Heritage Turkey Breeds for Meat

[Arosie]

Hello,

I'm interested in raising turkeys primarily for meat. I want a breed that can reproduce on its own so I don't have to buy more poults every time I need more meat, which means the Broad Breasted type aren't the best breed for me. Do any of you have experience with butchering (or eating) heritage breeds? Which breeds dress out the best? Flavor, breast meat, etc., are all things to consider as well. I would appreciate any input on the subject.
Thanks!

 

[SA Farm]

I raise Sweetgrass, but have experience with other varieties. Keep in mind all the heritage “breeds” are just colour varieties and aren’t significantly different from each other in anything other than looks.
Most of mine are around 10-15lbs by 8 months, which is pretty good for heritage (I also can’t free range anymore, so results may vary if you have a different setup.) Flavour is fabulous for all the heritage varieties. We even enjoyed the Orloppe bronze (broad breasted hybrid from a hatchery) since they were free ranged. (They weren’t quite as rich in flavour, but were HUGE in a very short amount of time. Like, couldn’t fit into the oven at 6months lol)
If you want the larger birds, you could get the broad breasted or hybrids, keep the hens and pick up a heritage Tom to breed them.
Butchering is about the same as chickens, but it’s more difficult to get the feathers off. Pliers may be needed to get those pins out.

Care-wise, they’re difficult to contain and are a predator favourite. Mine can fly out over a 6 foot fence even when clipped. I tried one and then both wings and they still escaped. Now they have a cover to keep them in and safe.
They don’t do great in high heat/humidity. Lots of water and shade for those conditions. They handle the cold very well though. I’m in Canada and mine spend most of the winter outside by their own volition.

Heritage are also nice since they’ll brood and incubate their own eggs. My one hen raised two broods last year. BB or the hybrids might not brood or might break the eggs if they try.
If you incubate the eggs yourself, they are a bit particular about humidity. I like to hatch mine with chicks to motivate them to find food and water (makes it a little easier) and offer them honey and ACV in their water for the first week to give them energy and boost their immune systems. Some cayenne pepper on their food is good too.

I give my adults cayenne, oregano and ACV at least once a month to boost them as well.

Can’t think of anything else at the moment.

 

[Baymule]

That’s a lot of great information!

 

[R2elk]

I raise Sweetgrass, but have experience with other varieties. Keep in mind all the heritage “breeds” are just colour varieties and aren’t significantly different from each other in anything other than looks.
Most of mine are around 10-15lbs by 8 months, which is pretty good for heritage (I also can’t free range anymore, so results may vary if you have a different setup.) Flavour is fabulous for all the heritage varieties. We even enjoyed the Orloppe bronze (broad breasted hybrid from a hatchery) since they were free ranged. (They weren’t quite as rich in flavour, but were HUGE in a very short amount of time. Like, couldn’t fit into the oven at 6months lol)
If you want the larger birds, you could get the broad breasted or hybrids, keep the hens and pick up a heritage Tom to breed them.
Butchering is about the same as chickens, but it’s more difficult to get the feathers off. Pliers may be needed to get those pins out.

Care-wise, they’re difficult to contain and are a predator favourite. Mine can fly out over a 6 foot fence even when clipped. I tried one and then both wings and they still escaped. Now they have a cover to keep them in and safe.
They don’t do great in high heat/humidity. Lots of water and shade for those conditions. They handle the cold very well though. I’m in Canada and mine spend most of the winter outside by their own volition.

Heritage are also nice since they’ll brood and incubate their own eggs. My one hen raised two broods last year. BB or the hybrids might not brood or might break the eggs if they try.
If you incubate the eggs yourself, they are a bit particular about humidity. I like to hatch mine with chicks to motivate them to find food and water (makes it a little easier) and offer them honey and ACV in their water for the first week to give them energy and boost their immune systems. Some cayenne pepper on their food is good too.

I give my adults cayenne, oregano and ACV at least once a month to boost them as well.

Can’t think of anything else at the moment.

All domestic turkeys are the Breed Turkey whether they are heritage or BB. You are correct that there are many different varieties. Sweetgrass, Bourbon Red, Bronze and Narragansett are among the larger varieties dressing out around 20 lbs. at full maturity between 1 to 1 1/2 years old.

Royal Palms and Midget Whites are the smaller varieties with a 15 lb. dressed weight being a big adult Royal Palm tom.

Properly scalded at 140°F to 160°F makes plucking easy..

Make sure your fence does not have a top bar or rail. It acts as a desirable perch site. Heritage turkeys can easily jump as high as 6' to get on a perch or roost. If your fence has a top rail or bar, they will inevitably get down on the wrong side of the fence and then become fence runners trying to get back in. I use 2"x4"x6' welded wire for my perimeter fence and have only rare cases of turkeys on the wrong side of the fence.

I do not brood chicks and poults together to avoid imprinting and the problems it can cause when the turkeys are adults. I have no trouble getting poults to start eating. Poults naturally pick at things on the ground. I use sand in my brooder (free for the digging here) and sprinkle feed on the sand. The poults normally start eating within 5 minutes of being placed in the brooder.

It has been proven that ACV can be harmful when given at high temperatures. Brooder temperatures are high temperatures. I do not give ACV to any of my poultry at any time. My poults get a high protein (28 to 30%) turkey or game bird starter. It has everything they need.

Some people who live in areas where blackhead is a problem do give their turkeys cayenne pepper. There is no study showing that there is any benefit to doing so. I don't use it.

I very strongly recommend against the use of ACV. ACV works for some people because of the placebo effect because those people believe it works. Animals and birds do not experience the placebo effect.

 

[Arosie]

That makes a lot of sense! I didn't realize that unlike chickens they are mostly just different color variations of the same thing. Thanks for all the info! Can they be raised with other livestock and poultry besides chickens? We raised one of our previous batches with chickens and I don't remember there being any problem. Are they not supposed to be with chickens because of disease, or what?

 

[SA Farm]

That makes a lot of sense! I didn't realize that unlike chickens they are mostly just different color variations of the same thing. Thanks for all the info! Can they be raised with other livestock and poultry besides chickens? We raised one of our previous batches with chickens and I don't remember there being any problem. Are they not supposed to be with chickens because of disease, or what?

If you’re in an area where blackhead disease is a problem, it’s best to keep turkeys separate. Otherwise just keep an eye on the boys for fighting and trying to breed a hen that isn’t theirs.

 

[SA Farm]

It has been proven that ACV can be harmful when given at high temperatures. Brooder temperatures are high temperatures. I do not give ACV to any of my poultry at any time. My poults get a high protein (28 to 30%) turkey or game bird starter. It has everything they need.

Some people who live in areas where blackhead is a problem do give their turkeys cayenne pepper. There is no study showing that there is any benefit to doing so. I don't use it.

I very strongly recommend against the use of ACV. ACV works for some people because of the placebo effect because those people believe it works. Animals and birds do not experience the placebo effect.

In all the years I’ve been raising poults, a splash of ACV in their water has never hurt them. My only proof that it’s helpful is that I have lost more poults when I don’t use it. But that could be the honey lol

Overuse of anything is dangerous. Natural preventatives should only be used moderately, for sure. BUT they can be used safely in my experience.
I’ve always been one to adhere to the “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” ideology. It works for me, but it may not be best for others.

As with any information on the internet, take it with a grain of salt and choose to use what works best for your personal situation

 

[R2elk]

In all the years I’ve been raising poults, a splash of ACV in their water has never hurt them. My only proof that it’s helpful is that I have lost more poults when I don’t use it. But that could be the honey lol

I add neither. My survival rate for poults is normally 99% or better.

 

[SA Farm]

I add neither. My survival rate for poults is normally 99% or better.

That’s great! The few I usually lose are often gone before leaving the incubator, so I know it doesn’t hold the heat/humidity the way it should. The ones that come out weak don’t or have very rarely survived without my mix.
I supplement my mama turkeys and they have a nearly perfect record of hatching and keeping their littles alive
But, I’m not going to continue this conversation with you anymore. Clearly we don’t have similar methods and yet have similar results, proving my “what works best for me may not work best for everyone else” belief.
Happy hatching

 

[Finnie]

Regarding fences:

I got rid of all my turkeys a few years ago because I kept having trouble with them jumping into my neighbor’s yard. I penned them up into a triple-long dog kennel with chicken wire over the top of it. That worked, but it wasn’t fun keeping turkeys in jail. I like to see them out eating grass and playing. So I just sold them all.

During the year that I had no turkeys, I put up an electric fence around my back poultry area, including I don’t know maybe a half acre of grassy field area with some trees. I decided to try turkeys again, and I am very happy that they rarely ever go out of the fenced area!

They can. I have seen a couple times where one takes off flying and accidentally lands outside the fence. So far (knock on wood) they have been more concerned with getting back to their friends than exploring the outer territory. The fence is 5 strands of hot wire on 3 1/2 foot step in posts, and I can tell by the way they run around looking for a way in that they respect the fence and don’t really want to duck through it. But they do duck through it when I try to herd them through the open gate, because they don’t know about the gate and they are afraid of me crowding them.