At John Howe Turkeys we love to share how we care for our turkeys throughout the year. Our turkey timeline shows you what we are doing during each stage of a turkeys growth development.
Our turkey poults are firstly reared in heated barns under heat lamps, and in small pens to ensure they can easily access warmth, food and fresh water. At John Howe Turkey, it really is a family affair and our younger farmers enjoy caring for our poults as much as we do.
This is also our first foray as Geese Farmers. They have settled in well and are proving to be a popular addition with the family’s younger members.
At two weeks old, our poults are ready for more space and so are allowed to roam our heated barns freely. The poults are now much more active (and very quick!) with longer legs to run around in the barns. They are fed a natural diet full of protein and vitamins without growth inhibitors.
At 8 weeks our poults are now ready to explore the outside. Turkeys love to explore! They enjoy all weathers, bathing in dust baths and roosting on straw bales.
Our turkeys are now very adventurous, roaming further around our grassy paddocks and meadows. Our turkeys are free to roam the farm throughout daylight with access to food and clean water and return to the warmth of our barns every evening, safe away from the elements. The turkeys are now reaching full maturity, and as you can see, their distinctive features are now more recognisable and allow us to establish between a stag and hen turkey. As we are a family farm, our little farmers love to help let our turkeys out and enjoy the turkeys following us when walking our dogs.
We are now getting to the busiest time of our season and well on track to ensure all our customers receive the best traditional, slow-grown free-range turkey possible. We follow rigorous cleaning schedules and ensure we are well equipped to start this busy season. We also start advertising for our Christmas and thanksgiving orders, and for those who live locally and pass our farm, you will soon see our Wicker Turkeys on display in our field!
The turkeys are now fully ready and are either delivered or collected from our farm to arrive in time for a perfect Christmas dinner!