Source for Medium White turkeys

[Buster52]

Hi, y'all.

I had heard of the Giant (or Broad Breasted) White and the Midget White, and the Holland White. Until today, I had never heard of the Medium White. I guess it is a creation by the meat bird industry that isn't as big as the Giant White, but grows faster to market size.

According to my source (Storey's Guide to Raising Turkeys), they are hard to come by because they aren't for general use, only for the industry.

Anybody know a source for these things? I'd love to raise something like this.

Thanks!

 

[Celie]

Never heard of them as a Heritage breed recognized by the APA! I could probably crossbreed a Beltsville Small White Heritage and a Holland White Heritage and get a Hybrid, medium size white bird, but don't know what problems they might have, like the Giant White Hybrids do. Also known as BBW. All of the other colorful Heritage breeds are medium size, so what would be the point? Too many crossbreeds, already, if you ask me. Just saying. you could cross any 2 breeds and come up with a new turkey, but that is not preserving the true rare endangered heritage breeds we already have. Like a bunch of mutts! No offence intended!

 

[Celie]

See: http://www.livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/conservation-priority-list#Turkeys

 

[Buster52]

Thanks for the advice, unsolicited though it might be.

The reason I am interested in them is because this is the sort of birds my customers want. We have in the past raised Bourbon Reds, Narragansetts, Royal Palms, and Blue Slates for sale, but customer satisfaction was not as high as for the broad breasted white. People like that breast meat. Not to mention feed conversion rate is very low with heritage, so it took longer to grow them out and took a lot more feed to do so.

So, I was spending a lot more time and money raising birds that were not as well received by the clientele.

I would be interested in a bird that grows as fast or faster than the BBW but doesn't reach quite the size (I've butchered some at 50+ pounds before), hence the question. After poking around, I am wondering if the author of the above mentioned book was referring to the Midget White, which was also developed from the Giant White for commercial purposes in the 1950s, but why call it Medium then, and why say it is exclusive to industrial meat bird industry? It does sound like it might do the job I'm wanting, since most of my customers prefer a bird 8 to 12 or 15 pounds dressed.

Does anybody raise these Midget Whites? If so, what is their feed conversion rate and how long does it take for them to reach market weight? How are they at reproducing? It would be nice to have a breeding flock, which is close to impossible with the Giants unless you use AI.

Which doesn't interest me. At all.

Two asides:
1. I still own and raise Bourbon Reds, Narragansett, and Standard Bronze heritage breeds, for our own use and personal interests.

2. Giant Whites are not hybrids. They may not be recognized as a breed, but they do breed true. They are not crossed with anything now days to create offspring. They might grow like Cornish Cross, but they aren't created from various hybrid lines. But that's okay... I know people who raise them for a living who don't know that.