A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[duluthralphie]

Well...JJ is hard to resist. Just ask that vet!!

I am not sure, I think the Lady Vet was laughing at JJ behind his back...

 

[memphis]

Can't wait for pics....those baby quail are just darling!! And so darn tiny!

 

[memphis]

Maybe....but I bet she's still talking about him!!

 

[rjohns39]

I'm planning on breeding them by breed this year. Memphis scared me to death when she started talking about them laying early... Once I move them into their winter house, I'll have one pen designated for breeding and will rotate the best Tom in with the hens of the same breed. Just for fun, I'm going to add one of my Narri's in with the bourbon, as I've been told the flavor is fabulous. I have no idea what I'm doing--but am armed with a book from the livestock conservancy and diving in head first. Come spring, I'm going to keep my best two Toms from each breed and the rest along with the extra drakes and roos are off to the freezer. Next spring, I'll keep the same mating pairs from this year and mate the additional Tom with the hens that hatch out. We'll see how it goes.

 

[feedman77]

Got about a 1/4 to half inch of ice fri. Night into sat. Morning. Worst of it went to the south.

I have 4 narri hens now and a tom.
4 bourbon hens and 3 toms.
4 palm hens and 2 toms.
1 red bronze hen.
1 mottled blue, blue red bronze, and a blue palm toms to go into spring with.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Ralphie: good luck on making snitch a lapper.

Memphis: sorry you decided against a tom. I told my spare toms your girls were off the market. They were devestated for about a min.

Stephcraig: Glad your girls are laying good. Send that bug northwest. So maybe my girls will catch it. If your looking for a Tom in the spring I will have a few spares and maybe what your looking for.

Fiesty: your vacation looked awesome. Nothing but I've and mud here.

Aurora: how did the hens take blocking off the hard to reach area of the coop? Did they keep laying? Good luck with the turkey eggs in the bator.

Rjohns: welcome to the thread and a nice looking flock of turkeys you have there.

My bobwhites started hatching this morning. I think there about 40 out so far. My legbar, wellie, and fcbm eggs should hatch this weekend.

Will put up some pics when I move them to a brooder.

They are totally unfazed. One of the girls has taken to the new nest. The other is still laying up on a piece of siding that stretches out from the loft across the rafters. I'm almost certain I only have 2 girls laying at the moment.

 

[Finnie]

I'm planning on breeding them by breed this year.  Memphis scared me to death when she started talking about them laying early...  Once I move them into their winter house, I'll have one pen designated for breeding and will rotate the best Tom in with the hens of the same breed.  Just for fun, I'm going to add one of my Narri's in with the bourbon, as I've been told the flavor is fabulous. I have no idea what I'm doing--but am armed with a book from the livestock conservancy and diving in head first.  Come spring, I'm going to keep my best two Toms from each breed and the rest along with the extra drakes and roos are off to the freezer.  Next spring, I'll keep the same mating pairs from this year and mate the additional Tom with the hens that hatch out.  We'll see how it goes.

Hi to the new guy!

I was told by a breeder I got a Poult from once, that hens can retain sperm from a mating for several months. He was getting blue poults six months after he sold his only blue slate tom, and he shouldn't have been getting that gene hatching any more. What do you experienced breeders think? How long do we need to be isolating our hens if we want to be sure of the genetics of the offspring?

 

[duluthralphie]

Hi to the new guy!

I was told by a breeder I got a Poult from once, that hens can retain sperm from a mating for several months. He was getting blue poults six months after he sold his only blue slate tom, and he shouldn't have been getting that gene hatching any more. What do you experienced breeders think? How long do we need to be isolating our hens if we want to be sure of the genetics of the offspring?

from what and how I understand it A turkey hen can hold the sperm over 2 months (65) days is the number used. They can also "pick" the Tom's sperm they want to use. although I find that one hard to understand. Unless they can simply expel the unwanted semen as in the case of rape from another tom.

I think though as a rule it is last in first out. But that is just my feeling no proof at all.

 

[memphis]

RJohns....you need to go over to Porters Heritage Breed Turkeys site and play with his calculator. You punch in the tom and the hen and it tells you genetically what they will produce. Its addicting....but so worth it! Heck...I can hang on that site for a few hours just drooling over the turkey pictures. IN FACT....Ralphie has a few birds featured on his site!! Thats right....Ralphie has a few famous birds!!

Didn't mean to scare you....but reports of hens starting to lay are popping up all over. Not in overwhelming numbers and spread all over the states. For some odd reason I sort of keep track of it. Last year at this time there were many more hens laying. This year...they seem slower to start. Many more hens are "Squatting".... so we have a bunch thinking about it!

Yes Finnie....that turkey sperm stays viable for quite awhile!

Feedman....I wanna Narri hen !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[stephcraig78]

Feedman I am really starting to like the look of the bourbons. I have always loved the blue slates and the royal palm. So if you have any toms of those breeds I could probably sweet talk my hubby into making the drive to get one. Since we only have the two hens I'll stick with one tom. Might pick up one or two more hens come spring time from local small animal swap. Yeah we got almost a half inch of ice last weekend. Made a four day weekend for the kids. Thank the lord they went back yesterday and no more snow or ice in the forecast!!! The birds were super excited to get out of pen today. It's been so wet their pen is mush. Gotta get it cleaned out and fresh straw out.