PORTERFIELD EXOTICS
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Narragansett Turkeys |
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PORTERFIELD EXOTICS
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 Narragansett Tom Turkey |
The Narragansett turkey is believed to be the first domestic turkey breed developed in North America. They were developed by early settlers in Narragansett, RI by crossing the European bred Black Turkey with the North American Eastern Wild Turkey. All turkeys originated in America and were brought back to Europe by the first European explorers and traders to be captive bred in Europe. The first turkeys brought to Europe were believed to be brought from Mexico to Spain and quickly spread across Europe. Colonial settlers then brought them back to America with them to raise them on their farmsteads. It is believed that the Narragansett was the first predecessor to today's very common Bronze Turkeys. By the late 1990's the Narragansett breed was within a handful of birds away from becoming an extinct breed. It was brought to the attention of hobbyists and small producers that this breed was in great danger. Once brought to their attention interest in preserving this breed soared and the Narragansett has made a remarkable comeback. Thank goodness this wonderful and very tasty breed was saved. Producers began to raise this breed as a Free Range Heritage Breed and market it to an upscale market of consumers. With consumers becoming increasingly aware of the crowded housing conditions and poor quality, genetically and chemically altered mass production Factory Farmed turkeys the Heritage breeds are rapidly making a comeback to the table of health conscious families. At Porterfield Exotics we have obtained as distantly related of breeders as possible from 3 different breeder sources. We have both strains of Narragansett which are the normal strain which is primarily black with a slate grey accent and the Silver strain which is black with a white accenting. We will be producing a few poults to sell this year and concentrating on building our flock. We also will be obtaining poults this year from various other sources in effort to expanding our gene pool. We can also obtain poults for our customers who are interested in working with this breed. We will add more pictures of our turkeys to this page throughout this coming summer. | ||
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Added: 3/22/08 We just purchased another adult trio of Narragansett turkeys to add to our breeding program. We now have 9 hens and 4 toms from 3 entirely different bloodlines. We expect with the daylight increasing and the temperatures rising our turkeys should start to breed and lay soon. Our hens are all reaching their breeding age of 9 to 10 months old and our toms range from 9 months to 3 years. 3/28/08 Our Narragansett hens laid their first egg today. |
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