by Jennifer Sartell of Iron Oak Farm
At least once a week a car stops in front of our house to look at our flock of turkeys free ranging in the yard. They roll the windows down so the kids can see in the backseat or they pull out their phone to snap a few photos.
At times, when I happen to be outside, I often bring the turkeys treats. Crusts of bread, veggie scraps, fruit cores even stale oatmeal cookies. I need only open the screen door and holler “Turkeys!” for them to come running across the yard to see what I have for them.
Often this spectacle is witnessed by a passing car which usually prompts the car to pull in the driveway and spark up a conversation about “how we trained the wild turkeys to come when called.” I explain they aren’t in fact wild, but a breed that we raise called Black Spanish. I’ve met many of our longer distant neighbors because of our turkeys, given many impromptu tours of our farm once they realize we have goats and chickens as well. A few older gentlemen have stopped in and after discussing our turkeys, have gone on to inquire about our tractors or farming equipment. I invited one lady in for coffee and scones I had just pulled out of the oven and many have left with a dozen eggs.
It’s an interesting way to meet your community, but it’s ok by me.
The one question I almost always get asked is “Do you eat them?” And to be honest, that question is getting harder and harder to answer.
To answer truthfully, yes, we have eaten them. The first year we raised turkeys we processed 5 and left 4 to be our “breeders.” We kept 4 Jennys and the most strapping Tom among the males which we creatively named Big Tom…I know, brilliant right?
The processing was hard, I’m not going to lie. But we went into raising turkeys with a common understanding that we were raising them for meat. So though we felt that sinking feeling that we do each time we process birds, I reassured myself that they lived a great life, and that they were treated wonderfully till the day they passed on.
After the deed was done we could relax and allow ourselves to become attached to the remaining flock because we knew we weren’t going to process them. We were also comforted by the fact that our turkeys were the most delicious birds I’ve ever tasted. The following year we hoped our turkeys would breed and sustain the flock so we would have more to process and fill our freezer.
To our dismay, the following spring our hens ended up being terrible mothers and abandoned nest after nest. Determined to let the turkeys hatch and raise their own young, I never filled an incubator…and as luck would have it, we didn’t have any turkey poults. So no homegrown turkey dinners. I vowed not to make that mistake again.
In the mean time, we enjoyed another year of bonding with our turkey flock. Zach taught the females to perch on his arm, and we both worked with them to come when called and out of habit, they greet us at the car when we pull in the driveway.
This year I successfully hatched out 4 poults using our incubator. We lost one a week after hatching and the remaining 3 grew and were accepted into the flock without a hiccup. Our hens even took over sitting on the poults to keep them warm on cool spring evenings.
And here lies our problem. The original flock…well lets just say it…they’re pets! They even go for walks with us around the property with the dog. The problem is that the new turkeys…the ones we raised to eat, they’re even friendlier than the old ones. They’ve been raised by a flock that is completely comfortable around humans and they trust and follow us even more.
So what’s a sappy mush-hearted farmer to do?
At this point all I can say is that it’s a good thing that Zach’s work gives its employees a turkey for Thanksgiving each year, because otherwise we might be eating a soy loaf come the 27th of November. I don’t think our turkeys have anything to fear as far as getting the axe this fall. Our “breeding” flock just went from 4 to seven. And as I write this, I can hear a tapping on the screen door, no doubt, the turkeys asking for treats.
14 Comments
That’s a wonderful extended family you have there! I love the story and the insight into their nature. I honestly knew nothing about them before reading this, other than Turkeys are delicious. Thanks for the story.
I always look forward to reading about your turkeys! There’s nothing wrong with mac and cheese for Thanksgiving, either.
Beautiful story, I tried to hatch 2 wild turkeys with a broody chicken, she was very protective of them, but they only lived 6 weeks then passed on. I don’t know why unless it was the chicken feed wasn’t enough nourishment for them. It was very sad, because I really wanted to see them grow and be pets like my chickens.
I am right with you. However, my tom, James, has gotten mean. My Bourbon, Jack and my Blue Slate, John where never that way. I am hoping to incubate new and James will be delicious on Thanksgiving.
They are amazing and sound like so much fun to have as pets that I can’t imagine having any regrets about keeping them for their natural lives!
This is my 5th year raising turkeys. Last year I had 9 but kept two hens, a Narragansett and a Blue Slate. The Broad Breasteds and the Standard Bronze were processed. I hated taking them because they are so engaging. This year, I have 3 BBBs and 2 Bourbon Reds to process. I’m keeping the Bourbon Tom and a Bourbon hen and hoping to begin my own hatching process in the spring. When I had St. Bronze tom and hen she laid clutch after clutch but never successfully hatched a poult. I even had a wild hen fly into the pen and ask the tom for service which he happily accomodated. Bottom line, I don’t have any remorse about taking meat chickens to be processed but it is very difficult to take the turkeys however, I will never have one of those CAFO raised birds on my table so I’ll just be a big girl and proceed on Nov. 24 to the slaughter house.
If you process them humanely, there shouldn’t be any distress on your part or theirs. They have had a good life and then should go on to fulfill their destiny, e.g a meal for your family. But if ,as you said, you “take an ax to them” that would be equally as traumatic for them as well as you. Try this: hold one upside down by its feet. This puts them into a semi trance and they know nothing about what is going on. wrap a big towel around their body to hold the wings still, and cut the jugular vein with a sharp razor or knife. Hold them while the blood drains out into a hole in the ground or whatever you want to dispose it in. They just gently go into a deep sleep from which they don’t return. I think this method would be far less distressing for you and I know it is for the turkey
I live in fear of this! Luckily, for now, I have a freezer full of turkey AND chicken to keep me fed for quite some time.
Enjoy them all as pets unless you have a true need as food. The pleasure you get from them may be much better than the nourishment. There are plenty of turkeys in the food stores!
Sorry for your (soft hearted)
Dilemma… I on the other hand would have a talk with the next(soon to be) dinner
Thanking her for the company …but mostly for the food it is surviving my family with. Also. You might consider selling live turkeys and leave the dirty deed to your patrons…
Good Luck…
We had the exact situation but with goats. We lived in the country in Virginia and raised Nubian milk goats. Each spring when the kids were born there were always a few bucks born. I idea was to castrate the males raise to 6 months then butcher and put in freezer. Needless to say we had the exact same problem you had. We had a herd of pets
I have a similar issue with my guinea. My flock of 2 males and 1 girl last year, resulted in one of my RIR hens hatching 14 of the guinea eggs. I have 17 guineas now and can’t part with a one of them. Not that I’d eat them but I don’t want to separate them now.
I love this story, especially since I am sure I will feel the same way when it comes time to “harvest” our meat chickens. Thanks for telling the truth!
beautiful turkeys!