps with adding moisture.

 

[angie_nrs]

Brining helps with adding moisture.

Really? I thought brining drew out the moisture.

 

[Terri9630]

Really? I thought brining drew out the moisture.

No. Salt alone will draw out the moisture.

https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&fr=crmas&p=how+do+brines+work

Salt does tend to remove juices from the meat, but that is primarily when the salt is applied in dry form of the outside of a piece of meat. If there is enough and it is left on the meat long enough, the salt will actually remove all of the moisture (this requires some time and a lot of salt, enough to the point where the meat is literally buried in it). When salt is dissolved in water, it doesn't have the same effect, as the water provides enough moisture so that the meat doesn't dry out. Instead, the process of osmosis allows the meat to absorb the salted water, thereby gaining both moisture and flavor. Brining unfortunately doesn't tend to have any effect on the tenderness of meat unless some sort of tenderizing ingredient is added. The basic components of brine are water and salt and these separately or combined don't really tenderize meat. Vinegar would work, as well as some dissolved meat tenderizer, although in my experience I have never seen either of these ingredients listed in a recipe for brine.