Farm Fresh: Thanksgiving Birds

I loved raising these turkeys.  They were curious and would always come and see what I was doing in the yard. They made cute yipping and gobbling noises. They ran to me when I fed them. People say that they are ugly, but I thought they were handsome in a dinosaur type way. The turkeys were allowed to grow about 3 weeks longer than was necessary because I wanted them to be freshly dressed for Thanksgiving.

Butchering day was sad, but we all knew that these commercial breeds (double breasted white and broad breasted bronze) would no longer be able to walk in a few weeks. I was glad to have some friends who wanted to come help with the work.
**Warning: Graphic pictures ahead*** Stop here if you don't want to see turkeys being butchered**
This is exactly why I wanted help with butchering these turkeys.  Look at this strong guy struggling to carry my hefty bird!

 Then we string it up (also a two man job).

 Put the burlap sack over it to secure its wings.  J got hurt by one of the birds flapping around.

  I was glad that J was willing to do the killings.  I can do it, but I hate doing it, especially on my birds.  They have trusted me so long. I can do the rest of the processing without any trouble though. 1. Dip the bird in 155 degree water.

 2. Hang it back up and start plucking.

 While we plucked J got the next bird ready.

  3. Finish plucking and begin gutting the carcass.  I start at the back end and get it all ready to pullout and then come around the front and cut out the crop.  Then I pull all the rest of the innards out from the back.

 Putting my hand in the chest cavity to pull out the innards.

S, C, and K, who were helping that day attend the homeschool co-op with us.  We did several turkey anatomy lessons along the way. They dissected the heart and a foot. 

Then we packed the birds in coolers of ice so that they cool down for 24 hours. My friends took some home, we brought one to the family that gave me a deer, and we kept two.  Processing the 4 turkeys took about 2-2.5 hours plus time for set-up and clean-up.