[blackstaff]

Hi all, my friend used to keep chickens in his garden which he used to get egg's from and all was good. Then he had the idea that he would get rid of the chickens and get 6 Turkey's and rear them for christmas ( As he heard that you can't keep both because of cross disease ? ) . Great news knowing where and how our christmas dinner was coming from.
The trouble is now that it is coming nearer to the time for the disbatch of our feathered friends he was wondering the best way to do this, and whether to keep them hung or kept in a certain way for any reason ? The due date he has given me to disbatch them is the 19th Dec but i was thinking that this may be to close to the 25th ? Anyway's look foward to hearing your views and opinions, thanks

[neil cooney]

Kill your turkey and pluck while warm. Clean as you would any bird.
A little tip that means a lot is, break the bone half way between the foot and elbow but not chop it so all the skin breaks. Pull the bone out of the skin and put at a right angle to the thigh. Put the bone sitting in an S hook so that the bird is hanging by one leg from the bottom of the hook with the broken bone taking the weight of the bird. Twist the bird a few times and holding the bird in one hand and the foot in the other put all your weight on the bird and you should pull every single sinew out of the birds leg. Repeat for the other leg. Sounds awkward but you'd do it in a minute and it makes all the difference to the drumsticks.

[Hannah4181]

LOL! Your turning into a right Gordon Ramsey! :tongue2:

[salclalin]

One way to Dispatch the Turkeys is to put the live Bird head first into a Traffic Cone so that the Head is Sticking out of the Small open end. Then with a good Sharp knife Cut it's Throat. The Cone stops it thrashing about and Breaking it's Wings.

[fresh earth]

if the turkeys are half the size my mates are youl struggle to get half one up a traffic cone

[Local]

I help a farmer out each year do about 60 birds - he does them around the 15th December.

[blackstaff]

Cheers for the replies peep's, as for the traffic cone it would have to be a really big one, the turkey's are huge !!

[paddy]

hang the turkeys upside down with 1 of their legs tied to a ladder say thats running across 2 beams..the turkeys wings will be hanging out from the body when they're upside down..Put your hands inside the wings and give the turkey a bit of a toss...he'll freak out for a minute or so flapping like mad...this will waste all of his energy..go behind him now so that his beak is away from you..catch him by the head and pull down and bend his head back so that his beak is now facing you...Pluck while warm but be carefull when doing the pin feathers as you can damage the skin on the turkey..then finally gut them .....forgot to say that you starve the turkeys the day before you kill them

This post has been edited by paddy: 29 October 2009 - 11:11 AM

[blackstaff]

Nice one paddy, cheers for the info

[leegreen]

I have 24 Norfolk Bronzes and I would like some help plucking them, does anyone know the going rate for plucking Turkeys?
Dispaching them is no problem, plucking them is :yes:

[blackstaff]

Glad we've only got a few to do now local / leegreen ;)

[Coca]

Seen a fella putting a turkey into a black bin and leave his head sticking out,then cut it off.

[scoobydo]

before plucking, put hot water into a large bin,
soak bird for about 20 seconds,
feathers come out easier, and less mess

as for road cone, no need, put cling film around body of bird, so wings are
tight to body, then knock him out, then throat him,
less mess, less struggle, and easier,

burn off excess feather stems with a plumbers burner,

hang for 2 to 3 days

ive got 7 to do on 17th, should make around 10 to 12lb in weight
ive got a local butcher to do entrails etc,

good luck

[blackstaff]

Nice info guy's, thanks very much. We were talking about this last night, going to make for an interesting day me thinks !!

[digit]

As for plucking try one of these www.theplucker.biz looks good haven't tried mine yet