How long to let Turkey meat rest?

Wednesday have a friend visiting and was hoping to have a turkey butchered before she arrives. This is my first year doing turkeys. How long do I let the meat rest? Is 24 hours enough?

Hi James.  We unfortunately had a turkey go down last week.  It was walking around the yard and just fell flat on it chest.  My wife yelled out from the kitchen and my son grabbed it, hung it in a tree and slit it.  It bled out well so we butchered it.  We found a blood clot in the chest cavity. We put one of the breasts in the crock pot the next morning and had it for supper.  It was tender and tasty.  If you check out the bones when cooking never frozen poultry , they are not black.

We always killed our turkeys 3 days before Thanksgiving so they were no longer in rigor mortis when it was time to cook them. I would suggested 3 days. It's a perfect opportunity to brine them as well.

Thank you! Because of circumstances we bribed it for a day in the fridge and it came out really well. If I can next time I'll rest it for longer

Like Elle said, 3 days is probably ideal.  2 is good though.  Either way, at least a day to come out of rigor, and a day to brine.  An extra day probably helps get a little more enzymatic breakdown of the muscles.  

Slaughtered turkeys on Sunday.  Going to cook one Wednesday.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Andrew Mayflower wrote:Slaughtered turkeys on Sunday.  Going to cook one Wednesday.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Of the 5 turkeys I slaughtered Sunday, 3 went to a friend.  We kept the smallest, and the largest.  I was hoping to be able to just roast it, but the smallest one was still almost 24lbs (not including neck, feet or edible organs).  So I carved off the legs and have them braising as I type.  The breast and wings will be roasted (that should go in soon, DW is toasting bread for stuffing).  The back is being frozen to making stock later when I have enough bones to be worth it.