Royal Palm

Here is his baby picture-

Below was taken early last month, while locked up during hunting season. The turkeys got a reprieve during the holidays when first my large cooler went down. Then after that was repaired, the refrigerator decided it was it's turn to quit working.

Think this dude may just become part of the farm, have enjoyed his strutting and following me around. Still planning on getting those two Black Spanish turkeys, you can see in the beginning of the video, ready for the table soon. Have enjoyed raising both of these breeds, they are calm and get along great with the chickens.

We have turkeys

For the first time, I am raising a couple of turkeys destined to be the center of attraction come Thanksgiving and/or Christmas this year. They came home a few weeks ago with some other chicks I purchased at the Cackle Hatchery.

Royal Palms are the breed we are trying this year. They are considered a small turkey, young toms average 16 pounds, and young hens 10 pounds. Because of their small size, they are not used commercially for meat. They are thrifty, active, adapt to the climate of the region, and excellant foragers, so they do well as free range birds.

The chicks are solid yellow and look alike like chickens. Adults are white with black markings.

Several images of this breed can be found here - http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=royal+palm+turkey&um=1&ie=UTF-8

It is a pretty bird....may just be too pretty to eat.