The AMAZING Big Breasted Turkey

[Granny60]

The Broad-Breasted White really is broad-breasted, so much so that it no longer easily can breed naturally. "They're anatomically such that you can't get things to match up," Miller Hays says delicately.

"He can't mount," poultry scientist Hester explains.

That meant that turkeys needed to be artificially inseminated.

Enter another Beltsville breakthrough — the Beltsville Poultry Semen Extender. Invented by physiologist Thomas Sexton in the 1970s
 

From:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2010-11-24-turkeytalk24_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

[mecch]

How did such a beast ever come to exist?  Oh stupid question.  Artificial breeding techniques.  Enough is enough.

[ElZorro]

How did such a beast ever come to exist?  Oh stupid question.  Artificial breeding techniques.  Enough is enough.

not implants?

[Hellraiser]

How did such a beast ever come to exist?  Oh stupid question.  Artificial breeding techniques.  Enough is enough.

I wonder if they would simply go extinct if we stopped breeding them artificially or if only the small breasted turkeys would be able to breed and cause natural selection to take over bringing the turkey back to "norm".

[mecch]

There are plenty of "natural" turkeys on farms around the world. 
I guess these industrial ones would deplump rather fast with each generation.  But maybe you'd have some leftover plumpness if the somewhat plump ones can reproduce.

[GSOgymrat]

Obviously we need to start genetically engineering turkeys with bigger penises.

[Granny60]

Obviously we need to start genetically engineering turkeys with bigger penises.

   Happy thanksgiving!

[wtfimpoz]

Obviously we need to start genetically engineering turkeys with bigger penises.

OMG, I actually laughed out loud at this!  Good one!

EDIT:  If anyone has ever seen what gigantic beasts wild turkeys are, you know what a disturbing image this is...

[MitchMiller]

There's a bit more to this story.  A relative, who was an executive at a major chemical company, had a chuckle during a conversation when he described one of his top sellers...  a hormone that caused poultry, both chickens and turkeys, to grow HUGE breasts and mature three times faster than normal.  ... and yes.. he also commented how the breasts got so large the birds could barely stand.

It's not all just old fashioned breeding.  You can really see this disparity if you compare the scrawny chickens in the Safeway in London to those in a Safeway in the US.

[Ann]

You can really see this disparity if you compare the scrawny chickens in the Safeway in London to those in a Safeway in the US.

I'd much rather have the scrawny chickens than the hormone and ceiling-cat-knows-what laden big breasted US versions.

After all, you know what they say; more than a mouthful is a waste!