Where can we find a fresh turkey in July?

July 22, 2009 10:13 AM

Where can we find a fresh turkey in Massachusetts before Sunday?

Because we're cool like that, some friends and I are making a Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. Our turkey was going to come from Whole Foods, but unfortunately they notified us today that that fell through. We need a big enough bird to feed about 15 people and we're looking for fresh, not frozen. Where in Mass do you think we could get one on such short notice? (We're in Cambridge/Boston, so closer is better, but we can't be too picky this time of year...)

Google shows us lists of turkey farms, but short of calling every single one of them, we're not sure how to find out which ones would actually have turkeys available this time of year. Actual recommendations would be really really helpful.

posted by olinerd to food & drink (7 comments total)

You could call Mayflower Poultry Company 621 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02141 [phone], those folks with "Live Poultry Fresh Killed" on their sign that everyone in Cambridge seems to know. If they can't get a fresh turkey on short notice, they could probably tell you who could.
posted by xingcat at 10:17 AM on July 22

Here is one butcher who has fresh turkeys for Thanksgiving. Don't know if they'll have any now but you can call them and ask.
posted by cooker girl at 10:20 AM on July 22

Cross-posted with xingcat! Someday I'll learn to preview....
posted by cooker girl at 10:20 AM on July 22

I know you're in Massachusets, and that you didn't ask for deep fried turkey, but Jive Turkey, a place in Brooklyn delivers different kinds of turkies year round.
posted by alice ayres at 11:11 AM on July 22

xingcat, until just now, it never even occurred to me that the Mayflower Poultry Company was not actually called the "Fresh Killed" place.
posted by Diagonalize at 11:23 AM on July 22

my girl and I do a Canadian Thanksgiving in Massachusetts, because we're cool like that, and we always get our turkey from Mayflower, but it's always been frozen and never fresh. The demand for turkey is so low outside of Thanksgiving, that it never makes economic sense for butchers to stock them outside of November.

With that said, it doesn't hurt to call them for leads. You could also use this list from the Mass Department of Agriculture, which lists farms that supposedly sell turkeys year round.
posted by bl1nk at 11:23 AM on July 22

Owen's Poultry Farm in Needham will have your turkey. I'm 95% sure they're open year-round and they sell delicious turkey (fresh or roasted) for a reasonable price.

Mayflower in Cambridge is certainly closer to the city... but it's significantly more gross.
posted by rxrfrx at 7:22 PM on July 22