Turkeys on the Homestead – Why We are Raising Standard Bronze Turkeys

Around 46 million turkeys are eaten around Thanksgiving, according to the US Poultry and Egg Association. That’s around as many turkeys as the entire population of Spain.

Just a fun fact for you about turkey consumption as we enter the week of Thanksgiving!

So a few months back while my husband was away on business, the kids and I grabbed 4 turkey poults from Cal Ranch. I’ve been dreaming of adding turkey’s to our homestead for years, and finally felt like we were ready to try a new animal around here.

I’ve read a lot the last few years, asked others about them, and felt like I wouldn’t really know how I felt about them unless I tried them. If I’m going to consume turkey meat I must know more about them.

• The first thing I noticed was they were loud. As tiny long legged little poults I could hear them from the house. It isn’t’ a bad noise, but they aren’t quiet.

• Second thing I noticed was they aren’t dumb like I’d heard. Maybe it’s a breed thing, or a perspective, but I haven’t found the turkey to be a dumb animal at all. They are quite curious, and confident on my homestead.

A funny thing about their confident personalities, both my dogs are afraid of them. Two large dogs scared of turkey poults!

• They eat a lot, even though they have the ability to forage around our property, they still consume a lot of food. They do grow so quickly so that makes sense.
• They can fly, but respect our 5 foot fencing so far!

• They get along with my chickens (I’m aware of the age old debate of blackhead disease for turkeys) so far that hasn’t been an issue here.

• The standard bronze turkey is the natural version of the turkey, not the modified large breasted turkeys. They can fly, they can live to old age, and they can produce on their own. Contrary to the broad breasted turkey so readily available in the grocery store, the standard bronze turkey takes a little longer before it’s time to process and does not give as much meat as you typically see from the staple turkeys we see in our markets.
• They feather quickly, making it easy to get them out of the brooder quicker than you would with chicks.

We haven’t processed ours yet, that should be in late winter, but for now I’m just enjoying their odd personalities, and the turkey yard art on my homestead.

The kids love to hang out with them, and surprisingly I think the turkeys like their company too. I’ll hear them calling long after the kids have moved onto something else. As much as noise bothers me, I find their calls to be a cute addition to all we have going on here.

So far the turkeys have been an easy addition to our homesteading efforts to be more sustainable with our meat consumption.

Do you raise turkeys?

Does your family eat a turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner?

Happy Thanksgiving week may you and yours be blessed this week.

Danielle