At the end of December a friend called to ask if I wanted
some turkeys. He had a friend that had 2
toms and 4 hens that needed new a new home.
I, thinking I am sooo capable, said "Sure, I'll take them!". I got my handyman busy adding a turkey coop
onto the chicken house so I'd have a place for them to live as well as fencing
off a yard for them. I was all prepared
for when they arrived - until I saw them.
I thought my sisters turkeys were big but these birds were
ENORMOUS. Even the hens were huge. The coop and yard I had built wasn't even
remotely big enough for all 6 of them. I
inspected them and noticed one of the white hens had a bad leg and was spotted
with blood so I put her in the brooder section of the coop. The blood was from
the white tom trying to mount her and had given her some severe lacerations on
her backside and she was just dripping blood everywhere. I kept her there for 5 days and, although the
mating injuries healed over, she never was able to bear weight on that leg. Since her leg was so badly injured I decided
to slaughter her. Now, I had seen my grandmother process chickens many times in
my life and I figured it wasn't much different, just a bigger bird so I texted
my oldest son and asked if he wanted to come watch and he did (thank goodness). I made a butchering surface, had a water hose
and all my knives sharpened and ready, took my big copper pot and some cinder
blocks out to the back yard, grabbed my 22 rifle and set up shop. While I was waiting on my son to bring his
cooler and a blow torch, I built a fire under the pot and got the water hot. I
was excited and nervous and also reluctant.
I was excited because it was a skill that I was perfecting for the
future yet I was reluctant because I didn't want to take a life. Still, I made myself a promise that I would
only have livestock that contributed to my family and if they didn't contribute
anymore, they would be used in other ways.
The hen was suffering and it was the most humane thing I could have
done. By the time he got there the water
was hot and I was set to do it. After we
began plucking her I saw the mating injuries and was even more glad we had done
it. I kept remembering how my
grandmother did it and in about an hour we had her plucked and dressed out. She ended up making 18 lbs of meat for the
freezer and canning. Two weeks later, we
slaughtered the white Tom and he contributed 31 lbs of meat to the freezer.
Since it was well after the holidays and she was 9 mos old
when we butchered her, I decided to debone her and grind up the meat for
burgers, tacos, chili and sausage, etc. I was going waste nothing at all of the
hen.
Here's my process:
Deboned entire hen, separated dark from white meat
Ground dark meat and made Turkey Breakfast Sausage
Ground breast meat and vacuum sealed it
Added skin, giblets and bones to pressure cooker and cooked
for 1 hour
Removed the cooked meat from the bones
Canned the cooked meat and broth
Used the skin and cartilage and various bits for dog food
Dried the cooked bones in the oven, ground them up and added
them to the garden soil
Rendered the fat to use for cooking
Even if you don't raise your own meat, you can make homemade
sausage and use any kind of meat you want: pork, chicken, beef, turkey,
etc. This recipe will work with any kind
of meat. It's super easy and delicious,
give it a try and you'll never buy it from the store again!
1 lb ground turkey
1 clove minced garlic
1 T rubbed sage
1/2 t dried fennel seed, crushed
1 1/2 t coarse salt
1/2 t black pepper
1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes (or more, according to your
preference)
1 egg white
2 t olive oil (I used bacon grease)
Mix all together well, refrigerate for 1 hour. Shape into patties and use immediately or
freeze in single layer then store in baggies.
Enjoy!
