Getting our turkeys today!!

[Hilary B]

Isn't that just sods law though Hilary - the only one of ours that died this year was one I'd hatched to order!

We don't have Norfolk blacks - yet!! Mikes sister (who lives in Norfolk) does and we are currently planning on swapping a trio of hers for a trio of our slates so we each have a different variety. We currently have Slates and traditional Bronze. I have to say I love my Turkeys thet are sooo comical if a little on the stupid side!!!

I reckon the Blacks are 'borderline' to commercial. If any commercial producer admitted to the demand for smaller Christmas dinners (for small families), they would be a prime breed. My first turkeys were white (NOT the Broad Breasted type) and when the stag died, I got a bronze replacement. The place we bought him from had 2 'current year' stags, but allowed me a discount on the older bird, because they reckoned he was overweight for breeding. Running around after the 2 white hens soon sorted THAT problem!
A couple of years after we lost the originals (having moved to Orkney with them) I got 2 batches of Black hatching eggs, and managed to keep track so that the stag I kept was not from the same batch as the hens. We had those for a good number of years (I think it was about 6/7) and a neighbour who bought a trio of half-grown youngsters from me had his for a few years past that (still had them when I moved away, probably 3 years after I lost the last of my original trio).