List of turkey breeds

Turkey breeds are reported to the DAD-IS breed database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations by more than sixty countries.^[1] The breeds reported include commercial/industrial strains, local types and recognised breeds in many countries.

United States

Twenty breeds are reported to DAD-IS by the United States.^[2] Eight of them are recognised by the American Poultry Association in its breed standard, the American Standard of Perfection, where however they are classified as "varieties" rather than as breeds.^{[citation needed]} This may be because the original genotype for domestic turkeys was for Bronze, and all other color varieties are due to mutations from it.^{[citation needed]}

APA varieties

Variety	Year admitted by APA[3]	Type	Comments	images
Beltsville Small White	1951	heritage turkey	Created by the USDA at Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland. Once very popular, it is now rare.[4]
Black turkey	1874	heritage turkey	Alternatively called Spanish Black or Norfolk Black or American Black.
Bourbon Red	1909	heritage turkey
Bronze	1874	heritage turkey	The Broad Breasted Bronze, like the Broad Breasted White, are nonstandardized commercial strains that do not qualify as a variety.
Narragansett	1874	heritage turkey
Royal Palm	1977	heritage turkey	Largely ornamental, mostly white with distinctive black banding.
Slate	1874	heritage turkey	Alternatively known as Blue Slate or Lavender.
White Holland	1874

Europe

Twelve breeds are recognized by the Entente Européenne d'Aviculture et de Cuniculture.^[5] Others with breed standards of European national associations are accepted.

EE breeds

Variety (by National Standards)	Variety (colour)	country of origin	Comments
American Blue (Slate Turkey)	gray/blue	US
American Bronze	Brown/Black base color with white near some of the turkey's feather tips.	US
American Black		US	Pink legs and horn-colored beak. Spanish Black and Norfolk Black have black pigmented legs and beak.
Beltsville Small White	white	US
Dindon du Bourbonnais	black	F
Cambridge Bronze		GB
Deutsche Pute		D	with EE-Standard of Perfection
Deutsche Pute	blue	D
	Bourbon Red	D
	Bronze	D
	Cröllwitzer	D	≈Royal Palm (US)
	Buff	D
	Bronce	D
	narragansett coloured	D
	Red	D
	Red Winged	D
	Black	D
	Black Winged Bronze	D
	British white	D
French turkey (Dindon)	porcelan coloured	F
Dindon du Gers	schwarz	F
Tacchino castano d'Italia		I
Tacchino nero d'Italia	black	I
Pavo oscense	black	SP
Narragansett		US
Norfolk Black Turkey		GB
Dindon de Ronquières	fauve	B
	à épaulettes jaunes	B	≈Tricoloré du Colorado (F), ≈Sweetgrass (US)
	jaspé	B	≈Royal Palm (US), ≈Cröllwitzer (EE)
	perdrix	B	≈Krefelder Pute (D)
	White (blanc)	B
Royal Palm	black and white	GB
Dindon rouge des Ardennes		B/F	a French breed, supposedly brought to Flanders in the 16th century from Mexico by the Spanish.
Dindon de Sologne	black	F
Czech turkey (Česká krůta)	Czech Wild White-braided Turkey (Divocezbarvené bíle lemované)	CZ
	šedědivocezbarvene bíle lemované	CZ
White Holland		US
English Turkey	buff	E

Other varieties not recognized by the APA or EE include the following:

• Auburn or Light Brown is an extremely rare as its numbers are not considered high enough for inclusion in the Standard. An extremely rare variant of the Auburn is called the Silver Auburn.
• Buff (or Jersey Buff) is a very rare heritage breed.
• Chocolate breed is chocolate brown in color. Day-old poults are white-faced with chocolate bodies.
• Midget White is a rare heritage breed sometimes confused with the Beltsville Small White.
• Zagorje (Zagorski puran) is a Croatian variant of turkey.

See also

• Turkey genus
• Wild turkey of North America
• Domestic turkey
• Ocellated turkey, a species of turkey residing primarily in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

References

1. Breed data sheet: Turkey. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed December 2019.
2. Breed data sheet: United States of America, Turkey. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed December 2019.
3. "APA Recognized Breeds and Varieties" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
4. Ekarius, Carol (2007). Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds. Storey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58017-667-5.
5. "Listing Breed and Colour in the EE Standard". Archived from the original on 2013-06-16. Retrieved 2013-06-11.

• American Standard of Perfection. American Poultry Association.