I got my newest batch of babies! I have been looking forward to getting my baby turkeys for months now. I ordered them in February but wanted to wait until I got out of school to add another project to my ever growing list. Heritage turkeys are not what you buy at the supermarket. Those super sized, mostly flavorless, birds are broad breasted whites. They are bred to get to massive sizes in short periods of time. In doing this, the factories sacrifice immune system strength and physical strength in return. Flavor also suffers, mainly because the birds are not full grown when slaughtered and they gain flavor as they grow. The turkeys grow so fast that if they are not slaughtered by a certain age their legs and heart will give out under their weight. I find it really sad and disturbing. Factory turkeys even have the ability to reproduce bred out of them. That's right... they can't even make their own little giant babies. The birds usually can't make it to adulthood to reach reproductive maturity, let alone do the deed if they could live that long, owing to their size. Factory birds are artificially inseminated. Sadly, all of these factors are also the case in factory grown meat chickens, which is another reason I choose to raise my own. Heritage turkeys retain their ability to mate and raise young, grow to large sizes, but not as massive, and grow much more slowly than the Broad Breasted breeds. Yes, this means that it takes longer to get them to slaughtering size, but from everything I have read, it is more than made up for in flavor. I think it is made up for simply by being healthier and more humane for the turkeys, and because they can reproduce and replenish the flock without having to buy more every year. Sadly, heritage turkeys (many breeds of them) were in the brink of extinction not too long ago because so many people stopped raising them when factory birds were introduced. The same happened to many breeds of chicken for the same reason. I am really pleased to say that most have been taken off the endangered list and even the threatened list. Some remain, however. Not as much literature or other information is obtainable about raising turkeys as is available about raising chickens. I am used to reading everything I can get my hands on about a new project. I feel that I am going in blind. I have found a couple of forums that I have gotten good advice on from people that have been doing this longer than I have, which doesn't take much. :) From what I have found on the subject, turkeys are a bit more finicky and prone to disease than chickens are. I am hopeful that I can pull it off. The bought 6 Bourbon Reds, 6 Blue Slates, and 3 Narragansett. They are the sweetest little things! Chicken chicks don't really seem to enjoy being "loved on". I like to hold them and they deal with it sometimes and then sometimes they struggle and raise hell to get put down. The turkey poults don't! They snuggle up under my neck and just fall asleep. I'm in love! I think I am going to love being a new turkey-mom. Now to build the hoop-coop for them! LOL... yes... I'm behind in my projects, yet again. As is the norm on Sunflower Hill. :)
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