Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Fun Turkey Facts!


I’m a sucker for fun or little known facts that have no practical use… so, here are some I found to add to my repertoire.


  • The average weight of a turkey purchased at Thanksgiving is 15 pounds.

  • The average person consumes over 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving Day. (And we wonder why Americans are overwhelmingly overweight…)  

  • The heaviest turkey ever raised was 86 pounds, about the size of a large dog.

  • Americans eat over 530 million pounds of Turkey on Thanksgiving;  more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten on that day. 

  • A 15 pound turkey usually has about 70 percent white meat and 30 percent dark meat.

  • The five most popular ways to serve leftover turkey is as a sandwich, in stew, chili or soup, casseroles and as a burger.

  • Turkey has more protein than chicken or beef.

  • Turkeys will have 3,500 feathers at maturity.

  • Male turkeys gobble. Hens do not. They make a clucking noise.

  • Commercially raised turkeys cannot fly, but wild turkeys can fly over 55mph for short distances.

  • Turkeys can have heart attacks. Apparently, The United States Air Force was doing test runs and broke the sound barrier. Fields of nearby turkeys dropped dead with heart attacks.

  • A large group of turkeys is called a flock.

  • Turkeys have poor night vision.

  • Turkeys can drown if they look up while it’s raining.

  • It takes 75-80 pounds of feed to raise a 30 pound tom turkey.

  • A 16-week-old turkey is called a fryer. A five to seven month old turkey is called a young roaster.



    • Dang… I feel really, really bad for turkeys all of a sudden. But luckily not quite bad enough to go vegetarian this year.

    Have a blessed Thanksgiving everyone!
    Posted by at

    10 comments:

    1. rooeeNovember 23, 2011 at 9:03 AM

      that is interesting, my hunter husband calls a bunch of turkeys, a 'gang'.
      thanks for the insight! lol

      ReplyDelete
    2. Southern Mom FindsNovember 23, 2011 at 10:49 AM

      neat facts!!

      ReplyDelete
    3. SmileyKit CreationsNovember 23, 2011 at 11:16 AM

      Like all the facts, I didn't know this

      ReplyDelete
    4. CalliopeCreationsNovember 23, 2011 at 11:31 AM

      Fun information. I like facts, too.

      ReplyDelete
    5. theMayflowerNovember 23, 2011 at 2:29 PM

      Love the facts! I recently learned that male Turkeys are called Toms!

      ReplyDelete
    6. Prodigy CraftsNovember 23, 2011 at 2:56 PM

      Very interesting!
      Happy thanksgiving!!!

      ReplyDelete
    7. MagicByLeahNovember 23, 2011 at 3:28 PM

      HAHAHAHA (taking a quick breath) HAHAHAHAHAHA

      these are hilarious, I love the heart-attack and drowning quotes, passing them on

      ReplyDelete
    8. DeeNovember 23, 2011 at 3:33 PM

      I love fun facts too, and did not know that Turkey has more protein than chicken or beef!

      ReplyDelete
    9. petitehermineNovember 23, 2011 at 9:10 PM

      These facts are hilarious! The one about drowning while looking up at the rain made me laugh, even though it's kind of sad. I can't imagine what an 86 pound turkey would look like.

      ReplyDelete
    10. Susie TenzerNovember 24, 2011 at 6:41 AM

      What a fun post!

      ReplyDelete

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