Royal Palm

The Turkey is native to North and Central America. They have been used primarily as a table bird and are popular all around the world. In modern times a larger and meatier commercial turkey is primarily produced for the table and the historic domestic colour varieties are kept by poultry fanciers and hobbyists.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Head long, broad, and carunculated (covered with fleshy protuberances). Beak strong and curved. Eyes bold. Throat Wattle large and pendent.

Neck long and curved back towards the tail, the top and most of the front carunculated.

Body long, deep through the centre, and well rounded; broad and full breast; the cock's beard long, bristling, and prominent; somewhat curving back rising from the neck to the centre and descending in a graceful curve to the tail; large and powerful wings carried well up and closely to the side ; long and drooping tail, the end almost touching the ground.

Legs long. Shanks stout and strong. Toes straight and powerful.

Carriage stately and upright.

Plumage hard and glossy.

Approx Weight Cock from 7-10kg. Hen from 3.5-5.5kg.

THE ROYAL PALM

Feathers white with a narrow band of black along the entire width of each feather. No brown or chestnut markings. The edging is most pronounced on the breast. The back is a rich shiny black forming a beautiful contrast against the white body plumage. Flight feathers are black and secondaries are white with the black edge. Tail is white with a shiny black band of around 3.75cm wide then white at the tips. 

Beak light horn

Eyes light brown

Legs and fee dark pink through to a pink-white is permitted. 

SERIOUS DEFECTS

• Wry tail;

• Crooked breast bone;

• Any other deformity.

• In the Black, feathers of any other colour; cocks less than 20 lb., and hens less than 12 lb.

• In the Bronze, white feathers in any part, clear brown or black wings or minus white or grey bars more than one-half the length of the primaries, clear black, brown or grey back tail or tail-coverts ; cocks less than 30 lb., and hens less than 18 lb.

• In the White, any coloured feathers, other than white or pink-white legs; cocks less than 20 lb., and hens less than 12 lb.

SOURCES

• The Poultry club standards, containing a complete description of all the recognised varieties of fowls, ducks, geese and turkeys, ed. by William W. Broomhead. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009202629

• Extra information on turkeys can be found in 'Raising Turkeys' available for download at this link. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/24191#/summary

• The American standard of perfection, illustrated. A complete description of recognized varieties of fowls, as revised by [the Association at its 62d-67th annual meetings, 1937-42.] https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009169004

• The Australian Poultry Standards 2nd Edition.

• Image: By Kevin Saff from Calgary - Fancy turkey, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4409486

• Image: By Chris Rand - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47763517

• Trevor Rickard / Domestic Fowl Trust - 4 / CC BY-SA 2.0 File:Domestic Fowl Trust - 4 - geograph.org.uk - 1140785.jpg - Wikimedia Commons 

• Image: Tylwyth Eldar CC4 File:Journées Forestières d'Axat - Dindon Royal 13.jpg - Wikimedia Commons