Anybody here ever feed turkey heart, and if so, how big are they? And how many meals would a turkey neck provide? Just found a selling point reasonably close on the net, but they quote prices for the neck per item and not per weight, so I wondered...

I don't know much about raw, but I can tell you a turkey heart would be about the size of a springer's nose. The neck is about 9" long coiled and about 1" in diameter. One might do for a meal. The neck is full of small bones, but not much meat. We boil them for stock. Hearts are nice and chewy. mmmmm! For a springy, it would be a nice morsel.

So small? But they sound nice and are about half the price of chicken hearts. I'll try them and the necks, too - I wanted something bonier than chicken necks for Rhian to chew.

Thanks for the info,
Susanna

Poultry feast at last!

Yesterday I was able to collect 5kg each ( ) of fresh chicken carcasses, turkey hearts and turkey necks - thanks to my auntie who donated freezer space. I have spent most of my free time making up portions to freeze, closely watched by a slobbering Welshie on the doorstep!

Carcasses were just perfect in size (about 200g), quite meaty and nice fatty skin. The hearts are in fact larger than a Springer nose, mainly around 65g, but some a generous 80g. The first turkey neck I fished out of the bag was just about a Springer meal, but most of them were much larger, half a kilo or more!

Here's what samples of the feast looked like:


... and here's Rhian disposing of her first carcasse:


Today she had one of the few portion-sized turkey necks for dinner, but I've had to cut most of them in half. It finished my poultry scissors, but chopping them didn't work at all: I have no decent chopping block, my aim is rather poor and the soft flesh dampened all my efforts..... I'll have to think of something else for the next batch, but the present one will last for a bit, me thinks!

Looks delicious
Rhian certainly looks like she's enjoying her dinner
XX

I can't source turkey necks and its one of the things I really want to get hold of for all of my three, especially Ollie as he is a real gannet and doesn't like to chew, that's what my chicken carcasses are like, nice and meaty.
I must ask my butcher if he can source some turkey necks

Where did you get these from please. My dogs would love some. I find it hard to get chicken carcasses etc around here.

Hi Southeastdog

Didn't know you was a member on ere

Swiss Springer is from foreign climbs - may be hard for you to use the same source

Those are some BIG turkey hearts!!!

Here in the states (midwest redneck country-- no offense meant!!) they cook and then pickle the hearts and gizzards of turkeys and then sell them in bars (pubs) for snacks along with pickled hard boiled eggs, pickled sausages, and pickled turkey -*test*-('")icles. They pickle everything around here. They are tasty.

Around here any kind of -*test*-('")icle is deep fried and enjoyed. Well let me rephrase that!! Farm animal. I never thought I could eat them, but was challenged one time on a bike tour with friends (anything goes on a bike tour!) and they were deeeelish!!

When they castrate in the spring time, they have a lot of feeds like this.

If you ever travel to the midwest (all are welcome, let me know) and you happen to see "bull fries" or "lamb fries" that is polite code for bits!

So sorry I can't help about sources - but an extra trip to Switzerland would make for a very expensive supply of poultry!

I had a lot of difficulties finding a source too - most butchers will get their poultry ready made from specialist suppliers. The butcher where I get tripe, liver and lamb has quite a large range of meat for pets (he's a specialist on horse meat actually), but in the poultry department he is selling only chicken necks and chicken and turkey minces. There are pet shops who will sell frozen meats, but they are quite expensive, and so is postage on frozen stuff.

With the help of Auntie Google I found a poultry processing factory who would sell the items mentioned above to private buyers who would take at least 5 kg of an item - but of course the thing was about 150 km away, as they all are! Then I found out they have a distribution facility for supplying local butchers quite close and I phoned them and asked if they would order this for me if I took 5 kg of each and Bingo! They added a little bit on the price, but it was still cheaper than the pet shop or me driving 300+ km to fetch it.

I'd say if you have a butcher you buy from regularly, ask him if he could order such stuff for you from his poultry supplier. A lot of these pieces just get thrown away at the medium sized poultry butcheries, so they might be prepared to collect a big enough order and deliver it via your local butcher.

Good idea. I know what to ask for now and I have three possibilities I will work on right away.

Well yes, but usually too busy to post much. Now tell me, WHO ARE YOU




Anyways, ta for info re SwissSpringer.

Er . . . . . .

*scoots of to TTL to check me username*

Right, back and it's kelly

THE Kelly?

Er - the one who has been logged on TTL for 1 day, 19h, and 4mins

Now, THE kelly - depends . . . . . . . .are we on names before the forum change???? Think I was Canine Kelly before I switched to kelly

Anyway, the one with the naughty Welshie, asking questions about if it's okay to mix raw and commercial (not in the same meal of course)