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Belmont County Girl Raising Rare Turkey

Photo by Robert A. DeFrank Harlee Owens holds Nugget, her Narragansett turkey — the same breed of bird that the Pilgrims ate at the first Thanksgiving. It is now an endangered species.

Harlee Owens is raising a turkey that could have walked out of an illustration of the first Thanksgiving.

Her bird, Nugget, is a Narragansett turkey that made an appearance in September at the Belmont County Fair. Now about 6 months old, the turkey has been thriving at Yudasz Farms, even though the historic breed is nearly extinct.

Crystal VanHorn, Owens’ mother, said the birds grow to weigh as much as 40 pounds.

“They originated in Rhode Island. It’s the bird the Pilgrims ate. Later on they ended up thinning out and being almost extinct. There were only six of these left when they put them on the National Registry (in the early 1990s). This breed is registered going on extinction.”

“This is what Americans used to eat. This breed. Then with mass production everybody wanted birds that could produce faster, quicker, to make more money,” she said. “A regular market turkey has 19 to 20 percent meat blend in it. These are a 50/50,” she said.

“Fifty percent white and fifty percent dark,” Harlee Owens, a member of the Outsiders 4-H club, explained.

This is Harlee’s first time raising such a bird. She earned a first-place ribbon and best-of-breed recognition at the fair for her work.

“I just decided to raise the bird because I didn’t want it to go into extinction. I wanted to bring back the population,” Harlee said. “I really just want to breed them and see if I could get the best of it.”

The mother and daughter added that raising the breed has proven expensive and difficult, but they are still working to acquire hens for the breeding program.

“She’s going to purchase two females,” VanHorn said.

They have been working with the Narragansett Turkey Foundation and the Ohio Poultry Association to reach other breeders. They hope to begin breeding in March, but it is difficult to know how many viable eggs might result, since some may not be fertile.

“The fertile rate and getting them to hatch is a problem. It’s very low,” VanHorn said. “It’s a hit and miss.”

While Nugget himself will be living out his life on the farm rather than finding himself on the menu, there is a possible market for the breed.

“They’re like the old-style wild birds. They will fly, not like these guys that can’t get off the ground,” VanHorn said, indicating that more standard turkeys are bred to have greater bulk.

“They’re all harder to raise, but the fertile rate of them is a lot less,” VanHorn said. “That’s why they’re almost gone, but they’re on a comeback. … That’s what you think. That’s what you’ve grown up with in your mind. That is the traditional Thanksgiving turkey.”

Harlee said the birds have a distinct flavor.

“They have a sweet kind of taste to them, because of the meat that’s a 50/50 blend,” she said.

Perhaps in a few years, more people will be able to sit down to a Thanksgiving dinner more like that of the Pilgrims.

“She’s already gotten contacted by people wanting birds,” VanHorn said of her daughter. “They’re not going to get them for Thanksgiving.”

Maybe next year, but that’s what she’s wanting to do.”

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