I'd like to try one of these. My father raises old breed chickens
(brahma, marans, welsommer) and they are much tastier than store bought
birds. I'm sure these turkeys are as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/11/24/her....ap/index.html
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- It's a turkey with a proud heritage, so
much so that gourmet cooks seem to be flocking to poultry farms this
Thanksgiving season to buy one.

Mary and Rick Pitman say the phone at their Fresno-area farm has hardly
stopped ringing since summer. The question is always the same: Is there
still time to reserve a heritage turkey for Thursday's feast?

"There's such a huge demand for these turkeys, I've never seen anything
like it," said Mary Pitman. Even a heritage bird's price of $3 to $7 a
pound -- a factory farm-raised turkey costs $1.40 a pound -- doesn't
faze the callers.

Consumers with discerning palates say it's a small price to pay for a
bird they find tastier and more flavorful than the modern,
mass-produced turkeys found in supermarkets. People from as far away as
Florida have been calling Sylvia Mavalwalla's farm in Petaluma to order
one, and those who live nearby insist on driving straight to her ranch
to pick up a fresh bird.

With word about heritages spreading, the Pitmans say they expect to
sell 6,000 birds this year, 5,000 more than last year when they first
started raising them. Mavalwalla said she will sell 110, up from 45
last year.

About 274 million turkeys were raised in the United States in 2003,
according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and most of them were
mass-produced Broadbreasted White turkeys.

A census conducted in 1997 by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
found only 1,335 heritage turkeys in the country. This year, about
20,000 were raised, according to Slow Food USA, which launched a
campaign in 2001 to reacquaint Americans with the birds.

Preservationists believe revived interest in eight varieties of turkeys
such as the American Bronze, Bourbon Red and Narragansett will help
keep the food supply diverse and save the breeds from extinction.

"When talking about certain animals being raised for food, if no one
eats them then they become endangered," said Erika Lesser, executive
director of Slow Food USA. "You ensure their survival by consuming and
ensuring demands for them."

People who want to try a heritage bird may have missed out this year if
they haven't already ordered, but Lesser says they can reserve early
for next year. That way farmers can plan the year's stock.

Heritage turkeys take eight months to fully develop, while a commercial
turkey has about a 3-month life span. The Broadbreasted White turkeys
were developed in the 1950s to come to market faster and fatter, and
they've lost the ability to run, fly and breed naturally.

The Pitmans say their turkeys are fed a high-protein grain diet and are
given four times as much roaming space as factory-raised turkeys. As a
result, their live weights range from 7 to 20 pounds, compared with 27
pounds for an average Broadbreasted White.

Heritage turkeys are also more "animated and social" than Broadbreasted
Whites, says Mary Pitman, who raises both.

"When you go out there, they follow you whereas other birds would run
away from you," she said. "When you get excited, they get excited. And
they're beautiful, they have intense bronze, purple feathers."

Farmers say it is worth the added time and money it takes to raise
them.

"I wouldn't do it if I wasn't making a profit," Mavalwalla said.

For Pitman, raising the birds is also part of a personal crusade. She
switched to eating pure foods two decades ago after she began
developing allergies and her body couldn't digest processed food.

"I feel strongly about the way my turkeys are raised because of my own
health," she said.

For people like her, who need to pay close attention to what they eat,
a company called Heritage Foods USA even offers a way to trace the
origins of their turkey.

By ordering with the company's online service, a consumer can log on to
a live Web cam and watch the birds being raised.

"It's hard to rely on labels in this day and age," said Patrick
Martins, who created Slow Food's turkey campaign before founding
Heritage Foods. "This offers a way to connect the consumer to the
farmer."

For those who just want to go to the store and buy one, many upscale
markets such as Bristol Farms in Southern California and Berkeley Bowl
Marketplace in Berkeley have also picked up on heritage turkeys'
surging popularity and are now selling them.