[Eve]

That's certainly heavier than ours! 


Which breeds did you all rear?

[bigchicken]

Mine was a bronze commercial type bought as a chick from the Scottish Smallholders Association as I have done for the last 4 years.

[wayfarer]

We got ours as a hatching egg on ebay sold as a Norfolk Black/Bronze and hatched out by our bantam hen.  He was more black than bronze in colouring as he was all black except for a couple of bronze plumage tail feathers.  He was supposed to be a heritage type but he has grown a lot so I don't know now.  Is it possible to tell from the carcass whether they are commercial or heritage?

[devonlady]

Usually the commercial birds are double breasted.

[wayfarer]

This is probably a silly question but how can I tell whether it is double breasted?

[bigchicken]

Double breasted just means a commercial type being breed to have a large breast where as an ordinary turkey which will reach the same weight slower and have a bigger carcass but the breast will not be as big.

[wayfarer]

I will never buy shop turkey again.  I can't believe how much tastier ours was despite what others have said.  I prefer the dark meat and this was gorgeous - really gamey but the others who like the breast also siad it was the best they had tasted.  Will definitely be hatching more eggs this year even though the poults are a hassle and we had to put the turkey to bed each night once he was free ranging.

[Marches Farmer]

We'll have Narragansett hatching eggs available from probably the end of May, once we've had a test hatch to confirm fertility.  You can Google the breed - definitely heritage and definitely large!