It seems as if blooded behinds are fairly common? This is my first year raising turkey. I lost one because he jumped out of the pen and froze during the night. All of a sudden they started pecking at 2 of the other birds pulling out their tail feathers. One died from the shock, the other I rescued, Now in my lounge under a heat lamp all by it;s self. Will I be able to put it back do you think? or shall I just go and buy another turkey from the store and keep the 2 together?

Not to be an alarmist, but I absolutely wouldn't use boiled linseed oil on anything that would come in contact with my food. Raw linseed oil (flax seed oil) is fine, but boiled linseed oil contains various heavy metals that speed the drying time (raw linseed oil can take weeks to dry). http://missouribootandshoe.tripod.com/id41.html "Use of this product will expose you to arsenic, beryllium, chromium, cadmium and nickel, which are known to cause cancer; and lead which is known to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm."

When I was a kid, they didn't have the "Dead Stock Removal" businesses that appeared later, who, when you gave them a call, would come to your farm within a couple of days, usually, winch the dead (and without blood having been drained) animal up on to their (stinking) truck and take it to their (stinking) plant. The hide would be removed, for processing into shoes, belts, purses and the like. Some of the meat would be sent to mink ranches, fox farms, etc. Some would be sent to pet food processors, where it was cooked and had other stuff added, to be put into cans and sold to townies and other pet "owners" to feed to their pets. ole joyful

We were at a gathering of my wife's family in Vermont for New Years. I was volunteered to cook dinner on New Year's eve. I wasn't quite sure what to make but the two previous nights there was Jambalaya, then Chicken Enchiladas, I felt I had to go in a different direction. At first I was planning and buying ingredients to make an Irish Beef Stew, for about 25 people, but after getting back to the house from the store and remembering that I had brought a container of the spice blend Ras el Hanout, I decided to change it up and make Moroccan Beef Stew. Whatever that is, :-) I had purchased about 13 lbs of sirloin roast, plus onions, carrots, parsnips, green peas, and yukon gold potatoes, I decided that the onions, carrots and parsnips would work, but I should not use the potatoes and should instead use sweet potatoes. Fortuitously a nephew had brought a large box of carrots, winter squash, and sweet potatoes from his nearby farm, so i felt I was good to go. I cubed the meat, and liberally sprinkled it with the spice blend, plus some cumin, coriander, and cinnamon, which were probably in the blend but not enough, and left the meat sit in the walk-in-fridge/unheated garage overnight. The next afternoon I started cutting up the vegetables, and browning the meat, and started two pots simmering with the meat and onions. After a couple of hours, I also cubed a butternut squash, and roasted it, and then added all of the vegetables to the stew, and cooked it another 45 minutes. Someone else helped out by making a large rice pilaf, (although couscous would have been a better option) and although I felt the stew wasn't quite thick enough, everyone raved about how good it tasted. After a little more refinement to the recipe I think it will be a real winner.