Meet our Heritage Turkeys

The turkeys are a big part of the farm. It seems like they are everywhere right now!

We raise heritage Bourbon Red turkeys. The flock is mostly for utility purposes... Meat and babies and eggs is what the turkeys are mostly around for.
I do keep an eye towards the exhibition circles and my flock does very well when they do get taken to show.

We began breeding Bourbon Red turkeys back in 2010. I liked their size, their color, and the type was readily available from a local breeder. At the time, it made sense to add turkeys to the chicken project.

These days the chickens are few and far between, and the turkeys have sort of taken over the place.

These guys are the 2016 meat pen. One of my Red toms, and two of another breed which were bought in when they were babies.

The big one is an extra tom who was bred and born here at the farm. One of the toms has to go this year, because three full grown toms really aren't necessary around here. This guy is the youngest, and he'll make good eating.

These turkeys are fed grain and crumble ration, some of the goat's hay, and copious amounts of goat milk mixed into their feed. The milk is really making a difference in putting weight on the Palms, it seems. They also get sunflowers from the garden and discarded fruit and vegetables.

The white turkeys with the black markings are young Royal Palms. They are truly beautiful turkeys, but tend to grow out smaller than the reds and have a flightier personality type. They were bought just to raise and eat, not for keeping.

Here are the breeding toms. Gobble (in the first picture) is getting kind of old and his fertility has dropped, but I keep him around because we love him.

The ladies and a youngster from this year's breeding. I think the youngster is a hen, but I can't tell for sure yet. Even if it's a tom, he'll be too small for eating at Thanksgiving so he's still running loose around the place.

The turkeys are going to be part of the farm for a long time. I enjoy their personalities and enjoy eating them, too. I could be doing worse things with my life than raising Heritage turkeys!