Turkey Talk for 2014

[duluthralphie]

My Tom tried to land on my goat fence and I found him hanging upside down when I went outside this morning. His ankle was twisted in the fence and the skin was scraped off about a three inch segment. We cleaned it and wrapped it with horse wrap. Should we try to change the dressing periodically or should we just let him be?

He is walking, but it is with a limp. He is also laying down a lot, but that seems normal to me. Is there anything I should watch for?

I had a hen this summer that I found hanging upside down from the top of the dog kennel. The skin on her ankle was broken and rubbed off. I just put some antiseptic on it and let her go. She limped for about a week but recovered fine.

I was so glad I found her when I did. I am not sure she could have lasted all that long hanging upside down. Silly birds!!

 

[podgal]

Ha! I know but still if you Google blackhead turkeys (all the pics have turkeys with black heads..duh on my part) and are a paranoid novice, it's worse case scenario until proven otherwise. Thought folks would enjoy the laugh at me...

 

[chicken pickin]

Ha! I know but still if you Google blackhead turkeys (all the pics have turkeys with black heads..duh on my part) and are a paranoid novice, it's worse case scenario until proven otherwise. Thought folks would enjoy the laugh at me...

Im the same way lol. Its always worst case scenario, it drives my DH nuts lol

 

[R2elk]

Amazing how they squabble and fight with each other! The first time I saw them pulling each others snoods I was shocked. I thought they would kill each other.

Which is why I plan to keep one tom and one hen together in a covered pen during breeding season. The way they fight now, I can't imagine how bad it would get if they were left to their own with only 4 hens for 5 toms....Which means 1 tom will have to be a dinner guest for sure.


I am so glad it was not blackhead! That is one of my major concerns too, because I raise all chickens, guineas and turkeys as 1 flock.

It is my opinion that you would be better served and your hens would be in better shape if you allow one tom to have all 4 hens. I try to keep four to six hens for one tom. Doing this prevents any one hen from getting over used by the tom. It also tends to keep the tom from bothering a hen on a nest since they don't all normally go broody at the same time.

Turkeys are in no way monogamous and really shouldn't be paired one to one unless you have a particular breeding project in mind and even then each tom should have more than one hen to mate with.

If you do keep your turkeys segregated in individual breeding pens, it is best to make it such that the toms can not see each other through the fences. If they are penned next to each other and can see each other they will tend to spend more time fighting through the fence than breeding.

Good luck.

 

[duluthralphie]

It is my opinion that you would be better served and your hens would be in better shape if you allow one tom to have all 4 hens. I try to keep four to six hens for one tom. Doing this prevents any one hen from getting over used by the tom. It also tends to keep the tom from bothering a hen on a nest since they don't all normally go broody at the same time.

Turkeys are in no way monogamous and really shouldn't be paired one to one unless you have a particular breeding project in mind and even then each tom should have more than one hen to mate with.

If you do keep your turkeys segregated in individual breeding pens, it is best to make it such that the toms can not see each other through the fences. If they are penned next to each other and can see each other they will tend to spend more time fighting through the fence than breeding.

Good luck.

I agree, however, I am breeding for different colors. I have slate blue, self blue and slate reds I want to keep the reds separate. I also want to breed the self blue to the self blue, and the slate blues to each other. I do have two self blue hens so I suppose I could have one tom for the two of them.

I found if the toms are in a fence and can see another bird they will pace back and forth against the fence and wear their chest feathers off, so yeppers I will keep them out of sight of each other. They look so ugly with naked chests.

Thanks for your suggestions, I will give it all some serious thought, I live in Minnesota so I have 9 months before spring arrives to think about it. hehehhee

 

[R2elk]

I agree, however, I am breeding for different colors. I have slate blue, self blue and slate reds I want to keep the reds separate. I also want to breed the self blue to the self blue, and the slate blues to each other. I do have two self blue hens so I suppose I could have one tom for the two of them.

I found if the toms are in a fence and can see another bird they will pace back and forth against the fence and wear their chest feathers off, so yeppers I will keep them out of sight of each other. They look so ugly with naked chests.

Thanks for your suggestions, I will give it all some serious thought, I live in Minnesota so I have 9 months before spring arrives to think about it. hehehhee

In that case it makes sense to keep the multiple birds. One thing to think about is that breeding a self blue to a self blue will produce only self blues. They do breed true to type. Breeding a self blue with a blue slate will produce approximately 50% self blues and 50% blue slates. Since crossing the blue slate with the self blue will give you both blue slates and self blues, it can eliminate the need for separating those pairings.

The only thing you would lose from a blue slate to blue slate pairing is the black version of the blue slate. Blue slate bred to blue slate does not breed true and will produce approximately 50% blue slate, 25% self blue and 25% blacks.

Sorry I don't remember what the red slates will produce but I suspect that they also don't breed true. According to Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys, a red slate pairing will produce red slates, lilacs and bronzes.

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

Good luck.

 

[duluthralphie]

In that case it makes sense to keep the multiple birds. One thing to think about is that breeding a self blue to a self blue will produce only self blues. They do breed true to type. Breeding a self blue with a blue slate will produce approximately 50% self blues and 50% blue slates. Since crossing the blue slate with the self blue will give you both blue slates and self blues, it can eliminate the need for separating those pairings.

The only thing you would lose from a blue slate to blue slate pairing is the black version of the blue slate. Blue slate bred to blue slate does not breed true and will produce approximately 50% blue slate, 25% self blue and 25% blacks.

Sorry I don't remember what the red slates will produce but I suspect that they also don't breed true. According to Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys, a red slate pairing will produce red slates, lilacs and bronzes.

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

Good luck.

Thanks.

I have been using Porters as a guide. I had 5 poults hatched in mid-sept from my red slates. I had some interesting looking chicks. 2 looked red. I looked like a blue , I suppose it was lilac. The other two we could not tell, unfortunately the eagles killed them all with in 6 weeks. I was not set up properly for them and never thought the eagles would get as bad as they did.

Living in Minnesota, I did not give them much hope to make it to spring just because of the time of year they hatched. The hen hid a nest in the swamp and went away for a month. One of the reasons I am thinking of separating the birds into pairs or threesomes, besides knowing who is the parents of who, is to give me a safe netted pen to raise the young ones in. I am not going to let the eagles have at my spring babies. After I get the babies I want, I will just let the turkeys do their thing and mate or go broody. I will incubate the first bunches.

As I said, I am still trying to decide who to keep and who to eat. I suppose I could actually get by with 1 red, and 1 blue tom, I would get all the choices of colors just in different ratios.

The more I think about this the better I like the idea. Maybe I will cull the 2 self blue toms and keep the 2 blues, just in case one of the blues dies over winter. I could eat one of them for Easter.

 

[R2elk]

Thanks.

I have been using Porters as a guide. I had 5 poults hatched in mid-sept from my red slates. I had some interesting looking chicks. 2 looked red. I looked like a blue , I suppose it was lilac. The other two we could not tell, unfortunately the eagles killed them all with in 6 weeks. I was not set up properly for them and never thought the eagles would get as bad as they did.

Living in Minnesota, I did not give them much hope to make it to spring just because of the time of year they hatched. The hen hid a nest in the swamp and went away for a month. One of the reasons I am thinking of separating the birds into pairs or threesomes, besides knowing who is the parents of who, is to give me a safe netted pen to raise the young ones in. I am not going to let the eagles have at my spring babies. After I get the babies I want, I will just let the turkeys do their thing and mate or go broody. I will incubate the first bunches.

As I said, I am still trying to decide who to keep and who to eat. I suppose I could actually get by with 1 red, and 1 blue tom, I would get all the choices of colors just in different ratios.

The more I think about this the better I like the idea. Maybe I will cull the 2 self blue toms and keep the 2 blues, just in case one of the blues dies over winter. I could eat one of them for Easter.

Sounds like a plan. It doesn't hurt to keep a back up tom as long as it doesn't interfere with the breedings.

I personally raise blue slates. I switched to a self blue tom with blue slate hens to avoid having the black turkeys to deal with. I personally don't care for black poultry but realize that many others do like their black birds.

Good luck. Sorry about the eagle predation.

 

[desertmarcy]

Sounds like a plan. It doesn't hurt to keep a back up tom as long as it doesn't interfere with the breedings.

I personally raise blue slates. I switched to a self blue tom with blue slate hens to avoid having the black turkeys to deal with. I personally don't care for black poultry but realize that many others do like their black birds.

Good luck. Sorry about the eagle predation.

I do the exact same thing. I have a self blue tom over slate hens. This past year, I also had a pure self blue pen. Why, I don't know, but I'm eliminating that for the coming year because I want more space for my Pencilled Palms. I butchered/sold one of the self blue hens for Thanksgiving so only have 2 left and will probably add them to the self blue/slate pen. If I could build another pen in time, I'd put my spare Royal Palm over them for mottled blues but don't know if there is any market for them since they'd be a mixed breed. The black turkeys get a lot of staining from pin feathers when you dress them out. Cosmetic only, they still taste good, but I sell processed birds and want them to look nice.

 

[TeaChick]

I wanted to raise our Thanksgiving turkey this year, but we never were able to get one, so....we had to b-u-y one.

I guess there's always next year.