17 Turkeys left

Today I killed another turkey.  I'm through saying harvested or processed and telling it like it is.  I'm no longer enamored with my turkeys.  Yes, they can be funny and interesting to watch but they bite me too much and they still can't find their way back to the barn so I have to throw them over the fence, which isn't easy to do to a 20lb bird without getting scratched all over.  Sometimes I throw them into the fence because I can't quite get them over.  Also, they poop all over my goat barn - on my milking stool, walls of the stalls, latches, food buckets, you name it, they poop there and it's not tiny poops either.

So they have to go.  I put an ad on Craigslist today and put one 13 pounder in my freezer.  Instead of scalding and plucking this one I skinned it and cut it into pieces.  It was so much easier.  I may sound hard-hearted and it might make you feel better to know that I cried a little this time.  A friend was here while I did it and I was fine until she came out to talk to me and then I got choked up.  Once he's dead it's fine.  It's while he's dying that I find so hard.  My friend told me that when her brother did it he'd put them under a tub until they were dead.  I wonder if it was so they didn't get away or if he couldn't bear to watch.   Both times I've done this it sucked the energy out of me the rest of the day.  James said he'd help me do 2 more tomorrow.

I gave Rosie and Lex the feet and they were thrilled with them.  I hope they don't get sick.

Edit:  James says he thinks he could become a vegetarian.  As much as I hate killing animals, I still want meat.
Next year we won't be raising turkeys.