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Heritage turkeys add a touch of
nostalgia Timing breeding to match holiday schedule can be a challenge
With Christmas just weeks
away, folks are thinking about the festive table and, most often, a turkey trumps the list.
Research by MARGARET EVANS
But on a very few tables around the province, that turkey may be a heritage bird carefully cultivated by a local grower.
Heritage turkeys are from a number of breeds raised in the last century, ones which many seniors today likely remember. They were the classic turkey everyone was familiar with before the commercial, broad-breasted turkeys were bred for consumers. But today, the heritage varieties are few and far between and all of them are listed at some level of being at risk of extinction. Varieties traditionally raised in Canada include the Ridley Bronze (a Canadian variety of the Bronze and developed in Saskatchewan in the 1940s),
Narragansett, Blue Slate and Beltsville. According to Rare Breeds Canada, the
Narragansett, Blue Slate and Beltsville are believed to have less than 100 breeding females each. Heritage turkeys are truly unique. They can live long productive lives, mate naturally, and do
very well with outdoor fenced range during the day and a secure indoor pen at night. They are hardy and have a better immune system than commercially bred turkeys. They reach slaughter weight at around 30 weeks but another month or so of growth never hurts when size matters. Many birds are raised for showing which helps to promote the breed and perhaps encourage more people to consider raising them.
“Heritage turkeys are
different,” says Salt Spring Island breeder Margaret Thomson of Windrush Farm, who raises Blue Slate turkeys in a free-range system. “Their flavour is stronger, more intense. They forage and eat grass and they are older [than
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Extremely rare, Blue Slate turkeys have a strong, more intense flavour. MARGARET THOMSON PHOTO
commercial birds] when they are slaughtered.” Predators are among the challenges facing breeders who allow their birds to range free. “Because we have a
problem with raccoons and mink, we have to be careful with the young,” says Thomson. “Their outside pens are covered and we make sure they go in before the light goes down. They are really sensitive to light and they will roost wherever they are [once the light fades]. They will go on top of their own pens and into trees so we have to be as sensitive to light as they are in order to get them locked in their house.” The interesting thing about heritage turkeys is that they have all the abilities of a wild bird. “They can fly, they breed
naturally, they find good nest
sites, and they raise their own poults,” says Thomson. “Commercial birds raised in barns must have power to control the temperature and ventilation. Our birds are not dependent on power if you let the mother bird do the work.” Thomson says that, in the bigger picture, they are not much work beyond the obvious need for shelter, protection, a food source and night-time protection. Superior immunity is a huge plus, too. Thomson says heritage turkeys are at less risk from the fatal pathogen blackhead (also known as histomoniasis) than commercial birds. This is important because of all poultry (turkeys, chickens, game birds), turkeys are the most susceptible to the pathogen, which lives in the soil and is also found in
earthworms. A key element in ensuring
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the birds are ready for slaughter by Thanksgiving or Christmas is timing breeding to ensure eggs are laid early enough to ensure the necessary growth time. “Breeding is all natural with heritage turkeys,” says Thomson. “But that causes a problem because our Thanksgiving is so early and they are not ready to slaughter. If you give them light, they are triggered to lay and almost ready to lay about the middle of March but they won’t all lay at the same time until the middle of April. If you want to have eggs from every hen on the same date you can co-ordinate things if you give them light about the middle of February. You have eggs coming about March 1 and you will have birds ready for Thanksgiving. We had a dozen birds for Thanksgiving this year. We always sell some to breeders, some fertile eggs, some orders for poults, and then there are more birds for Christmas. We have 23 birds now (mid-November). We usually have 15 in the breeding flock.” Very few outlets sell heritage turkey poults and many breeders purchase them from Thomson. “We consider ourselves to be conservation breeders, not meat producers. We do some birds for meat, then sell eggs and poults and go to shows,” she says. Shows promote the breeds
but, often, the numbers raised by breeders are small and only highlight conformation and colour. Shows cannot profile egg quality, quantity or the exceptional mothering abilities of the turkeys. For their genetic diversity, traits, and production characteristics to be preserved, farm flocks need to be raised in larger numbers.
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • DECEMBER 2017
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