NH Homesteader- turkeys!

[frustratedearthmother]

Have you tied the Livestock Conservancy? I think they have breeder lists....?

http://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/directory

 

[NH homesteader]

Ok for one, it's snowing right now. What?? For two, I can't wait to be in farm country!

 

[NH homesteader]

Thanks FEM! Will check it out in the morning, phone's being wonky tonight. We have a 4 breed list (for starters, lol!)

 

[Mike CHS]

I know you want to avoid hatcheries but there is one not far from where you are looking in Tennessee. You can find it searching for - Poultry Hollow.

We use them and know several others that do and are happy with them. If you look for reviews they had a couple of really bad reviews a few years ago but it almost looks like that was from a new hatchery start up that didn't make it. The owner is all country but we have been pleased with their service.

 

[Bruce]

I've had bad luck with hatchery chickens, but we will see how this year goes and maybe I'll change my tune!

Which hatchery?

I got my first dozen from Ideal in TX. Hatchery quality, not show, of course but there was nothing wrong with them. 100% on sexing (which you know is important for me). The remaining EE (other became fox food a just under 2 years) is still laying 4-5 a week at nearly 5 years old.

Got the seven 2015 girls from Meyer in OH because they had the breeds I wanted, also 100% on sexing and again hatchery quality but they are doing well. Went back to Meyer for the 7 coming in 3 weeks, Ideal's website went down the toilet sometime after I got the girls in 2012. Ugly to navigate and they don't have much of any info on the breeds nor even any actual pictures, just drawings so I am no longer patronizing them. If I lived "pick up the chicks" distance from them I would reconsider but I would have to find the details of the breeds I might consider somewhere else. To me that is somewhat akin to going to a "brick and mortar" store and getting all the info from an employee then buying it from Amazon instead.

 

[NH homesteader]

Don't remember which hatchery the feed store uses, but we got some Wyandottes and Barred Rocks a few years ago and they were not impressive. I ordered from Murray McMurray this year so we will see how we feel about them. We want really good quality breeding stock, so maybe I'll have to see if I can find others' reviews on hatchery birds. I know they aren't always 100% true to standard, which is fine for chickens but not for what we want for turkeys.

I'll look up Poultry Hollow as well, thanks!

 

[Bruce]

Are you breeding to sell high quality birds or just as an "avocation"? My Dad and step-mother raised sheep as an avocation. Always trying to improve the herd but they weren't showing, just raising meat animals. I don't think they ever sold lambs into other herds, just wanted to see how "good" they could get with twinning and grade at slaughter.

If you are doing that I would think it possible to improve hatchery stock if they start with halfway decent birds. For instance I got 2 White Rocks from Meyer. One is a fairly decent looking bird (I don't have the APA SOP book so what do I know?) with a nice tent. The other has a pinched tail, she is also the one that likes to lay out which isn't a trait I would like to continue (don't know what makes her want to do that, none of the others do). If I were trying to raise WRs and improving what I have, you know which I would choose.

Otherwise I think you would have to find a quantity of breeders since any one is likely to have only a few breeds. From reading the Ameraucana thread on BYC it is hard to work more than a few lines at a time let alone a lot of different ones. Breeders there seem to focus on 1 or 2 colors at a time. It takes a lot of space and separated breeding pens. And lots of culling. Most have real jobs. Not sure how many "I make my living breeding turkeys" people there are.

 

[NH homesteader]

Found the breeder list on the Livestock Conservancy website. Of course I can't see the actual map on my phone but it'll work when I get to a computer.

I'm not trying to be a perfectionist about it. I believe in supporting the people who are preserving these breeds and I believe they will often have healthier, stronger and more ideal breeding stock. I am not trying to make a living breeding turkeys but I would like the best animals I can find.

 

[NH homesteader]

DH said he wants to focus on Chocolates first. There are 11 breeders in the US registered with the Conservancy. Porters also has spent a lot of time/effort to develop a line that breeds true (there are color issues, which I don't yet totally understand). The breed had to be saved as it almost died out, and they saved it by breeding in other types of turkeys. So interesting. We have been impressed with the temperament and size of ours. The hen "talks" to us and the tom is fairly calm (for a tom). I looked at Sandhill Preservation and evidently they are having major turkey issues.

 

[Bruce]

That's great that there are 11 to chose from. Any that are near you or in TN for when you move (or on the way)?

I don't know about turkeys but with chickens "if it meets the SOP, it is that breed". No such thing as registered lines like dogs (and I assume goats). That sure surprised me. Need a bit more of something your birds don't have? Bring in a totally different breed that has it if you can't find birds of your breed that do. Then you have to breed out the "wrong" traits that came with that bird. I gather that makes for some pretty frustrating breeding when some recessive gene pops up some years down the line after you think your birds are "clean". Porters probably had to do that to try to bring their bird breed back. Likely have little to no genes from the original bird that became the recognized breed.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck!

Looks like spring is trying to sneak up on us. Supposed to push 70° next Tuesday.