Heritage Breeds of Turkeys

[bluelacedredhead]

I lost many of my pics when I crashed my computer last winter, but there are still a few in my photobucket album.

Here's a pic of a flock of Bourbon Red's along with some Toulouse X geese that a friend had fun editing for Christmas one year.



I also had a Narrangansett turkey hen for a brief time. But she had been raised as a family pet in a cage in someone's backyard. She was timid when we introduced her to the flock. They would not accept her no matter how hard I tried to make her a part of their fun. They pecked her til she would bleed.

And she had no disease resistance at all because she had never been exposed to any other livestock. Sadly, we didn't have her long. The changes were too great for her system and she succumbed to a bout of Sinusitis.



Both breeds (as well as other heritage turkeys like the Black Spanish or the Bronze Unimproved) are good foragers.

They are also excellent mothers. They breed freely but usually only for a few months in late spring. April, May and June in the northeast. I have had the odd (natural) hatch in August or September, but that's not been the norm. Heavy losses can occur with late hatches as well, due to sudden changes to the weather. Turkey Poults are not nearly as cold hardy as young Chicks.

The heritage birds take much longer than commercial broad breasted types to mature. The males will mature to a maximum of 33 pounds, but that's after 2 years or more. Hens mature at around 18 or 19 lbs.
A June hatchling will seldom be ready for the table at Thanksgiving. But wait a year and you'll have a turkey dinner that can't be beat!

[plantsnobin]

Ok, Alan, here it goes. Try these folks www.porterturkeys.com Located in Fremont IN, they raise more breeds of turkeys than you can shake a stick at.

[moonlilyhead]

Thanks for those pics, Blue. I feel sorry for the little turkey hen, though.
Do they use the umbrella for shelter, or is that a stupid question?!

[bluelacedredhead]

Moonie, We started using golf umbrellas for shade when we took turkeys to a small fair that held their poultry competition in the open. It worked well, so when we put small groupings of young fowl on the lawn in temporary shelters to forage, we continued to use the umbrella idea here at home.

And as a poultryman/horse breeder friend in Missouri always says, "there's no stupid questions, just people too stupid to ask".