Why Birds:

Here on the ranch, we have more birds than we can count.  I must admit, I have had a love affair with poultry since I was a child.  I grew up on farm fresh eggs from chickens that ate grass.  As a result, I never knew egg yolks could be yellow instead of orange until I was in school.  I remember the first egg I tried to eat that came from a store.  I thought it was sick or something was wrong with it.  I didn't like that it had so little color and so little taste.  Now, I see children look at my eggs with surprise at how "strong" the color and taste are.  They think something is wrong with country eggs.  It is all a matter of what you have been exposed to but once you do your research, you'll want nothing less than pasture eggs. 

But eggs and meat are only part of it.  I think poultry add so much to the farm.  They have entertaining personalities and are simply beautiful animals.  They are small enough that most children are not afraid of them and they ask so little from us.  If you are just starting out with livestock, you must try a few birds.  There are so many varieties to choose from though so we had to be selective.  Each breed of poultry on the farm was selected for a particular reason.  We narrowed our flock down to geese, turkeys, and chickens but only keep one breed of each to keep them pure.

 MIDGET WHITE TURKEY:

We selected the Midget White Turkey for the taste.  The number one reason we began raising heritage livestock in the first place was because of their taste.  If we didn't feel they have something to offer, we would not spend the time or money to raise and care for them.  We think the best way to raise any meat is on fresh green pasture and the heritage breeds do best in that situation.  So for us, raising the commercial broad breasted Butterball style turkey just was not an option.  If you prefer those, the stores are full of them but if you want superior taste in a safe and humanely raised turkey then you owe it to yourself to try our impressive Midget White Turkey. 

HISTORY:

The Midget White was created in the early 1960's by Dr. Robert Smyth at the University of Massachusetts.  This bird was developed by crossing the standard white turkey with the Royal Palm (another rare and endangered turkey) and the resulting offspring were meticulously selected for taste and meat quality.  The result was a smaller version of the large breasted white with a superior texture and taste.  Unlike the commercial white turkey that must be bred artificially, this bird mates naturally and they have a very docile if not friendly temperament.  In spite of its quality, it was never accepted by the commercial operations due to it's smaller size so this breed almost became extinct.

We became interested in raising Midget Whites after reading an article about their placing in a blind taste test.  After all, our goal has always been to find the absolute best tasting varieties and then raise them to taste even better.  If the Midget White is the best tasting turkey on earth, that's what I want.  Here's a link to the article for your enjoyment:  http://sifting-the-sandhills.blogspot.com/2008/04/heritage-turkey-taste-test.html

FRENCH COOPER MARANS:

I came across these on a farm forum once and had never heard of them so I was intrigued.  They are from France and are still fairly new to this country so they can be hard to locate.  The only way I could get my own was to order the eggs over ebay and hatch them in my incubator.  I ended up with a small flock and then culled what I didn't like and and used the remaining birds to raise more.  Well, I got a little carried away and ended up with more birds than I intended but loved them so much, I kept them all.  They are a striking black color for the hens and a cooper and black color for the roosters.  The best thing though is their eggs.  They have the darkest eggs of any chicken and they live up to the French reputation of being great for cooking.  What a treat with some fresh bacon in the mornings.  So, we got rid of all our chickens except the Marans because we prefer the color and taste of their eggs.   

EMBDEN GEESE:

This is a large goose that is solid white once mature.  They make a great table bird and lay a good amount of eggs.  They are also the best guard animal for the farm you can find.  Nothing new comes around without them knowing and they certainly sound out the alert.  They hate snakes and will rid the area of any they find so if you have children out playing in the grass, this is a bit of insurance against snake bites. 

Geese are grazing birds and were once very common on farms before the small farm became extinct.  Where we grew up in the southern delta of Arkansas, they were used to remove grass from cotton fields long before Roundup was invented.  Goose was the traditional fare for the Christmas table but are no longer available in most markets.  Unlike turkeys or chickens, geese cannot be raised indoors on grain so they simply are not produced commercially.  They need room and they need grass, which is what we give ours.