Turkeys For 2013

[Arielle]

Quote: wooden floor coated with poly urathane-- at least where it hasn't worn away! lol

THe lemon juice seems to soften the dried- like- cement white urates just enough to either rub off or if necessary scrape with my nail. I'm cleaning spot by spot. It is looking better.

 

[Arielle]

Goliath in the foreground 40lb Massive tom at 2 years old

He is HUGE. I have just a couple youngsters right now, at 4 months they are NOT nearly this big of course.

 

[Treebird]

I guess you can say I'm breeding broad breasted heritage turkeys that grow at a less accelerated rate and can still breed naturally.

 

[IAFarmGirl]

You want to raise them on wire bottom IAfarmgirl. Turkeys in my opinion are the most difficult birds to raise but others may disagree. Once they reach a certain point though, there is no stopping them. Does IA stant for Iowa? I live in Iowa. Thanks for all the compliments guys. I work hard on what I have, thats why I dont raise a ton of different turkey breeds just my Lilacs and Regal reds. The less you have, the more you can concentrate on a particular breed. I feel size is greatly diminished in many peoples flocks because the emphisis is greater on color than size. Why not keep the color and improve the size and vigor of your birds? Turkeys sole purpose has been for meat production and we dont want to lose that, just give your birds plenty of room to roam so they can still breed naturally. I also burn the spurs and back toenails off of my breeder toms because they are so heavy. I don't want them tearing open the backs on my hens.

Yes the IA stands for Iowa. I live in the southcentral part of the state. Why should I raise them on wire? Won't wood or dirt work?

Your birds are very nice! And I agree that you should select for size and vigor. I think they are probably more important than color. Can't eat color!

 

[Arielle]

I guess you can say I'm breeding broad breasted heritage turkeys that grow at a less accelerated rate and can still breed naturally.

THis interests me because I have been thinking, strongly, of crossing BBB or BBW to my heritage for instant superior growth, a commercial strain of sorts.

THere is a poultry farm that offers what they call broad breasted AUburns, and it has me wondering how the line was made.

 

[Treebird]

IAfarmgirl you raise them on wire because little poults love eating pine chips or their own little poops. Young turkeys are very susceptible to bacteria in their digestive tract killing them also getting blockages from pine bedding. They get sick and they wont even try to live. once they are grown they are unstopable. Arielle, love that name. I don't recommend using that technique because BBBs grow at a more rapid rate which causes a bunch of problems. I recommend raising birds that grow big and pack on a lot of flesh but do so at a normal heritage turkey rate. Hope this helps

 

[Arielle]

IAfarmgirl you raise them on wire because little poults love eating pine chips or their own little poops. Young turkeys are very susceptible to bacteria in their digestive tract killing them also getting blockages from pine bedding. They get sick and they wont even try to live. once they are grown they are unstopable. Arielle, love that name. I don't recommend using that technique because BBBs grow at a more rapid rate which causes a bunch of problems. I recommend raising birds that grow big and pack on a lot of flesh but do so at a normal heritage turkey rate. Hope this helps

All input is welcome!!

I have about 30 turkeys right now and with winter coming in, I'm thinking about the effort and expense to winter over these birds. AND I'm thinking about next spring. Don't get me wrong, I see value in not letting the old heritage breeds disappear, but these birds eat a lot for the amount of meat I get in return.

Porters says that most of these heritage breeds need some work to restore them to the heavier weights. I also think with the heavier weights is the need for faster growth. (Two different selections goals.) Definitely faster growth of muscling is the best use of purchased grains. So . . . then the opposite it probably true, slower growth is valuable when cheap local food is available over an extended time period. In both situations, I need the birds to get in the freezer before winter sets in. All this keeps me thinking. . . .


edited to add: post 6666

 

[Treebird]

Why not just raise Broad breasted whites then? I say this because if the goal is to get them to the freezer on less feed, your work has already been done for you. I'm trying to put bigger frames on my birds so that they can fill out those frames with more flesh at a normal rate all the while they still have the long legs and only a slightly larger breast so they can still breed naturally and live a long life being a heritage breed. I raise several groups of toms over a year time frame. I don't pay attention to which one grows faster. I look for the one who's obtained the largest size in that time frame. My main goal is still to preserve a breed, I just want them to be a bigger, showier end result.

 

[Bettacreek]

I'm guessing that they want a showier bird that also has meat on it and doesn't take two years to completely fill out into something worth eating. I have a royal palm/BBB mix tom who has MUCH more meat than the pure royal palm, but still isn't nearly what you get on a pure BB. My BBW hennies outweigh the tom easily.

 

[Arielle]

Why not just raise Broad breasted whites then? I say this because if the goal is to get them to the freezer on less feed, your work has already been done for you. I'm trying to put bigger frames on my birds so that they can fill out those frames with more flesh at a normal rate all the while they still have the long legs and only a slightly larger breast so they can still breed naturally and live a long life being a heritage breed. I raise several groups of toms over a year time frame. I don't pay attention to which one grows faster. I look for the one who's obtained the largest size in that time frame. My main goal is still to preserve a breed, I just want them to be a bigger, showier end result.

I'm guessing that they want a showier bird that also has meat on it and doesn't take two years to completely fill out into something worth eating. I have a royal palm/BBB mix tom who has MUCH more meat than the pure royal palm, but still isn't nearly what you get on a pure BB. My BBW hennies outweigh the tom easily.

I have to admit that while I admire all that keep the heritage breeds, I have reached a point of asking my self WHY do I have these birds? Of course the answer is NOT simple. Feeding is the biggest expense. I'm struggling with can I grow enough to feed them with out buying grain?

I did raise about 8 BBW in 2011 and couldn't find a buyer willing to pay the cost of raising it. We enjoyed eating all of them over the next few months. THe flavor was the same as the grocery store on some of them. PErhaps the result of a basic corn-SB pellet.

Through another thread, broast breasted auburns, I am intersted in more info on these. I can't tell if the these are just auburn colored or are the real auburns. If anyone knows auburns. chime in.