Natural breeding

[Oreo]

Hi, y'all. I'm interested in possibly getting a few turkeys. I know some breeds, such as BBB, can not naturally breed and have to be artificially inseminated.

Questions:
1. How difficult is the AI process, is it a pain to deal with, or relatively simple?
2. What breeds can breed naturally?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[KellyHM]

Anything that is broad breasted can't breed naturally. Anything that's not should be able to breed on its own. AI is not that hard, but the broad breasted breeds don't live very long since they were bred to be butchered early and their bodies can't handle the weight.

 

[Oreo]

So-- other than the Broad-Breasted Bronze, which ones are broad? Only ones that specifically say "broad?" Also, for the broad-breasted ones, is it the males, the females, or both that are, say, incompatible with breeding to a non-broad-breasted turkey?

 

[bigchicken2]

Quote:
BB White, both

 

[Tunastopper]

You can use a standard bred tom to breed broad breasted hens without doing AI.

 

[Oreo]

Quote:
Ah! that's good to know. Maybe I'll try turkeys after all, if I can get some that will breed on their own.

 

[pdpatch]

Broad Breasted turkeys can try to bread naturally, but because older toms can be around 50 pounds they tend to injure the hens. Also that double breast can make it difficult for them to get into the correct position to from there sperm correctly. So you end up with less then 10% success rate when naturally breading them. When dealing with double breasted varieties you need to separate the Toms and Hens so the Hens don't get injured by the Toms trying to mate, because they will try.

Breeding a standard Tom to a BBB hen will not always result in a BBB, You will get a mixed lot of turkeys.

If you get them from a hatchery then they will be advertised at either standard or BBB's. If you get them from a farm store of feed store they may not be marked correctly. They may just be labeled at Bronze Turkeys. At just a few days old you may not be able to tell which is which with Bronze, but by 2 to 3 weeks old you should be able to. The biggest clue is the price, Standard Bronze Poults don't sale for 6 to 7 dollars a each. Great White Poults are larger then at a few days old then other varieties so you can tell you have them.


Any variety but the Great Whites and Broad Breasted Bronze you can let breed naturally.

Tom

 

[Lagerdogger]

If you want natural breeders, just forget the BBB all together and get some heritage strains. With heritage strains you can get a wider variety of colors, and if you do your homework, you can cross strains that you can buy from the big hatcheries and produce some truly exciting looking birds. The heritage strains that are easy to get are Royal Palm, Bourbon Red, Narragansett, Standard Bronze, Spanish Blacks, White Holland, Blue Slate, and Chocolate. Most of the big hatcheries have these. To see what these and other strains look like, google Porters Heritage Turkeys website.

 

[Oreo]

Thanks! That's encouraging. I went to the auction tonight and watched three turkeys get sold-- two were BBB males, and one was a Royal Palm male. They went for $30-40 apiece.

 

[Lotsapaints]

Cackle will let you buy 5 poults with your chicken order. If you want to eat them make sure to order early as heritage birds need 30 weeks to be "finished" so you would need to have them in April...I ordered in Feb to get April delivery and if I order poults again I think I would try for the end of March....or get them now when they are cheaper and raise them longer then they could range around and I would butcher them at 16 to 18 months Turkeys will steal your heart good thing I've raised many of my own meals just saying