Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

So almost every chicken variety comes in standard and bantam. Why not turkeys? I'm envisioning a standard chicken sized Tom Turkey (or even smaller) strutting around displaying and can't help but think I need those! But seriously has anyone tried to develop them?

There are small(er) breeds, like Beltsvilles and Royal Palm, but they are not true bantams. I honestly don't know if anyone has tried to make lines of mini turkeys, and a quick Goggling wasn't any help. It would be pretty cool to have pint-sized turkeys running around, but I expect it would be a very time consuming and expensive undertaking...6-12 months for them to mature and reach breeding age, and they tend to be seasonal layers, so you wouldn't be able to get the numbers of offspring you'd want to pick from. Chickens have been domesticated for thousands of years and their genes are reasonably well understood. Not so with turkeys. It would potentially take several decades to develop a bantam turkey that bred true. You would have to have an obsessive personality, weighing and measuring each turkey, and a lot of patience. And ideally, other people dedicated to the effort as well, or at least some people who'd be willing to take up the reins when you finally run out of patience (or time) and have to quit.

On the other hand though, how neat would it be to have little 7 lb. Narragansett toms strutting around your yard?
I do not need another project. I do not need another project. I do not need another project.

Oh they would be soooo cute! I think a bantam Royal Palm would be delightful.

WWW you are JUST the woman I was hoping would think that was intriguing! LOL

I kind of stepped right in that one, didn't I? When the wheels started to turn, I should have just turned off my phone and went and done something productive, but NOOOO. I've got Ridley eggs in the incubator...some for yard ornaments and some probably for sale...but now I'm wondering, what if...I could just...maybe...

You guys are AWFUL.

windwalkingwolf wrote: ↑

Mon May 14, 2018 6:11 pm

I kind of stepped right in that one, didn't I? When the wheels started to turn, I should have just turned off my phone and went and done something productive, but NOOOO. I've got Ridley eggs in the incubator...some for yard ornaments and some probably for sale...but now I'm wondering, what if...I could just...maybe...

You guys are AWFUL.

Yew can DEW it!

Where did you get Ridleys from?

Oh yes bantams would be great! Go for it WWW

There are a couple breeds of turkeys in France and Italy that toms are 10 pounds and hens around 7 pounds. I will post info later o found a breeder overseas but he cannot get the paperwork fir me to import poults. A several month search in the US found zero.

Several strains of midget whites in US are quite small toms under 15 pounds hens under 10 no luck on getting pure midgets yet but a bit of work and I should be able.

I have small turkey cross breed project starting this year if I can find true midget whites to breed along with possibly royal palms (looking for small royal hens) and Rio Grande wilds (hatching eggs on order).

My goal coloured turkey toms under 14 pounds hens under 9.

Ultimate 30 year plan toms under 6 pounds and hens under 4 pounds. Lol

JimW

Lol wow! Leave it to Jim...way ahead of the curve!
Jim I think WWW would hop on board to help you out with very little arm twisting.