Turkey choices

[FarmalI]

I am thinking about getting some turkeys for the first time.
What breed or breeds would you recommend, they dont have to real meaty, i will probably use some for meat every year, but just kind of like an all purpose breed.
What do you think?

 

[fintuckyfarms]

My favorite is the Narraganset. Great dual purpose breed, broody and great mothers. I've never had a mean or aggressive tom. Some lines can produce variations like the royal palm.

 

[sandspoultry]

We used to have 6 varieties of turkeys, Midget White, Royal Palm, Beltsville small white, standard Bronze, White Holland and Bourbon Red. Due to feed prices we had to cut back and now only have the Midgets and the Bronze. We kept the Midgets because they had the best taste and I always liked the Bronze for their size and temperament, they really are gentle giants. The Hollands were always great sitters and good at raising poults, The Bourbon's were curious and friendly and 2nd in taste to the Midgets, The Beltsville were the best layers by far but last on the taste rank. The Palms were always the first ones that people noticed and while they had a good taste they don't have a lot of breast meat due to the shallow breast bone. The only real downside to the Bronze is they break a lot of eggs trying to sit and hatch them due to their size. If you aren't sure which ones you might want try a variety, get a couple of each and see which you prefer. Then you can either sell or process what doesn't work out.

 

[FarmalI]

Ok, could you give me your oppinion on more breeds?

 

[chicken pickin]

I raise Bourbon Reds and LOVE them. They are sweet curious and friendly. Taste GREAT. And so stunning to look at.

 

[Kekko]

I raise several different color varieties of Heritage Turkey. For the life of me I can not tell any difference in taste from one variety to the next once the feathers are off! I have not tried them all yet however they “all” beat the Store bought B.B. hands down! I believe a lot of it is how you feed them and raise them. As well as how they are cooked. We either use brine or rub and slow roast or smoke them. I hatch about 450 poults each year most of which I sell as day olds. I sell a few butcher birds each fall for Thanksgiving and some of my customers say they have a taste preference to color variety.

We do love our Sweetgrass Turkeys as they are the most stunning (IMO) I’m also intrigued by the Dominate Slate genes and Chocolate genes. My Sweetgrass and Palm varieties are my best egg layers. I have a Self Blue Tom that is the best mother of them all and a Chocolate X Sweetgrass hen and Royal Palm hen that want to be lap birds. I have never had a Turkey that was aggressive toward people but “had” one Tri-color hen that was mean to the other birds, Chickens, Ducks and Geese!

Get a variety of colors or just pick what you think has the most eye appeal to you!

But be aware Heritage Turkeys are addictive! ​

 

[fintuckyfarms]

I raised Narragansetts, royal palms and broad breasted bronze. I could not tell the difference between the heritage breeds but there was a big difference between them and the bb bronze.

 

[FarmalI]

what kind of difference.

 

[Arielle]

A part of decision making can be what size you can deal with. Can you use a very large bird like a white holland or bronze? Or is a medium bird better like a Bourbon or an Auburn? Or is ssmaller better: midget or beltsville? Do you enjoy a beautiful bird like a sweetgrass?

As for taste, I have not done a side by side taste test-- I sure wish I could!! The difference in flavor I find is due to what the birds are eating. My BBW tasted like a bird from the grocery. My free ranging birds do not.

Lots of infor here onBYC if you use the search feature and plug in the names of the turkeys as you learn them.

Also, only a few area APA recognized turkeys. Some developed for the meat industry. OThers are just a color . THey all taste like turkey. Supporting an old line is always a good thing.

 

[fintuckyfarms]

what kind of difference.

Texture and taste are just different, not really sure how to explain it but once you taste the difference you will never have a store bought butterball again!