A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[OneMountainAcres]

They are 4 months old, I have gotten ahead of myself!

They are a trio, 2 boys and 1 girl.
I have some little poults still inside (5 weeks old, and 2 weeks old), and they are looking like 2 boys and 1 girl too

The end goal is to keep only 1 tom, (whichever of the eldest 2), and only hens - which will one day be 4 or 5 - I hope!!

Unless you're going for something specific with breeding, keep the one that's friendliest toward you and other people.

 

[CindyinSD]

For all practical purposes you can forget about sl - recessive slate since there are no known recessive slates in the United States.

Porter's genotype and phenotype page

http://www.porterturkeys.com/phenotypesandgenotypes.htm

Blue Slate = BB Dd
Lavender (self blue) = BB DD
Rusty Black = Bb Rr
Rusty Slate = Bb Dd Rr
Lilac = bb DD
Jersey Buff = BB rr

Porter's main page list the common varieties and includes the genotype in the description. It also includes better photos than the genotype/phenotype page. It is more informative because you can use the descriptions to rule out things like recessive slates that are not found in the U.S.

Hi everyone, Hi R2, Ralphie,
I’m the SD girl you two were helping out on the guineas thread. I decided against guineas for now... I just came to the conclusion they were beyond my experience level. I ordered some Ohio Buckeyes to (hopefully) eat the rodents instead. I did order some turkeys however (16!) and I’ve been reading through this thread. I may possibly finish it by the time the poults arrive on May 8th...

Kind of voyeuristic I realize. You lot are so interesting. Plus, there’s so much good stuff here... like the above post from R2Elk. I was wondering if there’s any way to bookmark these forums so I can find individual posts again?

 

[R2elk]

Hi everyone, Hi R2, Ralphie,
I’m the SD girl you two were helping out on the guineas thread. I decided against guineas for now... I just came to the conclusion they were beyond my experience level. I ordered some Ohio Buckeyes to (hopefully) eat the rodents instead. I did order some turkeys however (16!) and I’ve been reading through this thread. I may possibly finish it by the time the poults arrive on May 8th...

Kind of voyeuristic I realize. You lot are so interesting. Plus, there’s so much good stuff here... like the above post from R2Elk. I was wondering if there’s any way to bookmark these forums so I can find individual posts again?

Welcome to the thread. The post that you replied to is no longer valid. While recessive slates are very rare , they do now exist in the U.S. because Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys did import some.

BYC has a Bookmark feature but you must have a PFM in order to access it.

For posts that are important to me, I created a WordPad file (Windows program) in which I added a brief title followed by the URL and saved it as a .rtf file. Whenever I need to access those posts, I open that WordPad file, copy the saved URL and paste itinto the address bar.

 

[duluthralphie]

Hi everyone, Hi R2, Ralphie,
I’m the SD girl you two were helping out on the guineas thread. I decided against guineas for now... I just came to the conclusion they were beyond my experience level. I ordered some Ohio Buckeyes to (hopefully) eat the rodents instead. I did order some turkeys however (16!) and I’ve been reading through this thread. I may possibly finish it by the time the poults arrive on May 8th...

Kind of voyeuristic I realize. You lot are so interesting. Plus, there’s so much good stuff here... like the above post from R2Elk. I was wondering if there’s any way to bookmark these forums so I can find individual posts again?

There could be a way to bookmark, but it is beyond my abilities. I can barely turn a putor on and off...

What kind of poults did you order?

If you are looking for long term birds, I hope they are not broad breasted.

Turkeys can be a PITA. I went out to lock the doors on them early yesterday as we were going away for the evening. They had spent most the day inside, so I thought it would not be a problem. It was.

They had decided to go outside just before I went to close the door. They were all withing 100 ft of the door. I gave up on the idea of closing the doors early.

I went inside checked waterers and feed, gathered eggs and talked to the chickens. The turkeys being jealous types, decided to all come inside. I got my hopes up, that I could shut the doors. I started to work my way through the flock towards the door. They have a tendency to gather around me like Secret Service around the President. I can hardly move without stepping on one.

As I got closer to the door a few from the advance party snuck outside and gathering around my exit point. It was not going to work, I had to leave the doors open. As I headed to the house, they decided to race me to the deck. They do this because they know how much the WW enjoys birds on the deck.

As soon as I got inside they ran back to their coop. When we left there were 5 just outside the door. I know they wanted to lure me into trying to shut the doors early again. I did not fall for it. The doors stayed open until well after dark!

 

[R2elk]

I ordered some Ohio Buckeyes to (hopefully) eat the rodents instead.

I had Light Brahmas at one time and they were the best mousers that I have had. Turkeys will dine on mice and other small critters. When I first bought this place, there were snakes and lizards all over the place. Since I started raising turkeys I rarely ever see a snake and have only seen a lizard once when I was out of turkeys for one year.

Good luck.

 

[R2elk]

There could be a way to bookmark

Ralphie, since you are a PFM, the Bookmark feature is available to you. The Bookmark button is at the bottom of every post just to the right of the Report button. Once you have saved a Bookmark you can access your Bookmarks by hovering over the Account button in the header which will open its drop down menu and the Your Bookmarks button will be at the bottom of the right column.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I had Light Brahmas at one time and they were the best mousers that I have had. Turkeys will dine on mice and other small critters. When I first bought this place, there were snakes and lizards all over the place. Since I started raising turkeys I rarely ever see a snake and have only seen a lizard once when I was out of turkeys for one year.

Good luck.

I hope my light brahmas become great mousers when they're all grown up because as it is now, ALL of my birds will watch a mouse or chipmunk just still up to the food dish, grab a meal and walk away.....

 

[memphis]

Welcome CindyinSD! Turkeys instead of guineas....wise choice! You'll love them!

 

[memphis]

My Seckled Sussex eat mice & such. They are the most voracious foragers I have.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Welcome CindyinSD! Turkeys instead of guineas....wise choice! You'll love them!

X2!