Royal palms, feed conversion?

[Bettacreek]

I just got some royal palm eggs from the chain, since I wanted to do turkeys and I wanted a small turkey. Anyways, how much crappier is the feed conversion in RP's verses the other meatier breeds? Thanks!

 

[ivan3]

It depends: http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/turkeymanual/ALBCturkey-13.pdf (though it is a pretty narrow range occupied by all H.V.'s)

What can be said to a certainty is that, as one of the lightest of the Heritage Varietals, at the end of the conversion process, the absolute amount of crap that will require shoveling will weigh less...

 

[Bettacreek]

Lol. Thank you. I'll read the link here in a minute. I plan to breed them for sales, but figured if the feed conversion wasn't terrible, it wouldn't be a big deal to raise a few for the table as well, especially if I hit a slow sales period.

 

[ivan3]

I'd suggest keeping them penned up if you are looking for a quick turnaround with these guys. Don't let `em roam and don't let them get stressed. Our guy converts most of his feed into `fun'...

Good luck!

 

[OmaBird]

Over all Palms where bred just for looks and not meat. But Royal Palm is just a color. It can be bred into any size. I like my Palms to be big. I would never purchase a adult palm that was small. I think many breeders are loosing the size in many of the colors. My Blue Palm Tom is 30 lbs.

 

[OmaBird]

I wanted to add that where I live there is a market for babies, but not much of a market for adults. Many times the babies sell for more than the adults. Find out about your market before you put lots of money into raising them to adults.

 

[ivan3]

OmaBird wrote: Over all Palms where bred just for looks and not meat. But Royal Palm is just a color. It can be bred into any size.

Nice guy. Thought I'd post one at the other end of the wt. scale for comparison:

Our tom (might flirt with 20lb., if soaked first):