Sometimes I forget that the existence of heritage turkey breeds isn't common knowledge. The first nations developed so many varieties of heritage turkeys and more continue to be developed to this day, y'all. Broad breasted aren't all there is.
Narangansette
Royal palm
Slate (chocolate in the background)
Bourbon red (very popular)
Chocolate
Black
Beltsville small, my beloved
Slate and royal palm toms
Blue palm and fall fire projects by Porter's. Check out more of their projects here.
Porter's is an indigenous owned and operated hatchery, with the goal of re-creating, preserving, and making new varieties of heritage turkeys.
Heritage varieties can breed on their own and live long, happy turkey lives. Additionally, turkeys are very intelligent- honestly even the broad breasted are pretty smart. No, they don't drown themselves in rain, poults are susceptible to cold and need more time to learn how to bird than chickens but that isn't a result of human interference- their mothers are very attentive, even wild poults can become sick if they don't have somewhere warm and dry during the rain. They're more susceptible to illness and need a bit more care which is where the myths about that comes from.