Royal Palm

I love em!

And I want some! Found a hatchery not too far from here!! 3 hours away. They have many different kinds of turkeys on offer!! I agree, turkeys are personable!!

Gosh, so good to read this. I just was put on a list for some. What breed of Turkey is best for meat??

i might be interested in getting a turkey or two..
They are beautiful and I would love to enjoy them on the property.
Let's keep in touch. Regards, Steena

Steena... that would be great!

We have been worried about our girls and put a 'red light 100W' in the pen, but not in the coop.
The girls don't seem to want to go into the coop, for some reason. Maybe they don't have a routine. Anyway they roost in the pen on a long bamboo pole about four and a half feet above the strawed ground. My husband put the light a tad above the ground, but not under the pole.
Anyway, it was -15 here in Rochester New York and they didn't seem stiffened by the cold.
We gave them extra scratch filled with oil seeds and other good seeds, protein and lots of fresh vegetables. Oatmeal in the mornings or mashed potatoes from the night before with cornmeal interlaced.
It's thawing here today and the rain has made lots of puddles around, but the cold will be moving in soon and all will be ice.
Let me know how everyone's stock is braving the cold.
Thank you for any tips on keeping a little fat on these girls.
Steena

Steena, I updated my review earlier today! My turkeys roost outside even with -30° weather! Today, 20's above the jakes are strutting! -Bill

soo cute but not in my neighborhood. i could see some dog jumping the fence and killing him :'(

Unfortunately, that is one of the problems with very tame turkeys. All of the hens, we have to clip their wings to keep them from flying onto houses and into neighbor's yards. So that makes them especially vulnerable to predators. So when we are not home, we lock them up in their enclosure. However, if anyone is ever looking for a pet, I always suggest buying a Royal Palm that was socialized. And, in my opinion, the toms make better pets than the hens, so there is always a market for both genders.

Very helpful, looking for a meat bird. Our breeder has Royal Palms, Bourbon Red's and Chocolates. Haven't looked into the chocolates yet. Bourbons looking the best. Your opinion's? Thank you for an honest summary, so many people are trying to make them out as meat birds.

It sounds like he has a good home now. Royal Palms are such pretty birds, hope his health continues to improve!

He's Purdy.
I'Ve had Red Bourban, Black, Eastern Wild, Narragansett, Standard Bronze & BBB. I've found the BBB easiest to raise to adult hood. The others and more especially the Eastern Wild were more delicate. It seems the more "primitive the breed the more need of natural parents.
My birds are not pets even though my wife disagrees with me. I dislike but am not totally above converting them to roasts, soups and other dishes but my wife seems to think that there is no need to keep 50 birds over winter other than "....they're just your pets!"
Yes are they not (even with their snoods and ?carruncles?) such gorgeous creatures.
I still want RoyalPalm and will one day.

Royal Palms are not inherently sickly birds. You just got one that happened to be sick. They are the smallest of the SOP heritage turkeys, so his small size, especially compared to your broad breasted hens, is to be expected. Also, he may be smaller than normal, considering that he is/was sick. Turkeys don't typically breed this time of year, so while you may or may not see some flirting or even breeding behavior, you probably won't see fertile eggs until late winter/early spring. Broad breasted hens are famously difficult to get fertilized through natural mating (all commercial hens are bred through artificial insemination) due to their size, and possibly other factors, so expect your fertility rate to be low, or possibly even zero, even if he does his job well. There are always exceptions though, so you may be lucky. If you don't get fertile eggs from your group and you want to breed small but meaty turkeys, you might consider getting some Midget Whites. They were developed using the smallest of the commercial broad breasted birds mated to the meatiest of the Royal Palms, and selected over generations to eventually breed true. They are rare now, and not in the SOP, but there are still several breeders and a few hatcheries that offer them. Good quality stock are healthy, long-lived, mate naturally, very fertile, prolific egg layers, have excellent temperaments, and won the taste test as the best tasting turkey breed some years ago. Because there are no SOP guidelines, breeders are not consistent in the birds that they produce, but most breeders are developing an 8-13 pound hen and a 13-20 pound tom.

I would totally disagree that the heritage breeds are more difficult to raise to adulthood than the broad breasted hybrids. In general, the heritage breeds are healthy and produce both eggs and meat for many years, whereas the BB birds grow too large too quickly, have great difficulty reproducing naturally, and rarely live more than 1-2 years without special care. However, the heritage turkeys and the wild turkeys do require different management, as they become quite stressed in close confinement or poor quality diets, and stressed birds become ill easily. They need a lot more coop space, and thrive with free ranging. The hens usually require wing trimming if being kept in an uncovered pen, or free ranged within a fenced area, as they can easily fly onto the roof of a two story house with simply a flutter of their wings. The toms are also excellent fliers but just want to stay with their hens, so no wing trimming required for the boys in most cases, as long as the girls are trimmed. While technically the same species, the heritage and wild turkeys are very different birds compared to the broad breasted hybrids, and cannot be managed the same way. They are not sickly birds at all, but I could see that they might become ill if someone raised them the same way that the BB are often grown.

I never said the breed isn't supposed to be small; I knew that when getting him. They're also (on the whole) resistant to many ailments which quite commonly afflict BB breeds, which is part of why I thought an RP would make a good tom for my girls.

The BBs are pets who desperately want male companionship and babies; that's the biggest reason I got him, after a great deal of research on his breed. Prior to my purchase of him, he was a strictly free-range bird over several acres (which obviously didn't keep him from getting sick). I needed a man for them who would:

1. Be good around children. RPs have famously non-aggressive temperaments.

2. Never be able to break the backs/necks/hips/legs/etc of my hens. My girls are pets. I love them. My family loves them. BBs on the whole are very prone to major bone injuries, particularly from mating. An RP is long/tall enough to "get the job done" over a very large hen but not heavy enough to maim my girls. RPs are the only breed with this specific necessary trait because all other breeds will eventually get heavy enough to maim my girls or (in the case of the Midget/Beltsville Small White) are not long/tall enough to cover a BB hen successfully.

3. Be able to mate naturally

4. Have long, healthy, happy lifespan

5. Have slower growth, slower maturation times, less stupendous muscle growth at the expense of other organ systems.

I want to be able to raise the offspring and know they have a higher chance of being healthy, sustainable birds. BBs are not "natural" as breeds go. They cannot continue existing without the aid of humanity. They're sweet birds, but all of that muscle comes at tremendous cost to their bodies, particularly to their fragile skeletal systems, but also to their immune and nervous systems.

I had wanted to get into Midget Whites but never found poults this year. All of my heritage hookups had problems this year (Breeder's Bourbon Red tom killed his mate; MW tom died suddenly from poisoning, and all the gals wanted to incessantly brood on golf balls.). The BBs were got as pets that might become dinner if they didn't get along with everyone or had health problems warranting being put down. I'm in love with turkeys, pretty much. This year, we acquired one tom and three hens as day-old unsexed poults. The tom suffered a grievous injury from which he would not be able to ever walk again, so we had to put him down. The girls started laying pretty well, and... we're just too darned attached to them.

All of my birds get my entire backyard to roam. For BBs, they're in great health and happy. Industrial meat turkeys (and chickens) actually lay a large amount of eggs for their respective species (industry requirements for breeding flocks), but I've heard RP hens are the egg-laying machines of the turkey world. I'd like to strengthen the RP breed someday due its critical state. People just aren't as aware of turkeys as a species; we think of them of Thanksgiving and lunchmeats, which is...

Oh my gosh, Indyshent, you've got a heart like mine! I got started on this whole poultry adventure 16 years ago after being given a single broiler chicken (really long story) as a three day old chick. It turned out to be a hen, and through lots of special care she was able to live a very comfortable and pain free life over more than 6 years. She was the most treasured pet I have ever had! She also was a great layer for the first 3 years, then only 3 eggs her forth year, then quit. Was quite vigorous until about 3 months before she died, when she aged quite rapidly. There were lots of details to her care, but free ranging in a large yard and very limited, very small meals were the most important reason that she lived as long as she did. I never allowed her to get over 9 pounds, and tried to keep her below 8.5 pounds, although she really wanted to be much heavier.

It sounds like you've got a great plan for moving forward with your hens. I love the way you reasoned everything out, with the hens' welfare being a priority. I hope your girls do as well as my broiler hen did, and have a long, happy and comfortable life, with lots of little Midget White poults hatching out (you are essentially recreating the breed by using a RP tom over commercial hens).

If you find that the hens get their back plucked and scratched accidently by the tom treading, which can happen regardless of male size, and is more likely to happen with a commercial hen because they are feathered for easy plucking, I have had great results with this turkey saddle: http://www.strombergschickens.com/p...s-for-All-Poultry/Poultry-Medicine-Accesories

It fits turkeys better that the traditional chicken saddles, and the large saddle is sized for the commercial hens. Plus, toms spend so much time treading on the hen's back, compared to roosters on hens, that the little U-shaped rope that is sewn onto this saddle helps prevent him from slipping. Slipping toms can easily tear open the sides of turkey hens.

Again, hope your hens have a long and wonderful life. It sounds like they've got a great start.

Where did you get your Royal Palms? I have found temperament to be largely strain-based, so want to find calm ones.

Where did you buy your Royal Palms? I want friendly, calm ones.

Looking for a Royal Palm Hen in fl

Looking for a Royal Palm Hen in fl

Looking for a Royal Palm Hen in Fl.
Thank You