“Good Solid Rare Breed” - FarmTillURdead’s Review of Narragansett

Good Solid Rare Breed

by FarmTillURdead, February 21, 2012 at 7:46 pm
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Pros: Big, Beautiful, Friendly - Sustainable meat bird
Cons: Expensive and rare, Stout perches needed for heavy birds

Review on:

Narragansett

FarmTillURdead’s Rating

Community Rating:

(1 reviews)

I had about 8 of these birds this year. I ordered a "hatchery choice" and got mostly Royal Palms and a few of these to make up the price difference. The poults are nearly 10 dollars each... making this breed to fancy for my dinner table and losses are common with turkey babies as they "forget" to eat or drink. They must be reminded a few times a day or have a chicken chick in with them to show them how. (NOT one of a contrasting color - they WILL pick at it!)

They are a social and non-aggressive twords humans. Toms will obtain a pecking order with other Toms and fights aren't uncommon between them. I have never had an injury more than some good scratches or a picked tail.

I have never had a problem with this breed. I run them with my Red Burbons and think they are a comparable breed. Just different in color to me. Toms can get up to 30 pounds. I free range mine in a pasture with clipped wings. Hens can still scale the 4 foot fence but rarely go far from the herd. After 6 months the Toms start getting to heavy to attempt to fly. They can... but don't.

A beautiful bird to show or have as a pet. They are very curious and always want to know what I am doing. If I sit still they come for visits and peck about - but don't care to be touched. Toms drum and gobble close by.

I have only one hen who is "crabby" all the time. Pecks every chicken in the head it sees that gets close. The rest are very mellow.

*Cackle Hatchery quotes, "Narragansett Turkeys are considered a rare breed Turkey, a heritage Turkey and admitted into the American Standard of Perfection in 1874".

I am not by any means a professional poultry farmer. This is just my experience and I thought I would share. No one had left a review yet.

Comment

Comments (3)

debbyvenus 2/22/12 at 7:31am

I am happy to see your post. I am going to get 6 poults next month, not sure which breed yet. I have been looking at the Royal Palms since they are so beautiful. I don't need a really large turkey and hope to end up with a pair that will have young.

NYREDS 2/22/12 at 8:18am

I've raised Narragansetts for a few years. I hatch a few every year to keep mthe flock going & to put in the freezer. Because they mature more slowly than the commercial breeds they produce a much more flavorful table bird, very much like wild Turkeys.
I've never had a hen set although I know they will. I prefer to use an incubator so the hatch occurs on my schedule not the bird's.
I rarely ever lose a poult & have never known them to "forget" to eat or drink. If you're suffering high losses there may be some other cause.
BTW-there's only one breed of Turkey, the Turkey. There are a number of varieties of Turkey.

Maggizzle35 2/22/12 at 3:07pm

Wow what a great Turkey to have gotten. I have a male and female of the white broad breasted and bronze broad breasted. They never miss a meal. The hens will set on eggs if they have them. This will be the first year that I have full grown hens and Toms so we will see what happens. They get kind of aggressive when it comes to the food bowls. If a chicken sticks its head in there the turkey will grab it by the back of the head. I've seen them shake my chickens before but luckily got them away from the turkey before any damage was done. I think that's how I lost my big Lt. Braham last year.

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