Best Heritage Breed for Meat?

[BlessedChaosHomestead]

So we are wanting to get at least 2 turkeys for holiday dinners this year, but would love to know what Heritage breed(s) is the best/favorable for that?
Which one is also more favorable for raising poults?

We had 2 Narragansett last year, but we sold them due to stress issues they were causing. lol Really like the coloring of Royal Palms but don't have to have them.

Love advice here. Would be our first time raising meat turkeys.

Thanks in advance!

 

[R2elk]

So we are wanting to get at least 2 turkeys for holiday dinners this year, but would love to know what Heritage breed(s) is the best/favorable for that?
Which one is also more favorable for raising poults?

We had 2 Narragansett last year, but we sold them due to stress issues they were causing. lol Really like the coloring of Royal Palms but don't have to have them.

Love advice here. Would be our first time raising meat turkeys.

Thanks in advance!

All domestic turkeys are the breed Turkey.

The variety Royal Palm is on the small side and will need much longer to grow to size. The Royal Palms I had dressed out at about 15 lbs. for a year old tom.

Whichever variety you choose, the flavor is going to be dependent on what you feed them. Most people consider the broad breasted varieties to be meat turkeys. They can be ready to process from 4 to 6 months old.

White turkeys will clean up the best giving a very pleasing carcass. Dark colored turkeys will not present as clean looking a carcass especially if there are lots of pin feathers. Appearance isn't everything though since the inky colored residue from the feathers being plucked will not affect the taste once it is cooked.

 

[BlessedChaosHomestead]

All domestic turkeys are the breed Turkey.

Ok...variety. Semantics. lol

The variety Royal Palm is on the small side and will need much longer to grow to size. The Royal Palms I had dressed out at about 15 lbs. for a year old tom.

I did read they're smaller; more an ornamental breed.

Whichever variety you choose, the flavor is going to be dependent on what you feed them. Most people consider the broad breasted varieties to be meat turkeys. They can be ready to process from 4 to 6 months old.

So with your experience, would you say a BB turkey for this year, and raising a heritage variety for later on?

White turkeys will clean up the best giving a very pleasing carcass. Dark colored turkeys will not present as clean looking a carcass especially if there are lots of pin feathers. Appearance isn't everything though since the inky colored residue from the feathers being plucked will not affect the taste once it is cooked.

Not that concerned on that for ourselves; granted if we sold any, I'm sure that'd make a difference.

 

[R2elk]

Ok...variety. Semantics. lol

No, they are all one breed. They are far more closely related to each other than chickens are. If you breed a Sweetgrass tom to a Royal Palm hen, you get all Sweetgrass offspring. If you breed a Royal Palm tom to a Sweetgrass hen you will get Royal palm hens and Sweetgrass toms.

If they were different breeds, you would get some kind of hybrid not the same variety.

I know it offends some people that the different varieties of turkeys aren't separate breeds but they aren't.

 

[R2elk]

I did read they're smaller; more an ornamental breed.

They are not ornamental. They are a variety that serves it's purpose. Many people want turkeys for other things than eating. Some people want a smaller carcass too. They are flightier but do as good a job on insect control as other varieties.

So with your experience, would you say a BB turkey for this year, and raising a heritage variety for later on?

BB turkeys are fast to harvest at 4 to 6 months old depending on how big of a carcass that you want.

If you started with a heritage variety this year it would provide about a 20 to 22 lb. carcass at one year old for toms of the larger varieties. Hens might make 12 to 14 lb. carcasses at one year.

 

[BlessedChaosHomestead]

No, they are all one breed. They are far more closely related to each other than chickens are. If you breed a Sweetgrass tom to a Royal Palm hen, you get all Sweetgrass offspring. If you breed a Royal Palm tom to a Sweetgrass hen you will get Royal palm hens and Sweetgrass toms.

If they were different breeds, you would get some kind of hybrid not the same variety.

I know it offends some people that the different varieties of turkeys aren't separate breeds but they aren't.

Ok well excuse the ignorance but since you mentioned chickens.

All are chickens; but there are varieties in there. They all are descendants from the game birds; correct? They've just been bred to define characteristics.
Isn't that the same thing going on with turkeys? All are from a wild turkey, correct? Then just being bred into different varieties.

Ergo; turkey is turkey BUT breed of turkey would be Slate vs BB?

 

[BlessedChaosHomestead]

They are not ornamental. They are a variety that serves it's purpose. Many people want turkeys for other things than eating. Some people want a smaller carcass too. They are flightier but do as good a job on insect control as other varieties.

Oh I'd like a Royal, just for their coloring. I am an amateur photographer so I think they'd make a great subject. lol
But just staying on the topic of usefulness for meat. I had been doing some research and a blog/article stated they weren't as good meat wise. (I think I used ornamental; they didnt.)

BB turkeys are fast to harvest at 4 to 6 months old depending on how big of a carcass that you want.

Usually buy a 12-14lb for thanksgiving.
I'm leery of the BB because I know they HAVE to be harvested or the longer they live the harder it is on them. I assume they're like the Cornish X meat birds too. They can have leg problems or easier to die versus the none meat engineered ones.

If you started with a heritage variety this year it would provide about a 20 to 22 lb. carcass at one year old for toms of the larger varieties. Hens might make 12 to 14 lb. carcasses at one year.

Ahh ok thanks! So we wouldn't be eating a heritage this year as from now to Thanksgiving or Christmas, they wouldn't be big enough.

 

[R2elk]

Ok well excuse the ignorance but since you mentioned chickens.

All are chickens; but there are varieties in there. They all are descendants from the game birds; correct? They've just been bred to define characteristics.
Isn't that the same thing going on with turkeys? All are from a wild turkey, correct? Then just being bred into different varieties.

Ergo; turkey is turkey BUT breed of turkey would be Slate vs BB?

Other than the Ocellated turkey, all turkeys are from the same haploid group. All domestic turkeys are the same genus and species and differ only in their sub species.

The APA only recognizes one breed of turkey and that is the breed Turkey. They recognize 8 varieties of turkeys although there are many more varieties..

BB turkeys are just another variety as are the many possible different varieties of heritage turkeys.

The term breed no longer has a standard definition since it means different things to different organizations.

As it applies to turkeys, the breed is Turkey. Depending on which variety of turkey you breed together, you can get the same variety as one of the parents or the same varieties as both of the parents or in the case of Blue Slates being bred together you can get 3 different varieties only one of which is Blue Slate. The other two varieties are Black and Self Blue. They are still all the same breed.

 

[R2elk]

But just staying on the topic of usefulness for meat. I had been doing some research and a blog/article stated they weren't as good meat wise.

Whoever wrote that is wrong. Royal Palms are fine eating. My Royal Palm toms would dress out at 15 lbs. at one year old. The hens would make about 8 lb. carcasses at the same age.

 

[R2elk]

Usually buy a 12-14lb for thanksgiving.
I'm leery of the BB because I know they HAVE to be harvested or the longer they live the harder it is on them. I assume they're like the Cornish X meat birds too. They can have leg problems or easier to die versus the none meat engineered ones.

I had 12 lb. Sweetgrass toms at 6 months old. The Recessive Slates that Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys sells are massive for a heritage variety.

I did not have leg issues when I raised BBW turkeys. They need to be started on a quality high protein turkey or game bird starter. I free ranged mine once they were old enough.

My toms dressed out in the high 20 lb. to mid 30 lb. range. Hens dressed out in the low 20 lb. range.

The huge difference with the BB turkeys is that they are not a hybrid and will breed true.