Turkeys For Meat?

[poultry guy]

Hi, i want turkeys so i can raise for meat but i want them to be able to bread by their selves with no intervention. Wich kind do think i should get?. my family has five people in it that will all eat a lot on thanskgiving.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I would love to get turkeys but I only want like 2 no where sells just two.

 

[sheila3935]

My plan for this next year is to raise a few turkeys. I plan on getting a couple of heritage breeds just not sure yet which I want. I want a tom and a couple of hens to use as breeders so each year I can hatch my own so I dont have to buy poults each year. At the feedstore here you can order as few as 2 and the hatchery will ship them to the store. So my plan is to raise a few BB Bronze this year for meat and get my heritage breed for the next year.

 

[slc]

Quote:
There is one turkey breed perfect for your needs.

Imagine a small version of a broad breasted meat turkey, white feathered for a clean skin, not a hybrid nor hatchery produced, mates naturally and BREEDS TRUE. Compactly built, higher flesh to bone ratio than standard heritage. Capable of breeding and hatching out their own replacement birds. Hardy and disease resistant, good foragers, able to be raised outdoors with minimal input. Friendly when hand raised and easy to care for, smaller birds easier to house and feed, docile rarely aggressive even around my young daughter. This turkey is an authentic commercial meat turkey that breeds true. Developed by the USDA in the 1930's and was the largest selling commercially produced white turkey up into the 1950's. It has the distinction of being the only turkey ever sold in the US that was labeled by breed name.

It's the Beltsville Small White and you'll likely not find many "meat quality" specimens nowadays. Good meat quality breeding lines are extremely rare. They only exist in small private flocks in the US and Canada. Hatchery turkey labeled "Beltsville" are actually midget whites, not true Beltsville Small Whites. I've spent the last 4 years searching and collecting meat quality birds to begin offering breeding stock. There was only one breeder offering this line to the general public, but they recently dispersed their flocks. I hope to fill that void beginning in the spring of 2012. I have traced my stock back to the last of the original USDA flock in Ames IA. They have only passed through four breeders so I know they are the genuine thing. All previous keepers of this line have culled and selected for the original Beltsville meat qualities like growth, body shape, and breast size. They need some more work to get them back to their original breed form but there is progress.

This bird is such a perfect choice for the backyard producer that I couldn't bear the thought of no one having access to it. I'll have limited numbers of hatching eggs available some time in March-April, perhaps day old poults some time later in the year. PM me and I can add you to my contact list if you are interested.

 

[RAREROO]

Quote:
From most hatcheries, you could order as few turkeys as you want and fill the rest with cheap chicks and sell or give away the chicks. That's what I did, I only wanted 10 so I ordered 10 from cackled and filled the rest with chicks.

 

[RAREROO]

Quote:
The two broadbreasted colors are the only ones that can reproduce by themselves, so ou can choose which ever breed you like beast out of the other heritage breeds.

 

[ColbyNTX]

Quote:
There is one turkey breed perfect for your needs.

Imagine a small version of a broad breasted meat turkey, white feathered for a clean skin, not a hybrid nor hatchery produced, mates naturally and BREEDS TRUE. Compactly built, higher flesh to bone ratio than standard heritage. Capable of breeding and hatching out their own replacement birds. Hardy and disease resistant, good foragers, able to be raised outdoors with minimal input. Friendly when hand raised and easy to care for, smaller birds easier to house and feed, docile rarely aggressive even around my young daughter. This turkey is an authentic commercial meat turkey that breeds true. Developed by the USDA in the 1930's and was the largest selling commercially produced white turkey up into the 1950's. It has the distinction of being the only turkey ever sold in the US that was labeled by breed name.

It's the Beltsville Small White and you'll likely not find many "meat quality" specimens nowadays. Good meat quality breeding lines are extremely rare. They only exist in small private flocks in the US and Canada. Hatchery turkey labeled "Beltsville" are actually midget whites, not true Beltsville Small Whites. I've spent the last 4 years searching and collecting meat quality birds to begin offering breeding stock. There was only one breeder offering this line to the general public, but they recently dispersed their flocks. I hope to fill that void beginning in the spring of 2012. I have traced my stock back to the last of the original USDA flock in Ames IA. They have only passed through four breeders so I know they are the genuine thing. All previous keepers of this line have culled and selected for the original Beltsville meat qualities like growth, body shape, and breast size. They need some more work to get them back to their original breed form but there is progress.

This bird is such a perfect choice for the backyard producer that I couldn't bear the thought of no one having access to it. I'll have limited numbers of hatching eggs available some time in March-April, perhaps day old poults some time later in the year. PM me and I can add you to my contact list if you are interested.

I like my BSW's even if they don't meet your standards. They are very meaty and they are not WH's.

 

[Tracydr]

I'm interested in raising just a couple of turkeys next year. I won't be able to have a self-sustaining flock for a couple of years, until we move to the country. Hubby is finishing his PhD and we're stuck in the city until then.
Questions, I'm considering Bourban Reds for my first foray
1.how loud are they compared to chickens?
2. How much space is required, do I need covered pens? Or can I just clip wings?
3.heat- will they tolerate AZ heat, if kept in shade with a fan or do I need to raise in winter and process before summer heat arrives?

 

[GrannysRoost]

Right, wrong or indifferent, someone more experienced should chime in. I am south of you in Casa Grande, and this is my first year with buying the poults last April-May. I have the Bourbon Reds and they are way quieter than the chickens, though they are now trying to sing the egg song with the hens

I have them in my large run with the older/younger layers and they get along fine. Height of pen is 8 feet, covered with bird netting. When we built the run and were framing it, one go up on the top runner boards and jumped into the neighbors yard (they have a hot wire about 6 inches from the top of our block wall), screamed like an I don't know what and flew back up. The bird netting went on the next day, as my birds and dogs don't mix well. Mine did fine as poults in the heat with no fan, I did put up a shade block for all of them, made sure they had cold water. I think you will love them

We bought an acre this past fall, but the building we are now using for the coop happened to be by the wall...

 

[zzGypsy]

as for heat, we lost a couple of poults on a 95-100 degree week, but I''m in missouri and we have high humidity to go with that temperature. shade does matter, if you're over 95 all day, you might need a mister and fan... here that doesn't really help

haven't had BRs so I can't help there