Heritage Midget White Turkey
Looking for our fresh birds for Thanksgiving? Here’s a link!
The Midget White Turkey is a small, broad-breasted turkey that looks like a miniature version of a commercial Broad Breasted White turkey. The biggest difference is that Midget Whites are not only a heritage breed (developed in the 1960’s) and that they are only 8-12 pounds. They were designed to be the perfect turkey for family dinner. Their smaller size makes it easier to prepare and consume for a normal dinner… not just for holiday dinners.
They are quite docile and a joy to have on the farm!
Greenlands Farm is a member of the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP).
Our NPIP status is U.S. Pollorum-Typhoid Clean, AI Clean, and Salmonella Monitored.
Looking for our fresh turkeys? Here’s a LINK
HATCHING EGGS
Ordering Limit
Important: Please only select one listing per breed. If you would like more than what we have listed, please contact us to see if we are able to fulfill. We are a hobby farm and generally don’t have large flocks, but sometimes our layers produce more during certain seasons.
Your payment secures your spot in our shipping schedule. We fulfill orders in the order we receive them. Please understand there may be a wait list. Shipping choices are at checkout.
Accepting Orders for 2023 Shipping Schedule
LIVE BIRDS
(shipping not available)
We will be hatching in the Spring of 2023. If you’d like to place an order to get on our waitlist, please contact us and we will send you a custom listing.
History
The Midget White is a breed of domestic turkey named for its white plumage and small stature. The breed is the smallest standard variety of turkey, and with toms at roughly 13 lbs and hens 8-10 lbs, it weighs only slightly more than the largest chickens.
A rare heritage turkey breed, the Midget White is classified as "Critical" by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. It is also included in the Ark of Taste, a catalog of foods in danger of extinction.
The Midget White is sometimes shown in the same class as the Beltsville Small White, but despite the similarity was bred from different lines, mostly white commercial turkeys and the Royal Palm. A newcomer among turkey breeds, it was originally developed in the 1960s by Dr. J. Robert Smyth at the University of Massachusetts Amherst as a smaller complement to the Broad Breasted White. This anticipated demand never surfaced, and along with other rare breeds the Midget White declined as a result. The turkey is relatively friendly and is especially well-suited to being raised on small farms and on a homestead.
The BBC reported in 2014 that Midget White turkeys were thought to be extinct until about 90 of them were found in Alabama. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
