Midget Hybrids

[MalHagger95]

Has anyone ever tried pairing a heritage breed with a midget white to produce smaller turkeys with large breed coloration? My daughter would like to add a trio to our little farm. I’m kind of scared to have her around a large Tom, being that she’s only 5 and she’s tiny for her age (little under 3 feet tall and a little over 33 pounds. The bronze tom she saw was almost twice her size!! I’m pretty fond of the bourbon reds and the bronzes, and she likes the blue slates and royal palms.

 

[R2elk]

Has anyone ever tried pairing a heritage breed with a midget white to produce smaller turkeys with large breed coloration? My daughter would like to add a trio to our little farm. I’m kind of scared to have her around a large Tom, being that she’s only 5 and she’s tiny for her age (little under 3 feet tall and a little over 33 pounds. The bronze tom she saw was almost twice her size!! I’m pretty fond of the bourbon reds and the bronzes, and she likes the blue slates and royal palms.

First they are all the same breed which is Turkey. Many have used the Royal Palm bred to Whites to try to re-create the Midget White. Of all the Heritage varieties the Royal palm is the smallest other than the SOP for the Midget White. Blue Slates and Bourbon Reds are on the large size for heritage varieties.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Can’t talk her into chickens huh? Wee little ones and big strong birds kinda scare me!
Guess that makes me chicken!!! Just wondering

 

[MalHagger95]

Can’t talk her into chickens huh? Wee little ones and big strong birds kinda scare me!
Guess that makes me chicken!!! Just wondering

It’s kind of hard to talk her out of turkeys when I want some too
If I hear too many bad stories about it, I’ll wait until she gets a little older though.

 

[Pak Rat]

Turkeys are amazing pets, my little sister has a small flock and they are sooo attached to her, they adore her and are very tender with her, even if not always with one another. She spent a lot of time with them as chicks (they bond very strongly), and now at five years old they still follow her around like babies unless they're broody.

(Definitely go for a smaller heritage breed if you can, the health problems associated with bigger birds are heartbreaking!)

 

[MalHagger95]

Turkeys are amazing pets, my little sister has a small flock and they are sooo attached to her, they adore her and are very tender with her, even if not always with one another. She spent a lot of time with them as chicks (they bond very strongly), and now at five years old they still follow her around like babies unless they're broody.

(Definitely go for a smaller heritage breed if you can, the health problems associated with bigger birds are heartbreaking!)

I would really like bourbon reds or heritage bronze and she wants a couple blues. We planned on hatching ours. You think she’d be fine if she handled the poults a lot as they grew?

 

[Amer]

I would really like bourbon reds or heritage bronze and she wants a couple blues. We planned on hatching ours. You think she’d be fine if she handled the poults a lot as they grew?

Yeah probably. Turkeys make really great pets. Don't let her pick them up though, and be really careful of the sharp spurs. They are much too big for a five year old to carry. Maybe just keep hens? They are more docile. I had a hen. The problem is, they could catch diseases from chickens that you wouldn't notice in chickens and break her heart. All of our turkeys got that. I had to choose between chickens and turkeys after that and it was really hard, because I liked the personality of the turkeys more.

 

[R2elk]

I would really like bourbon reds or heritage bronze and she wants a couple blues. We planned on hatching ours. You think she’d be fine if she handled the poults a lot as they grew?

All of the problem turkeys that I have had to deal with were problems because they were imprinted by people when they were new hatchlings. It causes them to lose the ability to understand that there is a difference between them and people.

 

[Pak Rat]

Those are a nice choices Getting them as babies of course is the best idea, hatching them at home is the pinnacle of that, the only "downside" is the potential ratio of boys-to-girls, if behavioral problems arise between them when they're adults it's really hard to have to get rid of them, and hormone injections/implants can be expensive and impractical. Just something to think about... Maybe hatch just one or two at first and go from there? Not saying avoid the boys, I had a male turkey and he was an absolute treasure, but he was also an only child. Another idea would be to arrange for a backup home with someone you know in case you did have to rehome a bird. They bond very strongly, once they're pets, they're pets. I think your daughter is going to love them. And yes, absolutely, the more she spends time with them the better! In fact it's going to be hard not to spend all her time with them, lol. When I talk to people about turkey chicks, I call them the puppies of the bird world

 

[007Sean]

All of the problem turkeys that I have had to deal with were problems because they were imprinted by people when they were new hatchlings. It causes them to lose the ability to understand that there is a difference between them and people.

X2 the wild ones I had imprinted on me so fast, it wasn't even funny. They became a terror after they reached adulthood. Bad habits that could not be broken.