Let's talk turkey

I was given five year old supposedly heritage Holland Turkey. They are huge and can not fly up to roost so I think there commercial broad breasted turkeys. They do not have full plumage so I can't tell which are toms and which are hens, any tips? There are supposed to be two. toms which would mean I can get fertalized eggs to hatch out. I've made them a 20x20 temporary pen but don't have enough fencing to put them in a much larger area and they kind of bully my smaller ducks and chickens. Tips advice?

If they are domestic turkeys (white) they are, hands down, the dumbest creatures currently roaming the planet.  You will have to shoo them in when it's raining so that they don't develop hypothermia or drown from staring up, hypnotized, into the falling rain.  If it's hot, you need to make sure they are cool enough or they will literally allow themselves to roast alive.  They are far too stupid to care for themselves.  Think pet rock and you have the idea.  My advice is grow them to a good eating size and be done with them.  

Hollands are a good meat breed.  Toms have a waddle that hang to the side of their face and the hens have a little wattle that sticks up.  If they gobble they are usually toms.  Ours at one year old gobble at every noise they hear.  Ours breed well after they are a year old.   It works best for us to keep them separate from other birds.  Raising the water up higher than chicken waterers also helps keep them healthier.

If they are broad-breasted turkeys they won't be able to breed on their own.  How big are they?  My big heritage tom is maybe 30lbs live weight at a year old.  I've dressed out broad-breasteds at that weight or above by 4-5 months.  A year old broad-breasted tom would likely be 50-70lbs live weight.

Also, at a year old, if you can't distinguish the toms and the hens something is wrong.  With the turkeys I've raised (broad-breasted and heritage) I can usually tell the toms from the hens by a few months.  6 months tops.  Between different plumage and behavior it's usually pretty obvious.  I did have one heritage turkey that I wasn't positive on until slaughter when I found testicles that were about 1/4 the size of a chicken's.  But he was the exception (and I'll point out exceptionally tasty as he put on a glorious fat layer).  

If they really are a year old, and are broad-breasted turkeys, I'd slaughter them as soon as you have time to do so.  A good way to use the massive carcasses like that is to carve off the breast and thigh meat (I leave the skin on, but I do de-bone).  Cure it, then smoke it.  You'll have the most amazing lunch meat ever.  The drumsticks and wings are best braised, but even low and slow on the grill will work.

If they're heritage turkeys then you should be finding eggs by now.  Get an incubator with an automatic egg turner and try hatching them.

Andrew Mayflower wrote:If they are broad-breasted turkeys they won't be able to breed on their own.  How big are they?  My big heritage tom is maybe 30lbs live weight at a year old.  I've dressed out broad-breasteds at that weight or above by 4-5 months.  A year old broad-breasted tom would likely be 50-70lbs live weight.

Also, at a year old, if you can't distinguish the toms and the hens something is wrong.  With the turkeys I've raised (broad-breasted and heritage) I can usually tell the toms from the hens by a few months.  6 months tops.  Between different plumage and behavior it's usually pretty obvious.  I did have one heritage turkey that I wasn't positive on until slaughter when I found testicles that were about 1/4 the size of a chicken's.  But he was the exception (and I'll point out exceptionally tasty as he put on a glorious fat layer).  

If they really are a year old, and are broad-breasted turkeys, I'd slaughter them as soon as you have time to do so.  A good way to use the massive carcasses like that is to carve off the breast and thigh meat (I leave the skin on, but I do de-bone).  Cure it, then smoke it.  You'll have the most amazing lunch meat ever.  The drumsticks and wings are best braised, but even low and slow on the grill will work.

If they're heritage turkeys then you should be finding eggs by now.  Get an incubator with an automatic egg turner and try hatching them.

All five of the birds are definitely over 30 lb I think the two largest ones would be closer to 50. Aside from the feathered out full plumage of the toms and the beards I just don't know what to look for in turkeys as I've never raised them before now that they are done molting and have their feathers again I'm pretty sure I can tell which two are toms but there are three that have beards. I guess I need to learn more about smoking and charcuterie because I'm really kind of getting tired of feeding these boring birds unlike my ducks and chickens they just don't have much entertainment personality and value.

Gail Jardin wrote:

Andrew Mayflower wrote:If they are broad-breasted turkeys they won't be able to breed on their own.  How big are they?  My big heritage tom is maybe 30lbs live weight at a year old.  I've dressed out broad-breasteds at that weight or above by 4-5 months.  A year old broad-breasted tom would likely be 50-70lbs live weight.

Also, at a year old, if you can't distinguish the toms and the hens something is wrong.  With the turkeys I've raised (broad-breasted and heritage) I can usually tell the toms from the hens by a few months.  6 months tops.  Between different plumage and behavior it's usually pretty obvious.  I did have one heritage turkey that I wasn't positive on until slaughter when I found testicles that were about 1/4 the size of a chicken's.  But he was the exception (and I'll point out exceptionally tasty as he put on a glorious fat layer).  

If they really are a year old, and are broad-breasted turkeys, I'd slaughter them as soon as you have time to do so.  A good way to use the massive carcasses like that is to carve off the breast and thigh meat (I leave the skin on, but I do de-bone).  Cure it, then smoke it.  You'll have the most amazing lunch meat ever.  The drumsticks and wings are best braised, but even low and slow on the grill will work.

If they're heritage turkeys then you should be finding eggs by now.  Get an incubator with an automatic egg turner and try hatching them.

All five of the birds are definitely over 30 lb I think the two largest ones would be closer to 50. Aside from the feathered out full plumage of the toms and the beards I just don't know what to look for in turkeys as I've never raised them before now that they are done molting and have their feathers again I'm pretty sure I can tell which two are toms but there are three that have beards. I guess I need to learn more about smoking and charcuterie because I'm really kind of getting tired of feeding these boring birds unlike my ducks and chickens they just don't have much entertainment personality and value.

It sounds like they are most likely broad-breasted whites, not Hollands.  

You can tell the toms a few ways.  One is by the snood, which in a tom is quite large and changes length and color depending on the turkey's mood.  On a hen the snood is quite small and barely changes based on mood.  The toms will have much more pronounced caruncles, the usually red lumps on the front of the throat.  The toms will also do the fan display of the tail feathers with the wing feathers also spread out.   Usually only the toms get beards, but it is possible for hens to grow them too.  The toms should have larger and more pronounced beards at least.

If you want to try making your own smoked lunch meat, what I do is weigh out salt at 2% of the weight of the meat.  I add 0.5-1% meat weight in sugar.  Use nitrites, or don't, it's totally your call.  But I usually shoot for 100ppm sodium nitrite, mostly for the flavor aspects.  USDA says you need 150ppm to prevent botulism, but that's not necessary for this case.  This is a whole muscle product, not ground, and is hot smoked, not cold smoked, so botulism is really not a factor regardless  of nitrites.  Anyway, to that salt and sugar mix I add whatever spices and herbs I feel like.  You can do nothing, or you can go crazy in that regard, just remember that it will only flavor the very outer edge of the meat.  I keep the skin on so the fat from it prevents the meat from drying out too much.  If you don't like eating the skin (I love it fresh from the smoker, but after freezing for long term storage it loses a lot) I'd suggest skipping the spices and herbs as you'll lose all that flavor from the skin side anyway when you take off the skin.  Anyway, for the cure, put the meat in a plastic or otherwise non-reactive container, and sprinkle about 1/3 of the salt mixture on all sides of the meat and put in the fridge.  Next day, drain any accumulated liquid and sprinkle another 1/3 of the mix on the meat.  Day after that repeat the process using the remainder of the salt mix.  Leave it in the fridge for another several days to let the salt equalize throughout the meat.  Then smoke at 200-250 until a temp probe or meat thermometer shows 160F in the middle of the meat.  Slice and enjoy.  Stores in the fridge for at least a week.  Possibly longer, but it rarely takes my family more than that to eat whatever I've got in there.  Freeze the excess (best frozen whole, and the sliced as needed later when thawed).