The Mechelen Turkey Head is an old Flemish meat breed that was developed for the German market. The Turkey Head was intended to be a heavier version of the original Malines breed, also known as the Mechelen. Malines were crossed with the heavy Bruges Fighter (also available at Greenfire Farms). This contribution of Fighter's blood created a Malines with a small three-row comb, a striking dewlap, no wattles and large slightly drooping ears. It is heavier, coarser and slightly higher on the legs than the original Malines.

The Mechelen Turkey Head look similar to another breed that we have on the farm, the Malines, which we imported earlier in 2013. However, the breeds do have their differences. The Mechelen Turkey Head has a short pea comb, small to nonexistent wattles, drooping earlobes, and eggs that are slightly more tinted. Please refer to theMalinesbreed page for more information on that breed. The Turkey Head hens act a lot like the Malines hens. They run up to us and are always curious if we are bringing any snacks to them. Our rooster that we imported didn't show aggression to us and was equally as curious as the hens. Information that we have found online stated that the Mechelen Turkey Head roosters are temperamental but we have had any negative experiences with the roosters as none of the ones that we have worked with have become human aggressive.

The Turkey Head roosters will typically weigh between 11 to 12 pounds and the hens are about 8 to 9 pounds at maturity. Since they are quite large, they aren't the fastest. But they sure try to sprint over toward us as soon as they see us. We have noticed that they are mainly very calm and not flighty. They also don't wander too far away from their coop or pen when let out to free range. They prefer to stay close by their home. This breed will do well in a small coop or a large enclosure. Use caution when allowing them to free-range as they aren't the fastest so they may not be able to run to safety fast enough if a predator attempts to catch them.

The hens of this breed are not very broody so we recommend that if you plan to hatch chicks from this breed, that you find a good quality incubator. We also recommend a rooster-to-hen ratio of no more than 1:10.

We incubate at 99.5F and 55% humidity. Typically we see about an 80% hatch rate from the eggs we set into the hatcher. The most notable defect is the presence of a straight comb and inconsistent leg feathering. Both of which you can call cull for on hatch day.