Has anyone heard of are seen broad breasted auburns?

[Jesz]

I ordered turkeys from a hatchery they shipped yesterday and will be delivered tomorrow. Praying they all make it from WV to South Louisiana. I called the Post office this morning and spoke with the supervisor, she said they will call me the moment they arrive.

Has anyone raised broad breasted Auburn and do the mate naturally? The hatchery said they are too big and will have to use artifical insemination, is this true?

 

[Celie]

I did not know there was a BB Auburn, where did you find them? If they are BB, they are probably similar to BBW and BBB, only av different color. I had some BBW's, before and holding the weight of the tom down, managed to get close to a dozen fertile eggs, before he got too large to properly mount the hen.

 

[Jesz]

I purchased them from valley of the moon turkeys. Here is the web address. http://www.valleyofthemoonturkeys.com. I googled pictures of them they are beautiful. I didn't have any luck finding bronze (that is what I currently have). Please post your pics of your bbw I would love to see them.

 

[Celie]

I purchased them from valley of the moon turkeys. Here is the web address. http://www.valleyofthemoonturkeys.com. I googled pictures of them they are beautiful. I didn't have any luck finding bronze (that is what I currently have). Please post your pics of your bbw I would love to see them.

I raised BBW one year when I first got "Turkey raising fever", before I knew they had to be AI !

I saw them at a local feed store and they were so cute, I just had to have some!! Call me impulsive !

I now raise the Heritage Holland Whites, that are the largest breed of white turkey that doesn't need to be AI. The Heritage Standard Bronze is a little bigger, but colored feathered turkeys have dark pin feathers and are harder to dress out and take more time to process. Thanks for the link, I will check them out!

 

[Jesz]

I received my turkeys this morning 15 dead out of 19. Two are thriving and the other 2 are showing signs of improvement. When I emailed the hatchery their response was they were alive when they left. That is not exceptable, the box they came in had very little hay at the bottom, nothing to keep them warm. I am very disappointed in the hatchery for their shipping methods.

 

[Arielle]

I just can't imagine oping a box to find all the poults dead--so sorry. Did they arrive in a timely manner? Can't remember the ship date? How has the weather been in the area? Poults are regarded as delicate, but I would hope the hatchery would guarentee they arrive alive if they arrived in a timely manner.

I bought 20 poults from Porters but that was summer with over heating being the issue in August.

I would check their website to recheck their policy. ANd encourage them to either replace the poults or refund your money as you spend a lot of time on BYC and would like to tell everyone how wonderful the hatchery was to deal with.

I hope the others survive and thrive so you can keep us posted. I bought mostly AUburns from Porters. I like the color, a bit different than the Bourbon Reds. I am particularly interested that these that you have are broad breasted-- I'd like to see a bit more growth and meat on the heritage birds.

 

[Arielle]

Jesz

here is their warrenty;

4. Purchaser shall examine all shipments in the presence of the delivery agency immediately upon arrival. In the event of any loss or damage at the time of delivery, Purchaser shall forward Seller an inspection and loss report signed by the delivery agency as no adjustment for any loss at the time of delivery can be made without such inspection and loss report. All claims for adjustments are aforesaid and must be made in writing no later than thirty (30) days after delivery.

 

[Jesz]

They hatched on 12/18 and I received them 12/20 as I was told. They came from WV to South Louisiana, my husband check the weather and it was in the 30's at night and 60's during the day. I feel like they should have put hand/feet warmers in the box, more hay are something to keep them warmer. I had to put them in my "hatcher" for them to warm up, they were shrivering (poor birds). Good news is the 2 that were making progress one of them is walking around this morning, chirping, eating and drinking. The other one is drinking and eating but can not stand up but has alot of energy.

I originally ordered bronze from the hatchery, they emailed me and said they only had 2 that hatched and told me about the bb auburns. Then emailed me later stating they found 2 more bronze. so they sent me 15 bb auburns and 4 bronze. I have 3 bb auburns and one bronze (bronze is the one that can not stand up).

I have 2 turkeys now they are 2 months old, I do not know if they are bronze or golden narragensts. Several people have told me they are hens, will have to find my girls a tom.

 

[Arielle]

With the few surviving polt one is bound to be a male!! ANd might be ready for the job come spring, if you don't mind cross breds. Cross breds are pretty and taste just as good if you like to roast them.

Did you follow their procedures and open the box at the PO? SOme companies are sticklers for rules and seeing the somplete of their policies makes me feel they have had problems and want to CYA. I would contact them again and see if you can get some refund; they have the option of bending their rules and most will to keep a customer happy. I"m interesting in buying some bb AUburns but not if they don't resolve this in a way that makes you satisfied. I won't do business with that kind of company. SO I might need some eggs from you later in the summer!!!

I hope you will keep us posted on the progress of the surviving poults -- the broad breastedness of an auburn I find intriguing and wonder how they accomplished this and wonder if anyone else has their birds.

 

[Jesz]

The hatchery rectified the situation, I could not believe it. I woke up this morning the only bronze that survived is now walking, before he couldn't even stand up. I'm hope the bronze is a tom to go along with my 2-3 month old girls in the yard. I have 3 bb auburn, 1 is alot bigger then the other 2 so fingers crossed I will have a tom and hens.

I do not think I will try hatcheries anymore, I would rather drive to pick up turkeys to add to my flock.