Beltsville Small White Turkey

[charlindabob]

What is the difference between the Beltsville and the Midget Whites? I am looking for small white turkeys and admittedly confused. What are the pros and cons of these two or are they the same bird?

 

[tniron]

What is the difference between the Beltsville and the Midget Whites?  I am looking for small white turkeys and admittedly confused.  What are the pros and cons of these two or are they the same bird?

They are two different breeds. The Beltsville White was developed at the USDA research center in Beltsville Maryland. the program took place during the 30's and early 40's. They were quite popular then but rare today. The Midget White was developed in tje 60's at the University of Massachucetts. It never really caught on. To find out more here are some pages to look at:

http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/midgetwhite.html

http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/belt.html

 

[charlindabob]

Thanks tniron.

I have now read about both, the Midget Whites and the Beltsville and there is quite a difference. Just the fact that the MW's hatch is 26 days as opposed to the Beltsville's 28 days is enough for me to realize that these are two separate turkeys. There are other factors also and it appears that the MW has shorter legs and more robust than the Beltsville. Also, according to what I've now read, the MW's are much more friendly towards humans too.

I am going to order some very soon and I am definitely leaning towards the Midget Whites as my choice of a small white turkey. Is there something I am missing between the two breeds that should make me look a little stronger at the Beltsville? I'd be much interested in opinions of those on here that have one or the other or even both so I could compare from first hand knowledge.

Thanks!

 

[tniron]

[quote name="charlindabob"

Is there something I am missing between the two breeds that should make me look a little stronger at the Beltsville? 

I have 4 Beltsville that are friendly. They follow us around the yard. others here might have a different opinion. Anyone have experience with both?

Thanks!
[/quote]

 

[ruralmom]

I have Beltsville whites, that is what I was told from the lady I bought them from and she told me where she got them from and he is a Beltsville breeder so I personally am going with that. There are those out there that have tried to convince me otherwise. I have now had them for 5 yrs. They are friendly but aloof. Very good breeders but not so great mothers. Hens last year brought in all the clutches of poults and we had 52 babies in a super herd. That was out of 5 hens. They are smaller than the BB, torpedo in shape. We dressed some toms this fall and it took the 4 years to get one of the birds BB size. Haven't eaten his to see if he is good or not. They are 28 days to incubate. We live at 7000 ft in Colorado and mine are all free range. They have survived several winters and I have never lost a bird. I really like the birds and would recommend them.

 

[poult boy]

I realize there seems to be some disagreement on the authentication of McMurray Hatchery Beltsville turkey eggs.
I have purchased, hatched and raised Beltsville eggs purchased from McMurray Poultry farm to maturity. I also have a flock of Midget Whites on the farm here and the Beltsville eggs hatched from McMurray, regardless of the question of what they are, do not appear to be the same as my Midget Whites. The differences I can see is that my Midget White's are more slender, the Beltsville Toms are broader and the Beltsville hens lay eggs slightly smaller then my Midget Whites. In all honesty, if anyone can provide clear proof or a source of proof that McMurray's Beltsvilles aren't true breed, please let me know.

 

[ChickDoc]

A reader alerted me to your post.
I only check the BSW thread a couple times a year.

Don't worry, you are not the only victim or person fooled by this dirty little secret.

In 1998 Paula Johnson and SPPA did a rare turkey census.
They determined the BSWs listed by hatcheries were actually MWs originating from from the University of Wisconsin.
Paula was being too nice omitting the names of the hatcheries and details of the misID.

In 2003 I determined the BSWs listed by McMurray are actually MWs.
McMurray has a contractor that raises the birds.
The contractor obtained his birds about 10 years earlier from the U. of Wisconsin, which developed the MW.
UW Prof. Wentworth informed me the MW does not have any BSW parentage in them and vice versa, nor have BSWs been on the UW campus.

Sadly, these hatcheries continued to list them under the BSW name eventho they were informed they were actually MWs.

I developed my own theory on how this misID happened.

Dr. Brian Tibbot, Ph.D.
Biologist
Northern California

 

[poult boy]

Thank you Dr. Tibbot,
As I take my attempt at raising true Beltsville seriously, your response is of great value to me. Seeing the amount of question by others on this thread it is important to others as well.
Thank you again for taking the time.
Ernie

 

[Jryan18]

I am new to turkeys but live near Beltsville, MD so thought that it would be nice to have a heritage turkey from my area. you can take my opinion with a grain of salt but before buying anything I researched for approx. 6 Mo and asked many questions from the few people that I could find through here, Facebook, Craigslist, the internet in general that offered BSW turkeys.

From my understanding almost all the hatcheries(McMurray I contacted personally) in America that offer BSW have them contracted to be shipped by the Urch/Turnland poultry. I do not know about the purity of their Turkeys because I have not seen or raised their turkey's but have been told they are not pure, however they seem to have a very good reputation and are respected in the poultry community. so I would assume that they either have pure birds or where misinformed when obtaining there stock again I think they would have been able to tell once the turkey's were full grown whether they were true or not.

I decide to go with J Poole through eBay because I could not find one mention of anyone even questioning the authenticity of his BSW flock, I have emailed back and forth with him while waiting for eggs and asked questions and from the info he gave me was that he has pure BSW's a college (I believe Iowa) have some, University of Guelph, and a private breeder in Canada has them. So unless you can find, someone on a small scale that says they got them from these sources or the Urch/Turnland poultry, I would say they are not true. depending on how many we have hatch we will probably try to offer eggs next spring.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[ChickDoc]

Ya, JRyan summed it all up very well.

Several hatcheries, breeders and owners out there actually have Midget Whites thinking they are Beltsville Whites.
Many are well known.
This has further threatened the BSW to extinction.

Jerry Poole in IL has pure BSW (Albertsen line) since ~2000 and has been selling eggs on eggbid (now defunct) and ebay since ~2002.
I got some poults from him in 2003.

A few others out there selling this line or the other two lines, but not too many people.

I have been in contact with a major breeder to collaborate with a large hatchery, so they can distribute stock to general public in future.

Best Wishes,

BT