Comparing the Black Spanish and Bronze Broad Breasted Turkeys

Choosing the right bird for you

I know, the last thing you probably want to have is more choices for your holiday bird but it's worth getting exactly what you want for the star of your holiday meal.

While on the quest for a smaller, heritage bird we settled on the Black Spanish, no particular reason just that it was the only heritage breed our hatchery offered.....man are we glad we did.

These birds are fantastic, although they aren’t small. I’ll talk more in a few weeks about the two breeds, their habits and how they surprised us but this week I want to give you a practical run down of the two breeds to help you make a decision this holiday season.

We have processed all our Black Spanish birds ranging in weight from 13 to 26 lbs. We have 41 birds over 20lbs with 8 in the 17-19lb range, 45 in the 14-16lb range and five 13 pounders. So much for being smaller. We’ve kept our favorite tom and 5 of the sweetest hens to provide us with our 2023 crop of birds.

So far with the BBB (we still have more to process) weights range from 12 to 18lbs. We will definitely have a group over 20 lbs and hope to have some smaller birds. We currently have 7 in the 17-19lb range, 56 in the 15-16lb range, 30 in the 13-14lb range and one 12 pounder.

We broke down 2 hens, 1 of each breed. The Black Spanish had a carcass weight of 15.25lbs and the BBB weighed 15.26.

As you can see each bird yielded the same % of meat but the distribution was surprising.

You really can’t go wrong with either breed. They both come with a great story but if you’re looking for a more natural, less commercial variety that can breed naturally then the Black Spanish is for you.