Cathy Isom continues her series about raising turkeys for meat or profit. Today Cathy tells you about what you need to know about Royal Palm turkeys. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
The Royal Palm Turkey is arguably one of the prettiest birds out there, and for a good reason. Unlike most turkeys, the Royal Palm is primarily an ornamental and exhibition variety.
This bird is far too small to be used for commercial meat production, although some smaller scale farms will raise the Royal Palm turkeys for meat. Part of the reason this variety is not raised mainly for meat is due to their petite size (for a turkey.) A full-grown turkey hen only weighs 10-12 pounds, which isn’t any more substantial than some fully grown roosters. Tom turkeys weigh between 16 and 22 pounds, which still is fairly small compared to other turkey varieties such as the Bourbon Red.
As far as their temperament, many turkey keepers have reported very friendly birds from their hand raised and coddled Royal Palms while other turkey keepers like to refer to them as “Royal Pains.” Due to the smaller size of the Royal Palm, they are able to breed naturally.
If you are interested in turkey conservation, or preservation, this makes a fantastic project bird. Any individual interested in showing a turkey at fairs or poultry shows would definitely want to look into the Royal Palm. If you are exhibiting Royal Palm turkeys, maintain high biosecurity and quarantine practices to avoid bringing home an illness from a poultry show.
This is an all-around great turkey that belongs on all homesteads.
I’m Cathy Isom…