Turkey Color Genetics Lessons

[kfacres]

We had quite the interesting color results this spring from our pair. The hen is a standard heritage Bronze bird that has been around for many generations, she might have a shot of E. Wild in her as an accident of wild birds venturing into our yard about 10 years ago. It's a long story, but we got fertile eggs nearly 2 months after our tom was killed.

We couldn't find a new heritage Tom, and wanted something a little bigger and muscular than what we had- so we bought what is prob a mutt-- but looks like a Nagg.

In any result, we had about 1/3 of our poults hatch out this spring solid white- and have since turned in Royal Palm looking young hens. About 1/3 of the poults came out looking Nagg- and all appear to be toms- and the remainder came out looking Bronze.

The whites are the most shocking, as we never expected it.

Any thoughts on this?

I'm considering getting rid of the birds that I have, and restarting with something more muscular. I do have a Bronze tom mated to a BBW hen- young hen that is closer to the muscle I want in a self reproducing bird- just wondering what to mate her to,

Any thoughts?

 

[Lagerdogger]

If you crossed what looked like a bronze with what looked like a Narragansett, and got both palms and Narragansett offspring, then the bronze was carrying both palm and Narri genes, and the Narri was carrying a palm gene as well. Offspring that received both palm and Narri genes from the bronze and palm and Narri genes fron the Narri are palms. Offspring that received a single palm from either parent ( or no palm genes) and the Narri gene from the bronze look like Narragansett. And offspring that ended up with one or no Narri or palm genes look bronze. What amazes me is that you ended up with two birds so rich in recessive genes.

 

[kfacres]

If you crossed what looked like a bronze with what looked like a Narragansett, and got both palms and Narragansett offspring, then the bronze was carrying both palm and Narri genes, and the Narri was carrying a palm gene as well. Offspring that received both palm and Narri genes from the bronze and palm and Narri genes fron the Narri are palms. Offspring that received a single palm from either parent ( or no palm genes) and the Narri gene from the bronze look like Narragansett. And offspring that ended up with one or no Narri or palm genes look bronze. What amazes me is that you ended up with two birds so rich in recessive genes.

2/3 of the hatches were either palm or narr.

I'm thinking about selling out, and starting over with something with more muscle.

 

[Haida]

Whoa! Thanks, Lagerdogger!! I have tried to read the stuff over at Porters, but it doesn't make much sense to me.

This really clarified all of the little things, like the capitalization of letters and stuff. Its a lot to think about! I do kinda want to play with color combinations with the birds I have/will hatch. Currently, I have a pair of Spanish Blacks (along with four of their babies, about 3 mo. old) and a pair of Standard Bronzes (they aren't to breeding age yet).

This also makes me want to ask you a few things (I hope you don't mind!). My Spanish Black hen, Spangles, has some really weird feathers going on:


She's in the front there, her turkey-husband behind her (Buck, who looks mostly Spanish Black, except he has some white barring on his wings). Spangles will get an occasional "wild turkey feather" in her tail feathers. She isn't very "shiney" or iridescent like Buck (if that matters much?). Here's another pic of her:


Poor girly is starting to molt when I took this one. Her head is mostly feathered, too, which I think is cute.


Here's one of Buck and Spangles' kids, aptly named Buck Jr. He has his dad's iridescence on his feathers, along with Spangles' white tips. When he hatched, he looked like a Spanish Black, but his body feathers were grey, not black.


Here's more of their babies. 3 of 4 of their kids look like Buck Jr. The only solid black one is the one in the middle here, and the little hen in front is starting to get a few of those white-tipped feathers.

So I guess my question is, what kind of genes/alleles is Spangles carrying? I kinda wonder if maybe she has some Narragansett? Also, do you think I could expect anything interesting if I crossed her with my Standard Bronze tom?

Thanks for taking the time and posting this thread and reading my babble!!!

 

[chickadoodles]

Can anyone tell me if I cross a BBW hen with a Std. Bronze tom what I will get?

 

[kfacres]

Can anyone tell me if I cross a BBW hen with a Std. Bronze tom what I will get?

mine all came out bronze

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: Thank you kfacres I appreciate your help.

 

[Lucky KY Chicks]

Whoa! Thanks, Lagerdogger!! I have tried to read the stuff over at Porters, but it doesn't make much sense to me. This really clarified all of the little things, like the capitalization of letters and stuff. Its a lot to think about! I do kinda want to play with color combinations with the birds I have/will hatch. Currently, I have a pair of Spanish Blacks (along with four of their babies, about 3 mo. old) and a pair of Standard Bronzes (they aren't to breeding age yet). This also makes me want to ask you a few things (I hope you don't mind!). My Spanish Black hen, Spangles, has some really weird feathers going on: She's in the front there, her turkey-husband behind her (Buck, who looks mostly Spanish Black, except he has some white barring on his wings). Spangles will get an occasional "wild turkey feather" in her tail feathers. She isn't very "shiney" or iridescent like Buck (if that matters much?). Here's another pic of her: Poor girly is starting to molt when I took this one. Her head is mostly feathered, too, which I think is cute. Here's one of Buck and Spangles' kids, aptly named Buck Jr. He has his dad's iridescence on his feathers, along with Spangles' white tips. When he hatched, he looked like a Spanish Black, but his body feathers were grey, not black. Here's more of their babies. 3 of 4 of their kids look like Buck Jr. The only solid black one is the one in the middle here, and the little hen in front is starting to get a few of those white-tipped feathers. So I guess my question is, what kind of genes/alleles is Spangles carrying? I kinda wonder if maybe she has some Narragansett? Also, do you think I could expect anything interesting if I crossed her with my Standard Bronze tom? Thanks for taking the time and posting this thread and reading my babble!!!

I would love to know what everyone thinks was going on here

 

[WalnutHill]

I can't speak for its accuracy, but I came across this when trying to debug a line which I ended up culling:

Turkey Calculator

I think this is the origin of your two:

Male
C+C+ BB R+R+ d+d+ nn E+E+
White tipped Black

Female
C+C+ b+b+ R+R+ d+d+ N+- E+-
Bronze


Keep breeding, and if you throw Narragansett and Bronze as well, then that helps support the theory.

 

[cks4me]

easy question: How do you know what genetics your turkey carry's?