Guys, do you want to know a sure-fire way to piss your wife off? Call your local hatchery and order 100 turkey chicks!

The pandemic was in full affect (yeah remember that thing?) Everybody trying to grow and raise their own food. The most back yard chicken coops and gardens since 1969. People panic buying baby chickens and toilet paper, yeah good times. Oh; and if that’s not enough avian bird flu is running rampant in the province! As always, I called the local hatchery in the spring to order some chickens (meat birds and laying hens). “Sorry sir, due to the flu and higher volumes of orders than usual the best we can do is put you on a wait list for August and you can hope for cancellations”. Well, that wasn’t going to work so. “I’ll take 100 turkey chicks please”. The chicks were born the following Monday and due to arrive on Tuesday at one day old.

Problem number 1: breaking the news there was going to be 100 new members added to the farm. I started to think this may cause some crankiness since the week before I got yelled at for ordering 12 wiener pigs. The obvious solution was don’t say anything and put it off for a few days.

Problem number 2: It was March in Alberta Canada and still too cold for turkey chicks in the coop. The solution, build a temporary pen in the heated garage to house the chicks until the weather warmed up. The crankiness would be off the charts with this decision so I decided to build the enclosure in the barn and move it to the garage at the last possible minute.

Problem number 3. The ground was still frozen so pounding posts and putting up new fencing was out of the question. The solution, move all of them in with our older laying hens when the time comes. This definitely seemed like another source of crankiness so the communication got pushed to a later date.

In the blink of an eye the day was here. I ran to the barn, carried the temporary chick enclosure to the garage, set it up on a tarp, loaded a feeder with food, filled the water jugs, got in the truck, drove to the feed store to pick up the chicks, drove back to the farm, loaded the chicks into the enclosure, cranked the heat, set up two heat lamps, easy right? Now to break the news to the missus! “Hey when you get back close the garage quick so all the heat doesn’t get out there’s a few turkey chicks inside because I couldn’t get any chickens.” Phone blew up with texts and calls, luckily, I was busy tending to the chicks at the time. When everyone got home it took a little convincing to see the end goal but nobody can stay mad for long once seeing 100 turkey chicks running around.

Everything was running smooth at first but then the chicks started to fight. Did you know turkey chicks peck each other and once there’s blood they won’t stop? In my mind this is natural selection and natures way of thinning the herd. That way of thinking was not reciprocated and here’s where it got interesting! Every time a chick was injured, they got a bath to clean them up and separated into there own enclosure with new food and water until there was 15 different living spaces. This increased the workload exponentially causing excess levels of crankiness for one party, now we were running a turkey chick veterinary clinic.

The weather finally warmed up and it was moving day, load the turkeys, transport them to their new home in the coop with the chickens. uh oh the chickens don’t like the 100 new room mates and start pecking at them. See where this is going? Now every time there’s an injury the turkey has to get trucked back up to the veterinary clinic (garage) for a full-scale round of treatments. Luckily the turkeys grew very fast and soon were bigger than the chickens so the fighting calmed down.

It was a beautiful day when we finally closed down the veterinary clinic, but wait - do you know how much dust, debris, and overall mess 100 turkey chicks makes in a garage? Everything out to get cleaned, tools, camping gear, vehicles, absolutely every last piece of anything being stored in the garage had to be washed and cleaned because of the thick layer of dust, wood chips, feathers, fluff and the list goes on!

The next few months went reasonably well, keep them watered, fed, and clean so they could pack on weight. The day had arrived, it was time to begin butchering 50 Orlopp bronze and 50 white turkeys. Now let’s stop for a minute and reflect on the sequence of events up until this point. Guys listen to me and listen to me close, if it sounds like the past few months was hard on the nerves just wait until you start the butchering process with your significant other and two young kids running around! How hard could it be to butcher 20 per day right? hahahaha the first day we did 6 then 4 then 7 and so on maxing out at 8 in one day.

After getting the last one in the freezer we were done and have been enjoying the farm fresh meat to this day. I often get asked by family and friends if I would do it again. I laugh and respond with, “the day I want to get a divorce I will come home with 100 Turkey chicks.”

Smoked Turkey Necks Recipe

Prep time 20 min

Dry brine time 4-24 hrs

Cook time 5-6 hrs

Smoking turkey necks low and slow produces a rich, succulent, dark meat turkey flavour. A very affordable cut of meat that usually gets thrown out or roasted and turned into gravy base. There is a surprising amount of meat on each neck but make extras because the fall off bone meat works great in a variety of recipes for days after the cook. Give them a try on your pit!

As always start with high quality meat from your local butcher or buy direct from a local farmer if possible.

Ingredients

Turkey Necks

• 10-12 free range turkey necks

• Rub - recommend BBQ beautiful Base Layer

• Butter

• Aluminum foil

Spritz

• Grape juice 1 cup

• Turkey stock (chicken will work) 1/2 cup

• Favourite vinegar 1/4 cup

• Water 2 tbsp

• Hot sauce 1 tbsp

Directions

Step 1. Remove the Skin, wash the turkey necks under cold water, remove and discard the excess fat, pat dry with paper towel

Step 2. Using your favorite rub (recommended BBQ Beautiful base layer) generously coat the turkey necks on all sides and ends

Step 3. Place in the fridge uncovered 4-24 hours to dry brine

Step 4. Set up your smoker for a low and slow cook 225-250, fill the water pan. If your smoker doesn’t have a water pan use an aluminum foil pan

Step 5. Place the turkey necks in the smoker large end facing the fire box

Step 6. Cook for 1.5 hours without opening the lid

Step 7. Open the lid and spritz the turkey necks then flip the meat over and cook for an additional 1.5 hours, spritz the meat every 1/2 an hour

Step 8. Remove the turkey necks from the pit, wrap in a double layer of aluminum foil with 2 table spoons of butter and spritz all over the foil and meat

Step 9. Return the meat to the pit and cook until the meat reaches 195 or probe tender, approx. 1 -1.5 hours check often

Step 10. Remove the meat and open the aluminum foil (carefully it’s hot!) let meat rest minimum of 20 minutes, serve whole or pull the meat off the bone, eat and enjoy!

Drink Pairing

The Cigar

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