About the turkeys: why are they different from other turkeys?

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What does bronze mean?

        Bronze is the breed of turkey which we produce.  It is named after the fantastic bronze sheen to its plumage.  It is an old traditional breed, and is much slower growing than modern white varieties.  It also has an extra layer of fat under the skin and the meat is marbled, and so tastes better, and cooks a little faster.  The breed was kept going by enthusiasts and was classed as a rare breed until turkey hero Paul Kelly brought them back from the brink of extinction.  Now they are seen as the ultimate Christmas turkey.

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Where are your turkeys slaughtered?

        All of the turkeys are slaughtered on the farm in our processing area, this means that our turkeys never go through the stresses of transportation which can lead to damaged birds and tough meat. Chris always says if he couldn't have full control in the process he would stop rearing turkeys.

 We are trained and licensed in humane slaughter practises and strictly follow the correct procedure, one bird at a time, birds are slaughtered by electric stunning.

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Have your turkeys been game hung?

        Yes, the turkeys are hung for at least 7 days.  This is the process after slaughter and plucking where the turkey is hung in a cool room for the flavour to develop, cheaper turkeys will not be hung at all or for a shorter period.  After this it is butchered, put in a box and collected or delivered.  

 

What do you feed your turkeys?

        We feed our turkeys a cereal-based feed made from grain, supplemented with windfall apples and some fresh vegetables/horticultural disasters! They also forage in their paddock for invertebrates and vegetation, they love stinging nettles and hogweed! We have recently started including oats grown in Wiltshire into the diet with the aim to eventually source all of our feed as local as possible. The oats are grown by a farmer using techniques known as regenerative farming, his practices minimise chemical and diesel inputs while maximising carbon sequestration.

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Does the feed contain soya?

          Yes, but only for the first few months of production. Our feed supplier uses ethically sourced and certified soya from Canada and are currently working on soya free poultry diets.

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Do you feed antibiotics/ growth promoters?

         No routine antibiotics are used, in fact in the 16 years we have been rearing turkeys we have never used antibiotics. We would of course use them if we needed to. The feed used in the first few months does contain a coccidiostat which is an antimicrobial that reduces the chance of the bird developing coccidiosis. Coccidiosis is a disease that all farmed poultry are very susceptible to. As far as I’m aware coccidiostats are used in all farmed poultry. 

There is a big misconception of the use of growth promoters/growth hormones. This is not a practice that is legal in the UK in any farmed animal.

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Are you organic?

         Our turkeys are not organic due to the feed not being certified organic, this would significantly increase the price if we were to become organic. We have found the main interest from our customers is that they are fully traceable and reared in a free-range environment. We run many farm tours and people often assume we are organic, this is because we farm in harmony with nature and the environment and share most of the principles with organic farming – just without the certification.

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How do you pluck your turkeys?

       Since 2020 we, like many quality turkey producers have started wax plucking our turkeys. The turkey is dipped in hot wax and once cool the wax is stripped off by hand removing the feathers at the same time. This has allowed us to process more birds but with the same staffing levels. Once plucked they are hung in the fridge for a minimum of 7 days.

The majority of supermarket turkeys are wet plucked which gives that 'slimy' appearance a wet plucked turkey can’t be hung as it would go off due to bacteria in the water

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Why does my turkey have black feather stubs? 

            This is the reason the bronze turkey almost became extinct in the 1950's. The white turkey (and chickens) have just as many but because they have a white pigment you cannot see them. They are harmless and any that may be left will shrivel up during cooking. Each of our turkeys gets quality control checked at many stages during processing. 

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Are the turkeys oven ready?

       All of our turkeys are provided beautifully presented in a recyclable cardboard box wrapped in greaseproof paper and fully butchered ready for you to transfer to your roasting tin and pop in the oven and are just as you would find in a supermarket or butchers. Whole turkeys also have the vacuum packed giblets included. Extra giblets also available on collection days from the farm.

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I would like my turkey butchered in a different way?

              We offer our turkeys as oven ready whole birds (Our recommended turkey), turkey crowns on the bone and boneless breast joints. All of our turkeys are butchered before being allocated to the customer the day before collection so we would be unable to separate out one order. 

We do, however offer a cut in half service when collecting from the farm if you are worried about cooking a larger bird or if your guest numbers have changed. 

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Are your turkeys stuffed?

           We do not sell stuffed turkeys and would always recommend cooking your stuffing separately. Stuffing the turkey would increase the needed cooking time which will lead to drying out the bird.

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Are your turkeys wrapped in bacon?

             We do not offer bacon wrapped turkeys. Quite simply our turkeys do not need the addition of other products: Bacon, butter etc to keep them moist and juicy. Just follow our simple cooking instructions included with your turkey.

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I would like a cooked turkey, can you provide this?

       We offer Oven ready whole turkeys or crowns ready for you to prepare and cook to your liking. All of the images on this website are serving suggestions only. Full cooking instructions are provided with your turkey to enable you to cook "The perfect Christmas turkey" it's not as scary as you may think!

 

Why are the supermarkets cheaper?

        For a like for like product, i.e. a free-range dry plucked and hung bronze turkey, we are actually cheaper by at least £1.00 per kg.

Ours also come with recipe card and herbs.