Chocolate Turkey, Anton Sarrosy-Christon
Turkey As closely associated with Thanksgiving as Santa Claus to Christmas, Turkeys are strangely underappreciated as barnyard fowl. In a surprising twist of fate, though native to the Americas, most of the domestic turkeys we raise come to us from stock imported from Europe. European explorers took turkeys back to Europe. Later, immigrants brought their turkeys with them to America. Most of us imagine one of two kinds of the bird: the large white commercial turkey, and the wild turkey, iridescent in plumage and wary of humans, but there is a third. Commercial white turkeys will never become popular in American barnyards for one simple reason: they cannot mate naturally. They’re effectively sterile. The toms (male turkeys) are too large and uncoordinated to mount the hens and so commercial turkey farmers must artificially inseminate all hens in order to lay fertile eggs that are then artificially incubated. It’s a very time consuming and messy process and quite unsustainable for the homesteader. Fortunately alternatives do exist in the form of what are called naturally mating domesticated turkeys, also called heritage breed turkeys. Porter’s Rare Heritage Turkeys raises over thirty varieties of turkey on their farm in Fremont, Indiana. 44.............Broadway+thresherspring2014
The intriguingly named Chocolate turkeys are listed by The Livestock Conservancy as being critically endangered of extinction and Porter’s carries them (toms 33lbs, hens 18lbs). The Chocolates are a beautiful milk chocolate brown, hens and toms sport exactly the same coloring. Narragansett turkeys, named after the bay in Massachusetts, come closer to the quintessential wild Thanksgiving turkey color pattern many of us imagine, but having more white in their plumage gives them a striking appearance (toms 33lbs, hens 18lbs). One of the smaller turkey breeds available is the Royal Palm (Toms 22lbs, hens 12lbs). Often used as an ornamental farm bird, Royal Palms can just as easily be used as a small Thanksgiving turkey but with such an arresting feather pattern, I’d rather watch them brighten my barnyard. Geese and Ducks Holderread Waterfowl Farm and Preservation Center conserves “rare breeds of domestic ducks and geese from around the world”. Located in Corvallis, Oregon, the farm was born out of Dave Holderread’s lifelong fascination with waterfowl. In fact, the first waterfowl I ever ordered came from Holderread’s and their offspring continue to grace my farm today. Contrary to popular belief, a pond isn’t