Turkeys are... neat!

We have 5 Broad Breasted White turkeys intended for the dinner table.  We got them with our first batch of chicks at the end of June.  We will be processing them the weekend before Thanksgiving.

You always hear that turkeys are dumb animals.  Well, I cannot rate their intelligence level, but I can tell you a few things we have learnd about turkeys over the last few months.

Turkeys are neat! 

They are curious, social, friendly, funny, and loveable! 

The kids and I are both struggling with the idea of eating these turkeys because we have become somewhat attached.

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I didn't think I would like having turkeys.  We raised a few when I was a kid,
but I don't remember much about them.  However, I have totally decided that
turkeys are a wonderful addition to our little family farm and so we are going
to get a few heritage turkeys to hand raise next year to keep as breeders and
pets.

In the mean time we do still have Surprise, or "Cheep" as we call her.  She is not very friendly because we did not hand raise her, but she is the first of our future little flock of turkeys.

I may still get some Broad Breasted Whites, but we will be less hands-on with them when they are younger so that we do not get so attached.  I have explained to the kids that we cannot keep these turkeys.  Broad Breasted Whites will eventually get sick from growing too large, like Cornish Cross chickens do.

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