Al Lumnah

How We Butcher Our Pasture Raised Turkeys

Did you raise your own turkey this year? If you did what breed did you raise and why? How big was your biggest bird? Do you like that size or was it to big?
We raised 4 broad breasted turkeys. They all made it to harvesting time. Our biggest one was 34 pounds. I think that is too big, and the smallest was 21 pounds I like that size. The other two were 24 and 31 pounds. I was thinking maybe trying to raise the midget white breed next year. I like the BB's cause they have so much white meat.

We have a you tube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_1nZUpPS6jFv5Pn3f85CaA . We share what we are doing and are using it as a video journal so we can look back and see what we have done, what has worked and what has not. We are using animals the most we can to heal the land.

If you get chicks you now what you are getting, but you have to wait 5months before they start laying. If you get established birds they will probably be laying but you dont now how old they are and how long they will be laying for. And you dont now if they have any motes or other problems. If you can find 5 month old pullets that would be your best  option I think. We did that once and it worked great. they were laying in a couple of weeks!

Hey Miles, Yes the hay bales will be inside the greenhouse, no I am not to concerned about them getting too hot it will be in the winter time.

We are building a greenhouse/ winter chicken coop. I have made one before and used it at our old house. It worked great. So we are making another one but I want to make a few new changes to it and would loved to get your opinions. I am going to line the inside with straw to help hold the heat in but I am also think about putting a black plastic 55 gallon drum filled with water in it. To help disperse the heat at night. I was wondering what you might think of that. Here is the first video. I am going to keep making updates on the coop. This is going to be an ongoing project threw out this winter. We live in Northern NH where we can see -0 f weather. I want to keep the girls warm with out electricity and with out spending a fortune. I would love to hear your ideas.




We have finished the green house build. The other videos for that are on our channel. We will be moving the chickens in soon. And then we will begin with the heat issues once it cools.

Thanks for the podcast. just what I needed to hear when I needed it!

We are keeping the brooder right next to our wood stove to keep them warm. Up in Northern NH we still have the wood stove on to heat the house a bit. How do you start your chicks? Do you use a heat light? How can I raise my chicks if my wood stove isnt needed?