A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[austria89]

Asking for confirmation. This is a rusty slate, right? Like 90% sure but I’ve never seen such a white head from the photos people post online of rusty-colored turkeys. I’ve really only seen the ones where nearly their entire faces are black or grayish red. I’m guessing that just means this poult is homozygous for the black base, since that makes whiter heads? Had my rusty black hen under my lavender tom for a few weeks when she started laying so it’s possible for one to have hatched, and I don’t see how else the poult would have such a reddish tone to it.View attachment 3792541

Beside normal slate
View attachment 3792540

Definitely not a Rusty Slate. Rusty Slates do have a slate color plus Rusty tones.

This is an example:

Asking for confirmation. This is a rusty slate, right? Like 90% sure but I’ve never seen such a white head from the photos people post online of rusty-colored turkeys. I’ve really only seen the ones where nearly their entire faces are black or grayish red. I’m guessing that just means this poult is homozygous for the black base, since that makes whiter heads? Had my rusty black hen under my lavender tom for a few weeks when she started laying so it’s possible for one to have hatched, and I don’t see how else the poult would have such a reddish tone to it.View attachment 3792541

Beside normal slate
View attachment 3792540

Definitely not a Rusty Slate. Rusty Slates do have a slate color plus Rusty tones.



This is an example of a Rusty Slate:

 

[kfelton0002]

Definitely not a Rusty Slate. Rusty Slates do have a slate color plus Rusty tones.

This is an example:

Definitely not a Rusty Slate. Rusty Slates do have a slate color plus Rusty tones.



This is an example of a Rusty Slate:
View attachment 3793227

What other explanation is there? She said she has used the tom for breeding and he hasn't produced chocolate looking poults before. Barred slate and rusty slate are the only two options that the calculator brings up.

 

[austria89]

What other explanation is there? She said she has used the tom for breeding and he hasn't produced chocolate looking poults before. Barred slate and rusty slate are the only two options that the calculator brings up.

Rusty Black x Slate produces Rusty Blacks and Rusty Slates.
As I don't see any slate color, Rusty Black would be the only other option.

I had a rusty black hen in with the slates for a short period of time though, so rusty slates were possible.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

Then it could be a rusty slate. BB Dd Rr or Bb Dd Rr. Or it could be a Barred slate Bb Dd. I would love to see how it grows out. From the looks of it, it looks to have a full black base so BB Dd Rr would be my guess. So cute!

Thank you. The head color part was what had me a bit hesitant. I don’t think I’ve seen a rusty black or rusty slate poult homozygous for the black base before, with such a white facial marking.

Rusty Black x Slate produces Rusty Blacks and Rusty Slates.
As I don't see any slate color, Rusty Black would be the only other option.

The tom I had her under was a lavender, he couldn’t have produced rusty blacks. I was using “slates” as a general term for the pen- since she was in the breeding pen for slates, but the tom in particular I’ve been breeding is a lavender.

The slate color may be the fault of my camera, or the lighting at the time. It looks fairly slate colored to me. I did end up hatching a rusty black though, so here’s a comparison to better show the same poult beside a black bird.

The only thing I really care about in the end is the white face- the fact it extends so far on the right poult means the poult is homozygous BB, right? Also meaning, since the left poult has a smaller area of facial whiteness, that poult is likely to be Bb?

I just want to make sure I’m remembering that part right.

 

[kfelton0002]

Thank you. The head color part was what had me a bit hesitant. I don’t think I’ve seen a rusty black or rusty slate poult homozygous for the black base before, with such a white facial marking.


The tom I had her under was a lavender, he couldn’t have produced rusty blacks. I was using “slates” as a general term for the pen- since she was in the breeding pen for slates, but the tom in particular I’ve been breeding is a lavender.

The slate color may be the fault of my camera, or the lighting at the time. It looks fairly slate colored to me. I did end up hatching a rusty black though, so here’s a comparison to better show the same poult beside a black bird.View attachment 3793445

The only thing I really care about in the end is the white face- the fact it extends so far on the right poult means the poult is homozygous BB, right? Also meaning, since the left poult has a smaller area of facial whiteness, that poult is likely to be Bb?

I just want to make sure I’m remembering that part right.

A lavender tom wouldn't produce a black. They would be all slates unless bred to another lavender hen, then they would be all lavenders. A slate tom bred to a non-slate or non-lavender hen will produce some blacks.

 

[kfelton0002]

The only thing I really care about in the end is the white face- the fact it extends so far on the right poult means the poult is homozygous BB, right? Also meaning, since the left poult has a smaller area of facial whiteness, that poult is likely to be Bb?

That's what I have been told and has been my experience with mine. Bb doesn't have as much of a mask as BB.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

A lavender tom wouldn't produce a black. They would be all slates unless bred to another lavender hen, then they would be all lavenders. A slate tom bred to a non-slate or non-lavender hen will produce some blacks.

I’m aware, that’s the reason my breeding slate pen tom is a lavender. The 100% chance for his poults to get the dominant slate gene was something I was really interested in, and he hasn’t disappointed.

The rusty black didn’t come from him, that was from an egg collected after her pen move… I just have a bad habit of collecting eggs for weeks, never sorting based on age, and throwing everything onto the incubator when I do another batch. I think when I ended up incubating eggs from the rusty black hen, there was a mix of eggs fertilized by the lavender tom and eggs fertilized by the rusty black.

 

[kfelton0002]

I’m aware, that’s the reason my breeding slate pen tom is a lavender. The 100% chance for his poults to get the dominant slate gene was something I was really interested in, and he hasn’t disappointed.

The rusty black didn’t come from him, that was from an egg collected after her pen move… I just have a bad habit of collecting eggs for weeks, never sorting based on age, and throwing everything onto the incubator when I do another batch. I think when I ended up incubating eggs from the rusty black hen, there was a mix of eggs fertilized by the lavender tom and eggs fertilized by the rusty black.

Oh ok I see, she could have been with another tom. Only time will tell what the bird will grow out to be.

 

[kfelton0002]

We butchered the aggressive sweetgrass today. My husband and son did the un-aliving and I did the processing. The meat is resting in the fridge now in a salt brine. We ended up skinning him and parting out the meat. I am going to soak the breast meat for a few hours in buttermilk before cooking, cut it up, drench it and roll it in seasoned flour and fry it Monday for supper. He was spicy in life, and he will be spicy in death. Some garlic mashed potatoes and yeast rolls will be good too.

 

[kfelton0002]