My Blunier Business by Jared

On May 24 this spring, Dad and I picked up six turkey chicks. My turkeys grew bigger and bigger until yesterday when we took them down to Arthur to be butchered. I would have never imagined!

Early this year (like always) we got a Meyer hatchery catalog, where we order our chickens from. In this magazine are also ducks, pheasants, turkeys, and even peacocks! The peacocks are $410.00! Immediately I had an idea: I wanted turkeys. The hardest part of the job would be getting Dad"s permission. It wasn't easy but to my surprise, after a challenge, I won! Achievement #1. 

The next step was to design and build myself a turkey pen. This was the funnest part, and the main reason I'd like to try pigs and cow and goats and sheep! In the end, I built a room inside the chicken pen with a loft above, and a pen outside with a door between the two. Just for fun, I added siding to the section you can see from the road. It turned out to be a good spot for my turkeys. Achievement #2. 

Then it was time for us to get the poults. For some reason Dad decided to go to Polk, Ohio (where Meyer Hatchery is) to pick them up. Dad and I had one big fun day driving 6 hours and seventeen minutes there and back.  (Casey's for breakfast and a Mexican supper). My turkeys have come. Achievement #3. 

Raising little chicks is always a challenge,and sadly, the first night one died. I found it to be from a pasty bottom, which is a very common killer to little birds. However, the other five were healthy and grew rapidly. As they grew, so did a routine: first, I would unlock the little door so they could go in their outside pen. Next, I would get my red bucket and fill their outside waterer. Finally, I would feed them. So I raised my turkeys to adulthood. I also cut their wings so they couldn't fly out of their pen. Achievement #4.

Then it was time to butcher them. They were big and strong. Ever since we got the turkeys Dad was worried about how I would catch them and where we would butcher them. As it turned out, Central Illinois poultry processing in Arthur Illinois, would butcher a minimum of five turkeys. Thus if any more died...it gave me a lot of pressure. As it turned out catching was hard and tiring but went o.k. we put them in dog carriers. Achievement #5

With the turkeys loaded and ready to go, we pulled out on Friday at 4:15 am.  It takes 1 hour and 29 minutes to get to Arthur, Illinois. And first thing, we dropped off the turkeys. Then we sat in the Yoder family kitchen parking lot for almost a hour until it opened. Then we went shopping until our turkeys were all packaged up! Achievement #6

The weights of them after they were butchered are two 21 pounders, a 24 pounder, and two a little over 30 pounds!!!                    

my little turkeys 

I'm not hurting him! they were always afraid of me though.

their first time outside 

here you can see all three of my flocked friends at once: the turkeys in front, the chickens behind and meat chickens in the chicken tractor in the background

here they're just a little bigger 

here they're all puffed up! But they're still not the biggest they were

                                                  So, raising turkeys was a success. 

Special thanks to the Edelmans and Jordan for helping out while I was gone, and to Dad for letting me try it.
-Jared