Kitchen

[Sameolmollysmama]

Sad to see the poor things all crammed in there.

[debic]

Even farm turkeys all look different. I'll guess those in the top picture are a special breed to produce more meat. My SIL has multiple different kinds and none are white.

[ical]

Thanks for all your replies. I suppose I wasn't clear in my first post with the pictures of the white turkeys and the wild turkeys. This is what I wanted to know:

Why are the turkeys white (top photo), and the wild turkeys are not white?

Are they different turkeys? Or, as someone mentioned (thanks), bred that way? If so, why are they bred to be white (if they are bred that way)?

I wonder too…does this affect flavor? So many turkeys, so little time (for them)!

[Meezerpleezer]

On 10/26/2014 ical said:

Thanks for all your replies. I suppose I wasn't clear in my first post with the pictures of the white turkeys and the wild turkeys. This is what I wanted to know:

Why are the turkeys white (top photo), and the wild turkeys are not white?

Are they different turkeys? Or, as someone mentioned (thanks), bred that way? If so, why are they bred to be white (if they are bred that way)?

I wonder too…does this affect flavor? So many turkeys, so little time (for them)!

Ical--Yes, I think that it does affect the taste. Have you ever eaten a prepared wild turkey? They are tough, chewy like rubber and not very tasty. This is because in the wild, they fly and can really, really run. They use their muscles unlike the farm turkeys. My husband has brought home 2 and we agree, no more. They are horrible.

The white turkeys are bred to have larger breasts and because of the food that they eat, they taste better. Think of wild turkeys eating grubs and bugs versus a farm turkey eating specially prepared food.

[debic]

Turkeys are just like chickens, there are tons of different breeds.

[Campion]

If you look at the domestic turkey toms, they have reddish, mostly featherless heads, but their skins aren't as dark. Turkeys have those bare heads with wattles. but the wild turkeys are dark birds. I love seeing them in the fall, strutting around the fields. They are HUGE. Once I drove up next to a field and there were 12 of them strutting slowly near the road, not concerned about anything. The tom and his harem of lady turkeys. Quite the sight. No, they aren't good eating, and neither are Canadian geese. Had one once. Never again.

[geezerette]

Yes, the domestic turkeys have been selectively bred over the years to appeal to our American palates. For example, a lot of people prefer white breast meat, so those have huge breasts compared to wild turkeys. Although I don't know for sure, I don't believe they were purposely bred to have white feathers for any reason, since I don't think that has anything to do with the meat.

Wild turkeys definitely have a different taste than domestic, bred-for-the-table birds. Much like chickens that are kept in cages and fed a specific diet opposed to those that are free-range.

Turkeys are just like so many other animals we have used for food over the centuries, those that are commercially raised for market are almost completely different than those that are still in the wild.

[Snowpuppy]

shoekitty, that photo is a pretty good likeness of what you'll find in both male and female wild turkeys.

The females are smaller and can sometimes look scrawny. Those are good sized mature male "tom" turkeys in that photo as well. They can grow large in the wild. They do "strut" as one poster said and fan out their huge colorful tails when they're hoping to attract females.

[Campion]

More turkey lore. If you don't stuff your turkey full of corn weeks before "der Tag" they are scrawny. I have friends who raise their own food, and one year they did turkey for Thanksgiving. They didn't know about the corn thing, so they fed the birds as usual. The birds were scrawny and tough on the table. The same deal with beef--they go to a feedlot and get corn before they go to the abbatoir, and that fattens them up and they are less tough.

[forrestwolf]

White turkeys are bred to have white feathers, as opposed to wild turkeys..........They are also bred to be broad breasted to have more white meat, and thus resulting that domestic turkeys can not fly, like wild turkeys.......Here is a statement from 4-H Ag.....

Domesticated turkeys are bred to have more breast meat, meatier thighs and white feathers. White feathers are preferred so that, when plucked, they leave no unsightly pigment spots under the skin.