Saturday, September 10, 2011

Turkeys

I wanted some Narragansett turkeys to raise.  I looked for months on Craigs List for turkeys or eggs to hatch but couldn't find any.  I turned to the internet and finally ordered 2 dozen eggs form a hatchery as they were sold out of poults for the year.  

I incubate chicken eggs all the time with a pretty good hatch success but I was so disappointed with the turkey eggs.  Out of the two dozen I ordered only 6 hatched and one is white with some black markings so it is obviously not a Narragansett.   I did email the company and they informed me they were sorry I was disappointed and they had no idea what the white turkey is.  Will not be ordering from them again.

I wanted more than 6 turkeys so I looked on ebay and low and behold they had turkey eggs.  I bid on and won a dozen.  The post office called me to come and pick up my package....it was "leaking".  When I opened the package 4 eggs were broken.  I guess some postal workers along the way used the packaged marked "Fragile Hatching Eggs" for football practice.   Needless to say none of the remaining eggs hatched.

So far with the cost of the eggs, the shipping, food, 6 foot poultry netting, post, staples and a small house our Thanksgiving turkey will equal out to about $100.00 a pound.  We will think we are as special as the elite in Washington who dine on $100.00 a pound steaks!

We did get another 50 foot of netting up this morning before it got too hot to work.  Hopefully a few more days will see the turkeys in their new home.  I had no idea they grow as fast as they do.  Keep your fingers crossed that I have at least one hen and tom  so we can produce more next year.

17 comments:

  1. Even though I was raised in the country, nobody in my neck of the woods kept turkeys except for a small commercial outfit just outside of my stompin' grounds. I remember when my grandparents had chickens, though. Good luck.

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  2. Hi GS..thanks for being the first to follow my blog. Actually it's not new but I deleted all of my old stuff and I guess it deleted the few followers I had. Maybe they will find me again. I'll have more on the turkeys later.

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  3. That's a rough start for your turkey venture, MB. I hope it's better from here on out.

    I noticed when I found you again this evening, it only showed you had one follower... and it wasn't ME! I know I used to be a follower before and wondered how I had fallen off the list. But you're still on MY list because I found you on my blog roll this evening. So I'm sure you're old followers will find you too and be just as happy as I am that you're back! So I better click the Follow button and grab the number 2 follower position while I still can.

    : )

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  4. HB...Good to hear from you. I don't know what happened to the followers on the list as I still have my Blog List and all.

    Although I haven't been blogging I have still been reading. Love the critter you made for your grand baby!

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  5. Howdy Mamma Bear - I'm new to your lovely blog and felt compelled to comment on this post. When I was a kid in the early '70's we had a few bee hives and ordered some bees from Good old Sears. We received a very urgent phone call from our local post office that we need to come pick up this package that was making a funny noise. When we got to the PO we ask these 3 big burly guys standing around (this was the freight area) about our package. They were so happy to see us and pointed to our 'Package'. They wanted nothing to do with it and all 3 were...how can I put this...FREAKED OUT! about the bees(the bees came in a wire and wooden boxed about a foot sq. and no way of getting out plus only a few were alive out of 100's). So being the snotty, tom boy, 13 yr old that I was, I picked up my bees and walked over to them and thank them for keeping my bees in the sun and killing almost every one of them. I Put them on the ground in front of them and left. Mom and I still remember those 3 yelling after us that we HAD to take those bees away from there. I think they were yelling other things too but we were already in the car and on our way. I still feel bad ...for the bees that is.

    I don't know a homesteader that dosen't have a good animal (or insect)story to tell. I know I have a few.

    Thank you for your blog and I'm keeping my eye out for a good buy on burger.
    Herdog

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  6. Hello Herdog

    Thanks for stopping by. I love your bee story! I can just imagine the 3 big burly guys afraid of a wired up package that was buzzing...LOL Do you still keep bees? That is another venture I would like to try later on.

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  7. Nope. My bee, sheep, cattle, pig, & chicken days are gone. Now all I have is The hubby, g-kids, "the girls" (2 big dogs) and a fishin' boat. I'm thinking about getting a few hens but will have to talk to "the girls" about not bothering them. That may be tricky! I'm nuts about canning, dehydrating, smoking and other way of 'puttin food by'. I guess thats how I found your blog. You sure have my mouth watering with your canned meals your posting. The Meatloaf and burgers are on my list (plus bacon bits from another blog) to can next. Keep posting caz i got you on my fav list.

    Herdog

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  8. the white turkey with black markings is more than likely a royal palm... we had some of these and they are a nice looking breed but on the small side.

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  9. Kacie...From pictures I have seen I agree with you. It is a Palm. He is going to be Palm in a jar very soon and so is his two off springs! I am just about certain Turkey Pot Pie is in our future!

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