they are talking about meat yield and as you pointed out, most of it is carcass. multiple smaller birds will yield more meat for the same total poundage.

but the other challenge is getting natural birds these days. they are all frankenturkeys averaging 25+ lbs. it was difficult trying to find a 18 lbs bird that i'm going to deep fry. total guest at my place is immediate family only so about 8 adults and 5 kids.

i'm just doing a simple brine soak for 8-12 hours in a cooler. don't need to take up space in the fridge.

if you are interested, on youtube is alton brown's show about deep frying the turkey. he talks about using a drink cooler as a marinating vessel. i'm pretty much following that recipe to a tee. i did the injections several years in a roll and wanted to try a brine soak this time.

if i ended up using every single oven i have in the house, i could cook up 7 turkeys at the same time. not that they'll be good, but i can toast em up!