NH Homesteader- turkeys!

NH homesteader

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Well half the battle is won. It's hard, a lot of people are used to the white meat and large frame of the broad breasteds and cornish x. And I appreciate that those birds have a good life when raised on grass, like we always have raised ours.

We raised cornish x for several years and I grew more and more unhappy with what we (collectively) have done to chickens, I would watch them and my heritage birds and get sad. This isn't sustainable, and BB turkeys can't even breed. This is not normal. So we've gone "off the deep end" here. I have no plans of selling heritage chickens as a market. There frankly is no market for that here at the moment. But turkeys... We will see. If nothing else we hope to make enough to pay for our own meat. That's plenty for us.
 

Bruce

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Given I am a "dark meat" person, the entire concept of massive breasts on chickens that don't have the leg and bone structure to hold them up is a big waste. Breed for SMALL breasts and nice big thighs :)
 

NH homesteader

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Haha I had to force myself to get over my white meat obsession because I believe in raising these types of birds. We raised some of everything this year but begrudgingly (bad hatch rates in the spring due to breeding stock we should have replaced).halfway through the summer I said that's it, this is the last tine! Haha
 

NH homesteader

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Nah. I won't raise them again. My DH said he doesn't care what kind of chicken we eat as long as we have some in the freezer. We mostly eat soups and things anyway, we aren't very likely to just cook up a chicken. So since we'll be breeding egg layers we'll have more than enough excess cockerels and cull hens to survive! I'm not that much of a chicken eater anyway.
 

CntryBoy777

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The real good thing about chicken is it can be cooked into many cheap, easy, and healthy meals. My favorite is Chicken and Dumplins, tho not as healthy as chicken pot pie. :)
 

CntryBoy777

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When I was a senior in HS I ran track and cross country (a 3 mile race on grass, dirt, concrete, and up and down hills). I was 6'2" and I literally ate everything that I could find to eat, just to maintain 155lbs. If I took a date to Pizza Hut I always ordered myself a Large, and a Medium of what the date liked. They would eat the regular 2 pcs and I would finish it off. I only stopped eating because my jaw got tired of Chewing.....:lol::lol: I went to a seafood place one time, they had an "All U Can Eat" nite on Boiled shrimp, we got seated at 6pm and we closed it down at 11pm...:gig:gigwith age I had to Stop doing that, but I still love to eat, so there is always a Binge "Lurking". :)
 
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