This is frustrating... Need some help.

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chickenmomma16

chickenmomma16

Crowing
12 Years
Jul 16, 2012
1,024
806
336
Buckley, Washington
I dont know much about turkeys but I have no clue what to do!
I have been looking for an adult standard Bronze tom for my hen. Very hard to find! I found some on craigslist and they were super close to me so I went to pick one up. I get there and feel like an idiot... All the Bronze "toms" look like hens! They had some Burbon Reds and there were obviously 4 toms and some hens.


Should I just go back and get a BR and cross it with my SB?
I was planning on selling hatching eggs and/or started poults but would there be a market for crosses?
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Also, compared to my hen of unknown age these turkeys looked really short. These turkeys were 8months old. Do Bronze turkeys take longer to mature? I saw some with slightly bigger waddles (?) but the same size as the rest and they sounded like hens. The BR were gobbling... What am I looking for???
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The adult toms of both bourbon reds and standard bronze (and pretty much every other not-white turkey) will have dark-edged breast feathers, and adult hens will have light-edged breast feathers. If they were eight months old, this coloring should be obvious. These are golden Narragansetts, but bronzes will look the same. The top picture shows the light edges of a hen, the bottom shows the dark edges of the tom (also a tom in the background of the top photo.

If you get a bourbon red tom, you will get red-bronze offspring, such as the tom in the third photo. (Quiz, what sex is the turkey blocking the view of the red bronze's tail?). Red bronze are very pretty, and you wouldn't be sorry you had them. Red Bronze crossed back to standard bronze produce red bronze and standard bronze. Red bronze crossed back to bourbon red produce red bronze and bourbon red, red bronze crossed with red bronze produce all three.

Growth rates should be the same between standard bronze and bourbon red (SB maybe a little bigger). If they were small and sounded like hens, and were really 8 months old, they were probably hens. It's possible that they are much younger than eight months and not yet gobbling or showing adult plumage.








 
Thank you, Thank you, Thank You!!!!!!
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Thats exactlly what I needed to know. So white tips are hens, black tips are toms. I'm sure all the Bronze were hens but I will check again Monday. I may end up with a Bourbon Red tom and try and snag a couple more hens. :) They are all $15 ea and they still had quite a few Bronze hens.
Lagerdogger said:
Quiz, what sex is the turkey blocking the view of the red bronze's tail?
Click to expand...

Hen?
 
And if you need to post a pic of what you are going to buy before you buy it, please do so. Ask the seller to email or text you the pic and download it here and the turkey people will help you if you have any question on the breed, etc.
 
kuntrygirl said:
And if you need to post a pic of what you are going to buy before you buy it, please do so. Ask the seller to email or text you the pic and download it here and the turkey people will help you if you have any question on the breed, etc.
Click to expand...

Thank you I will do that if need be. With what Lagerdogger first posted I think I can pick out the correct bird(s) The feather tip color *should* be easy to point out as all the birds seem to have adult feathers. I wish I could have found that info before I went out there the first time but at least now I know if they for sure do not have any Bronze toms I feel better about getting a Bourbon Red and poss. producing Red Bronzes. Maybe I can snag a couple more hens from them at a steal of a deal... they want to get rid of them ASAP.

To think this turkey thing all started with a free stray hen. Forget chicken math I am coming down with a bad case of poultry math...
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I'm so thankful for a tolerent husband! I keep telling him if this turkey thing doesn't work out we can always have a turkey dinner!
 

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