white midget turkeys

[blue90292]

i'm thinking about getting a half a dozen turkeys soon and am thinking about getting the white midgets. with my height and weight, the BB's are just too darn big for me to handle. i have a wrestle one hen one time to keep her from getting away and i'm not wanting to do that again. the midgets get to be about the size of a large chicken which i can definitely handle with ease.

has anyone had any experience with this breed? thanks.

michele

 

[greyfields]

I hadn't even heard of the midget turkey phenomenom until reading this post. Google, here I come!

 

[blue90292]

i wondered if there were any since we have bantams so why not smaller turkeys? and then i found the white midget information on feathersite and a couple of other sites so was just wondering if anyone had ever raised them.

michele

 

[blue90292]

here's a little blurb about them.

In the 1960s Dr. J. Robert Smyth at the University of Massachusetts, created the Midget White turkey breed to meet an anticipated demand for a small turkeyâ??capable of fitting into the smaller refrigerators of an increasing number of urban dwellers and single households. Yet the market for a smaller bird did not develop as predicted and a lack of demand almost pulled this breed out of production. The survival of this breed now lies completely in the hands of private individuals. Both The meat and the eggs of the Midget White are outstanding in quality


ideal hatchery down here in texas also carries them. but on their website it says to check with the local laws about having these turkeys, so i called ideal and they said i have to check with my counties game warden to make sure i'm allowed to have them on my pasture because they are a rare breed.

i don't get that....:| i kept asking her what that means but she just kept telling me, because they're a rare breed. you need to contact your game warden.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

blue90292 I just wanted to tell you I about wet my pants reading the "Easter Chickens Gone Bad" story on the Buster pages. Toooooo funny!!

 

[blue90292]

Quote:
OH, is THAT not the funniest story EVER!!! i never get tired of reading that article. that woman has a way with words and the way she tells the story is wonderful.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

The people here at work think I have lost my mind. I was laughing so hard I had tears running down. Non-chicken people just don't understand, lol.


I would be interested in getting a few of these birds. With what I'm reading, they would fit in with my flock with out any problem. I would love to have one of those beautiful Burbons or Nargasetts (sp) but just don't have the coop space.

 

[kees]

What does a white midget turkey look like? How big are they supposed to get? Are they bred to have a lot of white meat on them? How old do they get before processing?

 

[Iceblink]

Try going to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy website. They have a list of endangered livestock breeds, and midget white turkeys are on it. There is info on the foundation of each breed, their characteristics, and for most of them, there are contact lists for national breed groups.

 

[freeholdfarms]

Michelle,

Try this link:
http://sifting-the-sandhills.blogspot.com/2008/04/heritage-turkey-taste-test.html

Taste test of Heritage breeds - guess who won

The White Midget of course