Buying Heritage breeds from hatchery's?

[The Red Rooster]

I read that hatchery's don't always have pure breeds of turkey. Is this true? For example, someone said that they bought a Royal Palm from a hatchery. The Royal Palm grew up to have a red tint. Is it taking a chance by buying a heritage turkey from a hatchery?

~AnnEilse

 

[poultrypalacewhidbey]

Yes, in the large hatcheries there is a tendency for the rare and heritage breeds of all birds to have a little (or a lot) or something else mixed into their bloodlines. They do this in order to get vigour back into their flocks because they did not use proper breeding processes in the first place. If a breeding flock is managed properly this is not necessary, if it was there would be no purebred breeds of chickens in existence today. If you have a couple of breeds in mind then post them here and I can get you the contact info of breeders who breed purebred birds and can ship. Often the prices for the birds are similar to the large hatcheries and the quality is always higher than that of hatcheries (in my experience).

 

[The Red Rooster]

Thank you very much.

So far I'm interested in Royal Palms.

~AnnElise

 

[poultrypalacewhidbey]

Hi,
Glad to hear you are interested in Palms. I raise palms and have found that they are a very nice breed of turkey. They have great temperment, are good layers and broodies and are naturally mating so you once you have some you can keep your flock going yourself and not have to buy more. (They also taste good). Here is the website of Porters Rare Heritage Turkeys, they raise a ton of different breeds and have purebred palms. www.porterturkeys.com
If you are interested in show quality birds you can try contacting King Phelps in Oregon 541-584-2271, he raises show quality royal palms and i think that he ships poults (there are government rules about poultry shipping that require you to have a government tester come and test your flock for certain diseases every year if you want to ship birds between states, the cost of such testing and certification keeps some very good breeders being able to ship their birds).

 

[ColbyNTX]

Ann,

Look for local breeders this spring as you can see the parents of the brd and maybe some adult offspring. There are some hatchery birds that will make some great pets or supper. Most hatcheries do not raise turkeys but get their eggs from private breeders. So then they have to go on the word of the breeders as to what the eggs are they get.