Midget White Turkeys

[iajewel]

I just ordered my first dozen of Midget white turkeys and wondered how many other people on here breed them. I will need added genetics soon enough, so wanted to get to know other breeders. also does anyone know if color variates have been developed, or just white?

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Just white so far as I know though you will get the occasional odd black feather on a bird. I've never had more than one black feather on any of my birds. More than those and I wouldn't breed them myself.

My original birds came from Sandhill and I like them right well. I have a new batch from Steve at S&S in North Carolina that are coming up and they look good as well.

 

[iajewel]

This will be my first experience with them and Im really looking forward to it. It doesn't seem that many people breed them.

 

[onthespot]

I have a few and I really like them.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

delete

 

[zekii]

We are also considering getting some Midget whites, poults are hard to come by here, so I am considering hatching
eggs.

Do you think this time of year turkey hatching eggs are fertile, I read that the mating season usually only runs thru April ?

How does this breed do in the cold weather, what's required for housing ?

Never had turkeys before

 

[iajewel]

Im getting mine from Welps just because thats the hatchery my local feed store uses and Welps has the breed. Because my feed store buys so many Cornish cross chicks a year from them, they were able to get me quite a savings on the turkeys, so that helped.
Me, personally, because of the time of year, and the fact shipped eggs don't have the best of reputation, and the rarity of the breed (thus cost) personally I would order chicks.
As for housing, a chicken or a duck will find shelter just about anywhere and do pretty well if they are adults birds. I know most of us don't leave them to huddle under a bush in a storm, however they could. Turkeys however can't. They need shelter. They need to stay dry and out of the wind. They don't care how pretty it is, they do care how dry it is and how much draft gets in during really cold months. Hope that helps.

 

[ColbyNTX]

Quote:
Why would you want a different color? If they were anything other than white, they wouldn't be midget whites!

 

[iajewel]

It was a question as most things eventually develop into color varieties. Look at even the meat birds like Cornish rocks, they are now coming in colors, so.. just wondered if there were any other midget breeds with colors. I agree that to keep the breed true, they should not be anything but white, however maybe someday there will be midget blues, or midget bronze? who knows? The whole midget thing never really did catch on like the developers of the breed thought, so it will probably never happen they go the next step and have many midget types.

 

[2buckskins]

I have MW's that I got as hatching eggs from Steve of S & S Poultry off ebay, and I would recommend his birds/eggs to anyone else. We hatched out some AWESOME birds!! We are really happy with everything about them- type, temperament, and health.