Interesting article about types of turkeys - midge white & bourbon red

[Linda in San Diego]

From the Mother Earth News, here is an article about the different turkey breeds. The title is:
Midget White and Bourbon Red Turkeys are Better!


http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/Midget-White-Turkey.aspx

 

[Linda in San Diego]

I forgot to ask, how long does it take for a turkey to become plate ready?

 

[pdpatch]

Generally speaking about 30 weeks for a Heritage Breed turkey.

A Great White or BB breasted is about 20 weeks.

But it depends on How large a turkey you want for the table. At 17 weeks a BB Breasted male can go 17 pounds dressed.

From our experiance Bourbon Red are extreamly high strung, and darting in every which direction. Last night the got scared by a Gull flying over head.

Slates are some what better, but not much.

Also in most cases it appears that free ranging on grass improves the taste of the turkey.

The "Butter Ball turkey" I assume is a Great White commercially raised. Which means no grass or free ranging.

Tom

 

[blue90292]

i've been trying for months to find the midget white to no avail. i'm suppose to be getting midget white eggs in the spring though. the midget whites tend to go broody very often, from what i've read and so eggs can be hard to come by. thanks to a fellow byc'er, though, i'll be getting my narri turkey eggs either today or tomorrow. woot! i heard they grow to be very large and are very very docile. which is exactly what i need since my son is only 6 and big birds scare him. LOL

 

[sandspoultry]

Our Bourbon Reds aren't flighty at all, they are very curious though. To the point of being hard to get any work done in their area as they are underfoot so much. I was building a new gate and a couple of the hens were "helping me out" and I just knew I was going to hit one with a hammer. They would check out the nail, check out the hammer, check out the gate, roost on me. It was shooo them away and hurry up and maybe just maybe I could hit the nail twice before they came back and put their heads between the hammer and nail.
The midget whites are great table birds as the article says. If anybody is interested in eggs from either breeds we have a list started for 2009 egg sales, send to [email protected]. Here are some pics

Steve in NC

 

[walkswithdog]

I'm on the list!!! Yes, we want BR turkeys! Finding that I'm having trouble now even standing the wait. And of course I'm after some of Steve's cochins as well.

After playing with a few juvenilles at the local fair, we're both captivated. Silly things. Can't wait.

I started looking at heritage breeds last year and it just makes sense.

 

[sandspoultry]

"Everybody loves a turkey"