The Bourbon Red turkey is a heritage breed most notable for its mahogany red-brown plumage.  It is one of the heavier of the heritage breeds and so makes an excellent table bird.  Toms will reach a decent processing weight by about 6 months of age, hens around 8 to 9 months, and they will yield a fantastic quality meat.  Of course they also make beautiful live lawn ornaments and can be amusing pets as well.  Bourbon Red hens are excellent layers, and turkey eggs make a tasty omelet and are superior for baking.

 

Standard mature weights for the Bourbon Red are 23-33 pounds for toms and 14-18 pounds for hens.  At 3 years old last summer our tom weighed in at 29 pounds, and our hens weighed between 12 to 14 pounds at 1 year of age.

 

 

**Due to the fact that turkey poults are considerably more fragile than chicken chicks, we hold our poults for 1-1/2 to 2 weeks after hatch to ensure that they are strong before they leave.  For this reason, we also do not offer shipping of turkey poults.  We thank you for your patience and understanding with this.**

 

 

(Yes, the pictures on this page are of our tom, Darryl - they are not from a magazine.  He really is that handsome!)