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.
