We bought 2 turkeys last year. We had planned on killing them in the fall last year but never got around to it. They are now 1 year old. Will they be tough after we kill them and cook them? I know they should have been killed at 5 or 6 months old for tenderness. Have any of you all ever killed them at this age and they still be tender? Thanks so much for your answers.

-- Denise Priest (Okie_Doky@hotmail.com), May 01, 2000

Answers

Denise, I'm a vegetarain--but when I was still living at home--we had an old turkey gobbler that really got mean. Now, I know he had to have been 2 to 3 yrs. old or more. One day as that gobbler was chaseing me to the bus--Dad shot him!! It was like the last straw for Dad on a bad morning! ha! Anyway, Mother dressed him--And those big brown-in bags were just getting popular at that time--so Mother stuck him in a brown-in bag & baked him. It was good--he was a BIG turkey so we had turkey & noodles for quite a while. I don't know if that brown-in bag helped or not --but Mother never cooked another turkey without one!! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), May 02, 2000.

Denise, hi, I have one turkey hen from last year. The kids wanted to carry her over the winter so they could gather her eggs. I get new white turkeys tomorrow, so I've been eyeing that hen for dinner. Anyway, I was thinking that those big 40 lb Thanksgiving turkeys have got to be more than five or six months old (no matter how good the feed conversion ratio is) so I bet a year old turkey will be fine. My plan is to cook her at a lower temp for a longer time. Eat yours first and let me know how it goes!

-- Rachel (rldk@hotmail.com), May 03, 2000.

Won't be a problem, unless you are playing work-out videos in the turkey pen. And Rachael, we killed off our 9 turkeys at 5 1/2 months last fall. The biggest dressed at 43 lbs, and 2 more were over 40. We gave them commercial feed, and they ranged in a very large fenced area. Our biggest so far has been 44 lbs. Well raised, they do get that big! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), May 03, 2000.

Denise, turkeys aren't usually the most active of critters, so everyone is right, they should be fine. If you're still worried, pen them up and give them lots of grain for a few weeks before you slaughter them. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), May 03, 2000.

Brad, were those Bronze or White? My Bronze all dressed out last fall at around 30 lbs. Maybe I am being too stingy with the feed! I'm getting White tomorrow, because of those darn black pinfeathers. Maybe the Whites will get bigger!

-- Rachel (rldk@hotmail.com), May 03, 2000.

I have found the bronze birds to top out in the low 30's for Toms. The whites, or at least some strains, will go 10# more. I have had white hens at 30# or so. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), May 06, 2000.