A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[mountain mom]

They looked just like your birds. Like slates, but "rusty" looking tails. Not sure if I took pics, I raised them for meat birds. I just figured they were mutts.

OH NO! Sounds like you may have accidentally butchered some rare birds!

 

[AmericanMom]

Hey all!! Looking through the thread is so fun, seeing what everyone has and what they are hatching! I am still incubating and selling fertile bourbon red eggs and poults.. Having a blast this year, survival rate on hatchlings is still (knock on wood) 100%.. I started hand turning instead of putting the eggs in turners and the hatch rate has increased to 80-90% Just put another weeks worth of eggs in last night.

We are taking a vacation in June and I plan to have everything hatched and either in the grow out pens or sold by June 10th.. I have one more set for the incubator coming up this week then I am done. I am thinking if I can get the hens to brood a clutch each they wont lay while we are gone.. Here is my question, one of the hens lays her eggs in an old brooder box at the back of our property, the chickens leave her site alone and don't lay their eggs in with her. Should I leave all the eggs she lays until she decides to go broody or keep taking them and storing them until I think she has enough?
The second hen will not lay anywhere but in the chicken coop with the rest of the chickens so getting her to brood a clutch isn't going to be as easy, as much as I have tried to tempt her away to another site it has not worked, I don't have much hope of her raising a clutch without me here to block her nest off and do what I do with my broody hens .. any suggestions would be welcomed!

 

[duluthralphie]

My Ethel hatched 5 chicks out of 12eggs last Sept, but they all died. The nest was out in the woods near the swamp. I am sure she would have hatched more, but on the day they hatched we got 2 inches of sleetly rain and it appears the nest flooded and chicks died. I did not know where the nest was until after the 5 hatched.

I would say if she is not being bothered with chickens laying there and you know where it is , let her have them. You can watch over them from afar without her getting suspicious. If you take them she just may move and you may not find them at all.

I just took 11 eggs from Ethels hidden nest I found yesterday, I am going to let her hatch the next batch, (Unless I move her into a run and even then I will let her hatch them, she likes being a Mommy.)

You might have to block off the one from the chickens and treat her like a broody chicken to get her to set. I would think at around a dozen eggs she would go broody. I have one in a run now on a nest with 8 eggs, she is a yearling so who knows if she will hatch them.

 

[chickadoodles]

I hatched out a bunch of what I called "dirty slates" last year that looked like that. Just the slightest hint of barring in the tail, and a pale red/tan tint to the tail and across the back. They all went for processing...

When I find out stuff like they are rare after the fact that's when I say ouch.

 

[AmericanMom]

My Ethel hatched 5 chicks out of 12eggs last Sept, but they all died. The nest was out in the woods near the swamp. I am sure she would have hatched more, but on the day they hatched we got 2 inches of sleetly rain and it appears the nest flooded and chicks died. I did not know where the nest was until after the 5 hatched.

I would say if she is not being bothered with chickens laying there and you know where it is , let her have them. You can watch over them from afar without her getting suspicious. If you take them she just may move and you may not find them at all.

I just took 11 eggs from Ethels hidden nest I found yesterday, I am going to let her hatch the next batch, (Unless I move her into a run and even then I will let her hatch them, she likes being a Mommy.)

You might have to block off the one from the chickens and treat her like a broody chicken to get her to set. I would think at around a dozen eggs she would go broody. I have one in a run now on a nest with 8 eggs, she is a yearling so who knows if she will hatch them.

both started laying in February and although I have taken every egg neither has given up their site lol, I leave one fake egg in the old brooder and that seems to be enough to keep the hen going back, I think I will leave whatever she lays and see what she does, hopefully she will lay a good clutch! I was afraid the one that lays in the coop was a no hope while I am gone situation, although we have a neighbor lined up to feed and water the animals dealing with a broody is more than I can ask. If anything went wrong they would feel it was their fault no matter the situation.

 

[mountain mom]

Silkie- These are for you...




Lilac feet

Chocolate feet



more chocolate feet

So, what are your thoughts? When I vent sexed (this was my first time, by the way) I thought the chocolate was a male. But I really have no idea. Youtube can make you think you know what you are doing... but really not.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Silkie- These are for you... Lilac feet Chocolate feet more chocolate feet So, what are your thoughts? When I vent sexed (this was my first time, by the way) I thought the chocolate was a male. But I really have no idea. Youtube can make you think you know what you are doing... but really not.

Looking too similar to tell at this point. Can you get legs side-by-side like you did snoods? At this point, looks like 2 the same gender, but can't tell which gender. It may be easier to tell in a week or 2. A male will be noticably bigger than a female. Oh, and the 1 you are calling lilac is lavender. Ralphie has the lilacs.

 

[mountain mom]

Looking too similar to tell at this point. Can you get legs side-by-side like you did snoods? At this point, looks like 2 the same gender, but can't tell which gender. It may be easier to tell in a week or 2. A male will be noticably bigger than a female. Oh, and the 1 you are calling lilac is lavender. Ralphie has the lilacs.

They do look pretty similar snood wise..
I'll get a pic of their feet together... if they will both sit still.

lilac, lavender.. sigh. I need to do some more reading! They are both a purple color so I thought it was the same! Haha.

 

[mountain mom]

Here is a side by side. The chocolate has more "texture" on the bottom of his feet.. you can kind of see it on the outside middle toe. I measured them bottom to bottom as best I could. About the same.


Thanks for your help!

 

[mountain mom]

So, is Lilac bronze based while Lavender is black based? That is why the Lilac poults don't have a mask?

Let's say I have a male and female. I could potentially have black turkeys because they are both black based? I thought I understood this... but I am not so sure now.