Porter's Rare Turkeys

[Rosalind]

Has anyone done business with them in the past? Are they good about shipping, communicating in a timely fashion?

I had an order in with Sand Hill, and was sorely disappointed--they had nothing to ship me for four different breeds, so they refunded my money, but now it's so late in the season that I am scrambling to figure out where else I can order from. Some things, the true Araucanas I wanted, of course nobody has them really. Even though the other breeds I wanted (Silkies, Jersey Giants, GLWs) are not uncommon, no one seems to have all three and also sells turkey poults. Anyway, the only other place I can find that has a good variety of turkeys in more than a few colors is Porter's.

I don't mind getting an assortment to speed things up because it seems like they will have a good variety in an assortment, given how many genetics projects they have ongoing. Is that a reasonable assumption? I'd be cool with rainbow-colored turkeys, but less so with a bunch of plain ol' White Hollands. Does that make sense? Has anyone else ordered from them before? If so, what did you get?

 

[matthew1985]

i won eggs from him on egg bid.com they were blue palms and pencild red palms and let me tel u i got 6 extra eggs there doing good in the bator i dident have one single egg broke the best packin ive ever seen an yes he answers all ur ?s fast i recomend him .he has very nice selections! let me know what u get

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
I've have known Kevin for years now. I don't think he is still shipping this time of year. To get the order of your choice you should order about Jan or Feb at the latest. We keep getting people wanting turkey hatching eggs and it's to hot to ship them - needless to say some aren't very pleased.

Steve in NC

 

[shortcake1806]

That really stinks, you're left scrambling to find chicks and poults you thought were taken care of.

I've never ordered from this breeder, just wanted to wish you good luck.

 

[matthew1985]

i got my eggs on may 29th and all is well right now

 

[Rosalind]

To get the order of your choice you should order about Jan or Feb at the latest.

I know, right? I sent in my order to Sand Hill on Jan 2nd! January-freakin'-SECOND!

Got the confirmation and everything was peachy, until the delivery date came and went...and then another three weeks came and went...and then got an email saying they had already sent a refund check and I should have gotten it already, because the birdies weren't cooperating.

So now it's late late late and I'm trying to figure out what to do--I even had the order split with a friend who is new to chickens, and she is none too happy.

I'm just annoyed. I'd order veggie seeds from Sand Hill again, they were timely and good about that, good quality with high germination rates, but I don't think I will ever order poultry from them again. I'd rather they maintained a larger stock of fewer, rarer breeds that you can't find elsewhere--that way you can be sure that at least some critters will be breeding successfully even if a particular type tends toward broody. But, well, it's not my business to run.

Matthew, you are correct, Kevin just emailed me that he is still shipping and an assortment would be no problem. So I'm thinking what I'm gonna do is this: Original plan was to gradually get into turkeys and ease DH into the idea with 5 turkeys and eat 2 this year, then increase the turkeys incrementally by 5/year until I had a decent breeding flock. DH and I had a heart to heart and he has accepted the concept of many turkeys at once, provided I do all the messy bits and he doesn't have to build any new coops (which is fine, we have plenty barn & coop space). New plan is, get an assortment this year, eat howevermany don't make the cut for breeding stock. Get chickens from My Pet Chicken, the only place that still has 3/4 breeds of chicken in stock, and then get the Araucanas I wanted from a breeder...somewhere...​

 

[matthew1985]

i picked up 11 aracans or how ever its spelled at a auction there a blue and a few blacks in there i dont know much about them but got them at a fair price..im not sure how to ship them or even know enuf to be sure thats what they are...im sorry but i could take a pic of them and if they look like what there sapose to i could ship them to u..for what i got them for plus shipping.

 

[corancher]

I have been doing business with Kevin at Porter Turkeys for several years. I have never gotten poults from him only hatching eggs but the quality of the stock has been wonderful. A lot of my original stock was from them.

I have Slate eggs from them in my bator now. If you can get some poults, I don't think you will be sorry.

 

[Rosalind]

Well, you all have convinced me. I put in an order with Kevin for poults. The timing is actually pretty decent I think, as the poults will be out of the brooder box and in the warmest room of the barn by the time the My Pet Chicken order shows up. Then by the time the chickens are ready to be let loose in the barn, the turkeys will be ready for their own coop and we'll be into the nice sunny, warm weather. They'll be comfy in a partially-shaded coop under the trees, not too hot not too cool.

Matthew, thank you for the offer, but I have found a breeder--that quick! She's not too far from my BIL. Hopefully, I can get some Araucanas.

Hoping that of all the things I did this morning, at least the turkeys went right. It's been a long morning for everything else...don't ask me about hardware stores, that's all I have to say.

 

[Oklahoma Lightning]

He only taking orders until July and something are sold out already.
That what he told me this week.