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A standard Bronze Turkey

TO many people a turkey is a turkey and it ends up on your dinner plate at Christmas time.

There is nothing wrong with this thought but over the coming three months I want to show you that this intriguing bird of many colours is really quite diverse and doesn't come in one form only.

To begin with we examine a few of the domestic varieties. You will notice that varieties of turkey are referred to rather than breed, this is because globally, the turkey is considered a breed and there are different variations that breed true.

Most of the original single-breasted turkeys are standardised, that is they have an agreed confirmation and colouring set out just as horses, pigeons, cattle and other forms of pure breed livestock have. Turkey Club UK is the organisation responsible for setting and keeping the standards and these are then agreed and passed by the Council of the Poultry Club of Great Britain.

Turkeys are included along with fowl, bantams and waterfowl in the book 'British Poultry Standards', which is published in association with the Poultry Club of Great Britain. It is around £40, available from various outlets and is certainly a book worth having if you are interested in keeping the pure breeds and varieties of poultry. A new edition is due to be published in 2008.

Bronze
The Bronze is possibly the most popular and well-known turkey and closest in colouration to the wild turkey. The domesticated Bronze was developed in Europe and taken to the Americas where it was crossed with the Eastern wild turkeys, the distinctly different bloodlines creating a stronger, more vigorous bird.

The plumage of both sexes is metallic bronze but the breast feathers on the female are edged with white, whereas on the male they are edged in black. This is one way in which Bronze turkeys can be sexed, once their adult feathers are grown at around 12 weeks. The primaries are black with a definite white barring. The tail feathers are black and brown and have a wide black band with a white edging. The beak is horn coloured and the eyes have a dark hazel iris and blue-black pupil. The legs are almost black in poults but become a smoky horn in adults. Although the Bronze turkey does breed true it is the variety most likely to throw off-coloured birds, with some black and white feathering but also, just poor quality, smudgy markings.

The Bronze is a heavy variety and a mature standard stag can weigh up to 18.14kgs (40 lbs) and a mature hen up to 11.79kgs (26lbs).

Day-old Bronze poults: The head is light brown with dark brown blotches and streaks. The neck and back have a broader dark streak down the centre with narrower streaks on either side. The wings have two dark streaks in the centre and a dark spot near the tip. The underneath of the poult is a yellowish white on the surface and pale grey beneath. The legs and feet are mainly flesh coloured with some smoky pigmentation below.

The Broad Breasted Bronze
Through selective breeding a Bronze turkey was developed that had a double chest muscle which produced a far greater ratio of meat to bone. Although the Broad Breasted Bronze was further developed in America it was with turkeys that had been introduced from England. Turkey breeder Jesse Throssel emigrated to British Columbia in the 1920s and when settled imported Bronze birds that had been developed for the Sheffield market and these were called Sheffield Bronze. The broad breasted birds have thrived in the commercial world ever since those early days. The Broad Breasted Bronze went out of fashion in the second half of the 1900s as supermarkets went for the white turkeys will no dark quills that consumers appeared to prefer. In latter years the wheel has turned full circle and Bronze turkeys have made a dramatic comeback. Broad breasted turkeys are not considered appropriate in the show-pen.

Buff
This turkey is named after the rich cinnamon colour of its body feathers. The variety was recognised by the American Poultry Association in 1874 but numbers declined after it was used in the development of the Bourbon Red, which then became more popular. With so few people keeping the variety the Buff turkey was removed from the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection in 1915.

However, the Buff was extremely popular in Britain at the turn of the last century with its own Buff Turkey Club in the early 1900s. Along with other standard varieties Buff numbers fell into decline in the mid 1900s when the commercial turkeys began to corner the market. The Buff is still recognised in the British Poultry Standards.

The plumage should be a deep cinnamon buff throughout with no black or white markings on any feathering of either sex. The primaries and secondaries are a very pale buff, almost white and the tail should be a deep cinnamon buff edged with a paler band at the tip. In the eye, the iris is dark hazel and the pupil a blue-black. The beak is a light horn and the legs a flesh pink.

A mature Buff stag can weigh up to 12.7kgs (28lbs) and a mature hen up to 8.1kgs (18lbs).

Day-old Buff poults: A pale creamy brown throughout.
The Buff is an extremely handsome turkey but there are very few good examples to be seen. Over the years bloodlines have become mixed with the Bourbon Red and 'Buffs' with black markings and some white in the tail do abound so work is still needed to bring this variety up to the standard it deserves. It is an alert and active bird yet easy to manage.

Commercial hybrids
A great deal of research has gone into the development of hybridised strains of turkey for the commercial market. Although the intensively kept large broad breasted birds are immensely popular, especially for the catering end of the market, there is now a wide choice of strains suitable for the free-range producer. These also come in a range of weights from just over 2 kgs (4.4lbs) to around 15 kgs (33lbs). The majority will be Broad Breasted Bronze or White birds but there are also new strains of coloured turkeys coming onto the market that are being bred commercially by taking genes from the standard turkeys. These will be exciting additions to the commercial stock available but should not be confused with the original standard varieties.

If you are interested in rearing commercial turkeys for Christmas, July is the time that most people receive their poults. The hybridised turkeys take less rearing time than the standard varieties, which really need to be growing from May/June.

There are commercial hatcheries that supply poults but you do need to order early to get what you want. It is always worth checking during June/July but never leave it until late summer or autumn before the chances are you will be too late.

If you are rearing one of the standard varieties of turkey it is probably best to buy an adult trio of birds in the autumn or early winter and have them settled ready to breed for the following season. Although there are people who breed to sell they do not rear vast numbers and it is best to order poults well in advance of the breeding season, which begins in February/March.

For commercial poults contact: FarmGate Hatcheries, Springate Farm, Bicknacre Road, Danbury, Essex, CM3 4EP Tel: 01245 223581 E-mail: info@kelly-turkeys.com
British United Turkeys Ltd (UK), Chowley Five, Chowley Oak Business Park, Tattenhall, Cheshire, CH3 9GA Tel: 01829 772020 E-mail: but.uk@aviagen.com

For standard turkey information: Turkey Club UK, Cults Farmhouse, Whithorn, Newton Stewart, DG8 8HA Tel: 01988 600763 E-mail: info@turkeyclub.org.uk Website: www.turkeyclub.org.uk Next month the Slate, Blue and Bourbon Red will be described.

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