are artisan gold turkeys broad breasted.

[JonathanL23]

a hatchery has them and says there rare. but i cant find much info on them

 

[Twistedfeather]

What hatchery are they from? I'm thinking it's still a heritage breed and there are only a few broad breasted breeds

 

[R2elk]

a hatchery has them and says there rare. but i cant find much info on them

From what little I can find, Artisan Gold is a brand name associated with a variety of black turkeys. They are being processed and being sold under the brand name of Artisan Gold. They are not actually saying what breed of turkey they are marketing. One reference indicates they are a hybrid turkey which I would not expect to breed true. They are not a broad breasted turkey. My best guess is it is just a marketing scam to get the highest price they can for black turkeys.

 

[Chickerella2012]

https://hoovershatchery.com/artisangoldturkey.htmlI got 3 artisan golds yesterday. They are marketed as rare. But truly don't seem to be. They don't breed, and must be artificially inseminated...
Fun times...lol
My heritage narragansetts don't breed as is, now this. Thought I'd post some info on them

 

[R2elk]

https://hoovershatchery.com/artisangoldturkey.htmlI got 3 artisan golds yesterday. They are marketed as rare. But truly don't seem to be. They don't breed, and must be artificially inseminated...
Fun times...lol
My heritage narragansetts don't breed as is, now this. Thought I'd post some info on them

Heritage Narragansetts can breed naturally.

Artisan Gold is a marketing ploy to market a standard (heritage) Black turkey in a manner to attempt to increase the price.

They are not hybrids. There is nothing special about them. As a standard turkey they should be able to breed naturally.

All domestic turkeys are the breed Turkey. Artisan Gold turkeys belong to the variety Black.

 

[Chickerella2012]

So...if I decide to start breeding them, what would I describe them as? Standard black turkeys? Heritage Black? Artisan Gold? This is all very complicated :/

 

[EggSighted4Life]

What people call rare is joke these days if it's available at several hatcheries... it isn't rare.

Performance chart...
https://www.hybridturkeys.com/documents/467/Artisan_Performance_Goals.pdf
At Hoovers' their order minimum is the same as their broad breasted which is half of their heritage minimum order...
https://hoovershatchery.com/artisangoldturkey.html

 

[R2elk]

So...if I decide to start breeding them, what would I describe them as? Standard black turkeys? Heritage Black? Artisan Gold? This is all very complicated :/

You bought them as Artisan Blacks. If you want to call them that it is fine but they are still nothing more than a Black turkey.

When I originally looked them up, the company described them as a smaller, slower growing turkey which indicates that they are not broad breasted and are a heritage variety.

 

[marm]

From what little I can find, Artisan Gold is a brand name associated with a variety of black turkeys. They are being processed and being sold under the brand name of Artisan Gold. They are not actually saying what breed of turkey they are marketing. One reference indicates they are a hybrid turkey which I would not expect to breed true. They are not a broad breasted turkey. My best guess is it is just a marketing scam to get the highest price they can for black turkeys.

I can tell you from breeding the Artisan Gold turkeys that we purchased and raised last year that we hatched both black turkeys, which look like the Artisan Gold, and broad breasted white turkeys. I am assuming, since I can't find any info, that the Artisan Gold is a hybrid/cross between the heritage Black turkey and broad breasted white. The turkeys that we raised last year yielded toms that were around 22-24 pounds in about 5 months feeding them a higher protein diet, plus open range.

 

[marm]

From what little I can find, Artisan Gold is a brand name associated with a variety of black turkeys. They are being processed and being sold under the brand name of Artisan Gold. They are not actually saying what breed of turkey they are marketing. One reference indicates they are a hybrid turkey which I would not expect to breed true. They are not a broad breasted turkey. My best guess is it is just a marketing scam to get the highest price they can for black turkeys.

We purchased these last year because they were the only breed we could find that was listed as being able to be bred (by the time we decided to buy!). They do breed. They are not true, as this year we hatched both black turkeys which look true to the Artisan Gold, and white turkeys which have characteristics of broad breasted white. Last year the toms weighed in at about 22-24 pounds in about 5 months. We kept the females and 1 tom for breeding. They are a hardy bird, adventurous, and very human friendly. Actually they love to be around us (had to fence off our patio to keep them from the house, since we let the free range)! We are raising the turkeys on a lower protein diet this year so that we can feed them organically. Basically the same feed we use for our chickens. They hatched in April and are fairly large at October 1. We will take them to butcher around the first week in November. I doubt that we will keep any of the broad breasted white as they are likely to not breed. Although the whites are very mobile, still flying to roost, they are a bit larger than the black.

These are a fine bird if you're not picky about true heritage, want a good hardy friendly bird, and are not breeding to resell.