I took these pictures of my poults this morning. I never would have thought that they would puff up this early. I got them on Labor Day and I figured they were a week and a half old then. So that would put them at 4 and a half weeks old. Do all turkey toms puff up this early?
Here's our newest project that we have going on... A pair of BBW birds, of which we are going to try and retain back to be breeders. I hand selected the skinniest male, and one of the smallest hens.. with hopes they'll be able to breed and stay sound on the legs... This trial worked great a couple of years ago with our BBB birds... and up until this spring they had been soley sustainable. However, this spring, our hen disapeared, and we assumed her to be lunch for something. As a result we purchased 20 BBW birds from Cackle (I THINK, it was more from our local elevator than a hatchery direct.), after 2 weeks, our BBB hen appeared with about 20 poults chasing her. So there you have it, we raised about 38 babies this year.. Think we lost one from each group...
My BBW hen has been squating to mate for the last week.. however, my male wants nothing to do with her. You know, for being hatched in march, I haven't seen him strut once, and I think I mght have heard the first thing the other day that was supposed to be a gobble... If he doesn't do something in the next couple of weeks.. He's getting traded in for a gobbler who wants some hens... and stove bound he becomes...
I don't have any pics of the BBB derivities as this time, but will try to get some for you folks shortly...
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My tom displayed at that age. I think it's so darned cute when they're little and they puff up! Cracks me up! Thanks for the pic, they are really pretty turkey poults!