Turkey Talk for 2014

[SilkieSensation]

Glad you got some poults to hatch!! I have 12 right now that are all to. RP x BS. Blues, blue mottled and black mottled. Ranging from 1 to 3 weeks of age. sold out of the pure RP for now. Need to sell some of the mixes!!'

I have to stop letting people but them so I will have choices. Lol my BS hen is raising 2 mixed poults now, but everything else has sold. ALL of hers have come out looking the same, a somewhat bluish color, & the 2 she has have some white in their feathering. So I'd assume they are both mottled blue, maybe some just blue? Do the mottled blacks come out black?

If you haven't gotten any black yet then you may be a step ahead & have a lavender tom over the royal palm hens (assuming your hens are the palms). If your tom is "slate" post a pic & I can tell you if he's actually lavender. If he is, you will get all blue mottled this generation.

 

[sonderah]

If you haven't gotten any black yet then you may be a step ahead & have a lavender tom over the royal palm hens (assuming your hens are the palms). If your tom is "slate" post a pic & I can tell you if he's actually lavender. If he is, you will get all blue mottled this generation.

No my Tom is the RP, & my hen is slate. I got a few pics of her poults, about a month old, but not good pics because they do not care much for humans getting too close, & neither does momma!!! Lol

 

[SilkieSensation]

If you haven't gotten any black yet then you may be a step ahead & have a lavender tom over the royal palm hens (assuming your hens are the palms). If your tom is "slate" post a pic & I can tell you if he's actually lavender. If he is, you will get all blue mottled this generation.

No my Tom is the RP, & my hen is slate. I got a few pics of her poults, about a month old, but not good pics because they do not care much for humans getting too close, & neither does momma!!! Lol

Do you have a pic of the hen? She could be lavender. I just assumed you had more than 1 hen.

 

[sonderah]

Do you have a pic of the hen? She could be lavender. I just assumed you had more than 1 hen.

Here's "Turkey", what I was told was blue slate but this is my 1st yr with turkeys. I only have 1 other hen, but she is an RP.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote: She looks like a lavender to me. My Blue Slates all have random flecks of black of various sizes on all their feathers. Another possibility for her would be a liliac, which is the same as a lavender but with a brown base instead of a black base, as the picture looks like she has some brownish feathers around her neck. But those are quite uncommon, and what I'm seeing is likely an artifact.

 

[sonderah]

She looks like a lavender to me.  My Blue Slates all have random flecks of black of various sizes on all their feathers.  Another possibility for her would be a liliac, which is the same as a lavender but with a brown base instead of a black base, as the picture looks like she has some brownish feathers around her neck.  But those are quite uncommon, and what I'm seeing is likely an artifact.

Meaning, u don't think she's any of those?

 

[sonderah]

Now I'm really curious. I assumed the lady was telling me correctly and I have been selling her poults as mixes of BS and RP. I would hate to think I've been accidentally lying. So, I went and got fresh pics from different angles. She def does have a touch of brown to her, guess I've always thought she was just dirty and didn't pay much attention. So, is she a "mutt"?

 

[R2elk]

Now I'm really curious. I assumed the lady was telling me correctly and I have been selling her poults as mixes of BS and RP. I would hate to think I've been accidentally lying. So, I went and got fresh pics from different angles. She def does have a touch of brown to her, guess I've always thought she was just dirty and didn't pay much attention. So, is she a "mutt"?

She may well be a "self blue". She does not appear to have as much tan coloring as the lilacs have.

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

The tom in the following link is a "self blue" and does have some tan tinting to him. My "self blue" tom is from Porter's and just barely has a tinge of the tan.

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

 

[Momhunter]

If you haven't gotten any black yet then you may be a step ahead & have a lavender tom over the royal palm hens (assuming your hens are the palms). If your tom is "slate" post a pic & I can tell you if he's actually lavender. If he is, you will get all blue mottled this generation.

I have RP toms over BS hens and RP hens

 

[Sydney Acres]

Now I'm really curious. I assumed the lady was telling me correctly and I have been selling her poults as mixes of BS and RP. I would hate to think I've been accidentally lying. So, I went and got fresh pics from different angles. She def does have a touch of brown to her, guess I've always thought she was just dirty and didn't pay much attention. So, is she a "mutt"?

From these angles, the tan/brown coloration is minimal, so I think it was an artifact on the first picture. So she looks like a Lavender in these pictures. Lavender and Self Blue are the same thing. It is just one of three colors that you get when you breed Blue Slate to Blue Slate. The Blue Slate genetics are more complicated than other colors, in that purebreds come in three different colors: Slate, Self Blue (aka Lavender), and Black (but not genetically the same as the Spanish Blacks, just a black colored Blue Slate). So she does look like a purebred Blue Slate, just in the Lavender color, which is probably best for the colors that you said you wanted to develop, since you'd be starting one generation closer to that goal.

If this is making your head spin, check out the Blue Slate page on the Porter's website, then look at the feather color genetics page. If you go back to it many times it will make more sense each time until something will "click" in your brain, and all of a sudden it'll be obvious.

Until then, think of it like the three different colors in Labradors: Black, Chocolate, and Yellow. (The Labrador genetics are actually a little more complicated, but most people are more familiar with the three colors in them than in Blue Slate turkeys.) All three colors are purebreds, and often the puppies aren't the same color as the parents, but they're still purebred labs.