Beltsville Small White
The Beltsville Small White is an American heritage turkey variety developed by the United States Department of Agriculture at Beltsville, Maryland, mainly during the 1930s and 1940s. It was designed as a smaller white table turkey for households that wanted a compact carcass with clean-dressing feathers, good fertility, and efficient production before the modern Broad Breasted White took over commercial markets. Birds are white, relatively broad for their size, and much smaller than industrial meat turkeys, with a practical farm shape rather than extreme breast development.
Today the Beltsville Small White is kept mostly by preservation breeders, small farms, and exhibition flocks. True stock can be confused with generic white turkeys or small broad-breasted birds, so source and breeder reputation matter. Good lines should mate naturally, lay and hatch reliably, and maintain the compact body the variety was bred for. They still need turkey-specific management: warm dry brooding, protection from chilling and damp litter, secure roosting space, and feed suited to poults and growing birds. Because numbers are limited, exchanging unrelated breeding stock helps reduce inbreeding.
Colors: Black, Blue Slate, Bourbon Red, Bronze, Buff, Chocolate, Mottled, Narragansett, Penciled, Pied, Red Bronze, Royal Palm, Slate, White
