Turkey Facts you will enjoy Reading


1. Ben Franklin proposed in a very famous letter to his
daughter to make the wild turkey the national symbol.

2. In 2006, 690,000,000 pounds of turkey were consumed in
the United States during Thanksgiving.

3. In 2006, the average American ate almost seventeen pounds
of turkey.

4. In 2006, Turkey was the # 4 protein choice for American
consumers behind chicken, beef and pork

5. The largest domestic turkey ever raised was eighty-six
pounds, about the size of a large dog.

6. The male turkey is called a tom.

7. The female turkey is called a hen.

8. The wild turkey is native to Northern Mexico and the
Eastern United States, where they still live in the wild.

9. The turkey was first domesticated in Mexico and first
taken to Europe in the 16th century.

10. Wild turkeys can fly for short distances up to fifty-
five miles an hour and can run up to twenty miles per hour.

11. Tom turkeys have "beards" - black, hairlike feathers on
their breasts. Hens sometimes have beards too.

12. When a turkey becomes excited, its head changes color.

13. Canadians consumed 138.6 million kg (Mkg) of turkey in
the year 2005.

14. US citizens eat 675,000,000 pounds of turkey each
Thanksgiving.

15. A wild turkey can see a predator moving up to a hundred
yards away.

16. Turkeys were around ten million years ago.

17. Turkey feathers were used by Native Americans to
stabilize their arrows.

18. Baby turkeys are tan and brown and are called poults.

19. The White Holland breed comprises most of the turkeys
raised for commercial production.

20. Turkey eggs are larger than chicken eggs and are tan
with brown specks.

21. It takes seventy-five to eighty pounds of feed to raise
a thirty pound tom turkey.

22. United States turkey growers raised 256,270,000 turkeys
in 2005. In 2006, about 262,000,000 turkeys were raised.
46,000,000 of those turkeys were eaten at Thanksgiving,
22,000,000 at Christmas and 19,000,000 at Easter.





Search Our Site