BBB as pets

[SpidersHuman]

I'm new to the poultry world. Well mid-may I picked up 2 turkey poults they're both broad brested Bronze turkeys. We bought them with the intention of keeping as pets. But now I keep hearing that they're aren't good to keep as pets cause they'll get to heavy and their legs will break, is this true?

 

[Arielle]

I"m sorry. I have raised BBB and BBW and bourbon red and other heritage breeds. THe BBB is a "breed" selected for the VERY fast growth to a large market size. WHen it passes the 4 month mark, when it should be butchered , it will keep growing. ANd yes the legs are not strong enough to hold up a 50+ bird. Just too much heavy breast muscle for the legs to support.

My BBW just sat at 5 months old and at 50#-- a trip to the butcher is a merciful end.

SOrry.

 

[flockman]

You may need to restrict the amount of feed to prevent them from getting too heavy. They are (from what I have read) not long lived. Similar to the Cornish Cross chicken. Good luck. I have a broad breasted white that i bought in May. It is supposed to be butchered in September. For pets I would get heritage breeds. I am planning to get some broad breasted birds to butcher and some heritage birds to have as pets/breeders to have a flock for self-sufficiency.

 

[ki4got]

my own bb whites are free ranging with the rest of the chickens and their 'turkey mom' aka bantam cochin (lower left in the photo, giving my hubby the 'look'). LOL here's a pic of them all.

I feed very little grains to the free ranging bunch but have a chick feeder for the babies to go in. the turkeys are able to graze a bit from what they can reach but do quite well foraging. at about 6-7 weeks old, they're probably about 5 pounds or a bit more.

as for the breed itself, they ARE a true breed, not like the cornish rock cross chickens... they are capable of growing to maturity, but because of the tom's enormous size they are not able to breed naturally, from what I understand. they have to be AI'd to produce fertile eggs. I'm contemplating keeping my girl around and seeing if she'll breed with a normal heritage-type tom in the spring. (if I can find some more poults). the 2 boys are named Christmas and Thanksgiving.