Feed conversion in heritage turkeys

[longranger]

A fellow BYC member asked me a couple of questions I have to pass on. First do heritage turkeys have an efficient feed conversion ratio? Second are there some varieties of heritage turkeys that have better conversion ratios than the others?

 

[jenjscott]

Well you certainly can't compare feed conversion of a heritage breed with a broad breasted bird any more than you can compare a cornish cross with a RIR. However, there are some that are better than others. The one that comes to mind is the Royal Palm was developed strictly as an ornament, and probably is one of the lowest on the list of feed efficiency. I will tell you something interesting though. I had a palm tom and bourbon red hen cross hatching, and those birds are growing bigger and faster than either the RPs or the BRs. Next year I may do another cross just for my own meat turkeys for the year.

 

[chickenannie]

The reason people charge twice as much for a heritage turkey than they do for a BBW turkey is because it takes twice as long and twice as much feed for the heritage bird. So I don't think you can compare the two as mentioned above. There is however an old manual that is now online (though ATTRA) I think that has heritage turkey feed conversions. You might be able to google it online. The original book was by an author named Marsden I think. The book was written pre-WWII.