Midget White Turkeys

[jonvee]

I've been raising broilers and thought I'd try a few turkeys this year. Read an article raving about the taste of Midget Whites. Their size would be good for DD and myself.

Does anyone have experience raising them? If so, how did you like them? How long to finish them out? Anything in particular I should know about raising them?

An words of wisedom?

Thanks,

[bee_pipes]

We have been raising royal palms for the last two years. They are a smaller breed. I was concerned because there are some warnings about not raising turkeys with chickens due to a fatal disease called blackhead - fatal to turkeys, common and not fatal to chickens. Also, it is recommended that turkeys get a higher protein diet. So far, neither warning has has been a problem. Our guys do fine on the same feed the chickens are getting - 16% protein in the summer and graze, 21% in winter. No disease problems with the turkeys. They are interesting birds and can be entertaining, fairly social and run with the flock.

I don't know how big your midget breed will get, but our two breeders got fairly good sized. We keep them in their own quarters because they were too big for the chicken house. They get in and eat out of the chicken feeder during the day when the flock is running loose, but get locked up in their own pen at night. Most of the problems happened at night and was due to the birds just being too big and clumsy - feed spills from bumping into the feeders.

Young poults are hatched with whatever run of chickens and guineas we are doing that year. They brood and are kept with the new hatches, eventually released to the flock on the chicken side. They live with the chickens until butchering day. They do get larger than adult chickens, but the problem with size is not as pronounced as with the breeders.

Dressing a turkey is pretty much the same as a chicken - though there are extra bones and tendons not encountered with chickens. Because of the slightly larger size, there is more room to move around in our turkeys when emptying out organs from the chest cavity. The meat is quite tasty, but you will be disappointed if you are expecting a grocery store breast from a heritage breed. They are built more like larger chickens.

If a large breast is important, you need a broad-breasted variety. With a bb you get into additional complications. The bb breeds are mutations (from standard breeding techniques - no genetic modification) and their freakishly large breast makes breeding impossible without human intervention. I have no desire to get that intimate with a turkey, and no desire to introduce livestock to our holdings that cannot handle such matters by themselves.

Just treat them like chickens and they will do fine. I can see why people liked these animals - they do grow quickly. The eggs are also fine - we eat chicken, duck, turkey and guinea eggs, though I prefer chicken eggs for sunny-side-up and over easy. The rest are good for scrambles.

We have had some problems with hatching eggs in an incubator. Chickens and guineas do fine, but the turkeys seem to have some problem. Whether this is a problem with the incubador (doubtful) or our inexperience (more likely) I don't know yet.

Regards,
Pat

[jonvee]

The thing that attracted me to the Midget Whites was their size - Toms max out at 18-20 pounds and Hens 12-15. A better size for a house of 2 than a bigger breed.

Good to know about the comingling with chickens. Most people I know keep them seperate, but I didn't really want to build another space. I may wait until the lambs are gone in late summer then put turks in their side of the barn. If I decide to breed them I will have to build a seperate area.

From what I've read they should finish out and be ready to butcher before the holidays. The butchering wont be a problem I have little hands. I raise most of my chiks to game hen size anyway and have no problems at butcher time.

Thanks for the info and your comments Pat. I think this breed would be a good fit for us.

[lsg]

I have just ordered some midget whites from Welp Hatchery. We have raised turkeys with chicks several times. We had no trouble as long as we kept them on medicated chick starter.