A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[KF0002]

Look for cone shaped snoods, redder heads, and more pronounced carnucles in jakes and mowhawks in jennies.

And thicker legs....

Thanks for the tips!

 

[R2elk]

I heard footsteps on the roof this morning. When I went out to do the rounds, I found this.

Wild turkey hen

 

[KF0002]

I heard footsteps on the roof this morning. When I went out to do the rounds, I found this.

Wild turkey hen

She is lovely!

We see wild turkeys at the edge of our property very frequently. I was worried about when I eventually free range my heritage turkeys that they will follow the wild ones away from home. Have you had a problem with this?

I have a section of my property fenced in that we keep our Great Pyrenees dogs in (approx 1/3 acre). The fence is 5 feet tall. I could free range the turkeys in there but they will fly the fence unless I clip their wings. Our GPs protect our chickens so they should do fine with the turkeys. We will supervise them for a while first to make sure.

I plan on keeping a few hens and a tom in a large coop/run so I can collect their eggs. The extra hens/toms I plan on free ranging.

 

[R2elk]

She is lovely!

We see wild turkeys at the edge of our property very frequently. I was worried about when I eventually free range my heritage turkeys that they will follow the wild ones away from home. Have you had a problem with this?

I have a section of my property fenced in that we keep our Great Pyrenees dogs in (approx 1/3 acre). The fence is 5 feet tall. I could free range the turkeys in there but they will fly the fence unless I clip their wings. Our GPs protect our chickens so they should do fine with the turkeys. We will supervise them for a while first to make sure.

I plan on keeping a few hens and a tom in a large coop/run so I can collect their eggs. The extra hens/toms I plan on free ranging.

I don't have a problem with my turkeys leaving. They know they have a good thing here. Normally I only get wild turkey hens to come in during breeding season. Since this hen is alone, I suspect that she either lost her nest or her poults and is here to see the toms.

If your fence has a top bar or top rail, it will not keep turkeys in even if you clip their wings. Turkeys can easily jump that high and find a top bar or rail to be an attractive perch. Invariably if they perch there, they will get down on the wrong side of the fence.

I try to keep a minimum of at least 4 to 5 hens per tom. It makes it much easier on the hens for the tom to have multiple hens to spread his attention around. It is best not to keep a lot of toms around. Even in free range conditions, the hens need the ability to get away from the toms.

 

[KF0002]

I don't have a problem with my turkeys leaving. They know they have a good thing here. Normally I only get wild turkey hens to come in during breeding season. Since this hen is alone, I suspect that she either lost her nest or her poults and is here to see the toms.

If your fence has a top bar or top rail, it will not keep turkeys in even if you clip their wings. Turkeys can easily jump that high and find a top bar or rail to be an attractive perch. Invariably if they perch there, they will get down on the wrong side of the fence.

I try to keep a minimum of at least 4 to 5 hens per tom. It makes it much easier on the hens for the tom to have multiple hens to spread his attention around. It is best not to keep a lot of toms around. Even in free range conditions, the hens need the ability to get away from the toms.

The only place in the fence that has a top rail is the gate so maybe I will just let an extra Tom or two free range just to have a spare and eat the rest. I will keep all of the hens and one Tom in the coop/run. I only ordered 10 poults so I likely won't end up with more than 4-5 females at best. The way my luck runs with chickens I will be lucky to get 1 or 2 females and the rest males. I have a friend that I can get more hens from if I don't end up with enough.

I ordered my poults from a hatchery. They are Royal Palms. What are the odds of them being good enough quality for my child to show? He is so excited to be getting more turkeys. I know that hatcheries never produce show quality chickens. I raise and show Old English Games and Marans to show so I know how that goes. This will be our first time with heritage turkeys. We have a copy if the APA SOP. If they aren't show quality they can just be lovely pets for my son hopefully.

 

[R2elk]

The only place in the fence that has a top rail is the gate so maybe I will just let an extra Tom or two free range just to have a spare and eat the rest. I will keep all of the hens and one Tom in the coop/run. I only ordered 10 poults so I likely won't end up with more than 4-5 females at best. The way my luck runs with chickens I will be lucky to get 1 or 2 females and the rest males. I have a friend that I can get more hens from if I don't end up with enough.

I ordered my poults from a hatchery. They are Royal Palms. What are the odds of them being good enough quality for my child to show? He is so excited to be getting more turkeys. I know that hatcheries never produce show quality chickens. I raise and show Old English Games and Marans to show so I know how that goes. This will be our first time with heritage turkeys. We have a copy if the APA SOP. If they aren't show quality they can just be lovely pets for my son hopefully.

It depends on where you are getting your Royal Palms on whether they are good quality or not. They must be only black and white. They cannot have any other color on them at all. Most of the Royal Palms in the U. S. are not top quality because they do not have the proper markings. There is a thread in this forum about what markings they are lacking.

 

[KF0002]

It depends on where you are getting your Royal Palms on whether they are good quality or not. They must be only black and white. They cannot have any other color on them at all. Most of the Royal Palms in the U. S. are not top quality because they do not have the proper markings. There is a thread in this forum about what markings they are lacking.

I ordered them from Murray Mcmurray. I will study the standard and watch mine as they grow. If they arent up to par I will try to obtain better stock for show later on. I have been reading back through the thread. There is a lot of good info.

The poult that I currently have was kind of a pleasant surprise. A friend of mine gave me two eggs from her narragansette hen as a thank you for hatching some chicks for her. The father was a bourbon red. I threw them in the sportsman and lo and behold one of the two eggs hatched. I think he/she identifies as a chicken though as his brood mates are all chickens. Lol. Ive not noticed any posturing or displaying yet but it is only around 3 weeks old. I've read baby turkeys of both genders may start displaying very young and I would love to see that.

I have read online that it will be a bronze with more reddish tint to the bronze than a typical standard bronze since the father was a bourbon red. I look forward to watching it grow.

 

[R2elk]

I have read online that it will be a bronze with more reddish tint to the bronze than a typical standard bronze since the father was a bourbon red. I look forward to watching it grow.

It is a Red Bronze. If it is a male, it will be carrying a hidden Narragansett gene. If it is a female it will not have the Narragansett gene. Narragansett hens just like Royal Palm hens cannot pass their Narragansett gene on to their female offspring.

I ordered them from Murray Mcmurray. I will study the standard and watch mine as they grow.

The last Royal Palms that I bought were from McMurrays. They were shipped to me from New Mexico. Yours may come from somewhere else since you are in the eastern part of the country. The ones I got had a lot of Tri-Colors that I sold off but did not sell them as Royal Palms. At least one of my hens was show quality in her 2nd year and even developed the proper feathers that most U.S. Royal Palms do not have.

Good luck.

 

[KF0002]

It is a Red Bronze. If it is a male, it will be carrying a hidden Narragansett gene. If it is a female it will not have the Narragansett gene. Narragansett hens just like Royal Palm hens cannot pass their Narragansett gene on to their female offspring.

The last Royal Palms that I bought were from McMurrays. They were shipped to me from New Mexico. Yours may come from somewhere else since you are in the eastern part of the country. The ones I got had a lot of Tri-Colors that I sold off but did not sell them as Royal Palms. At least one of my hens was show quality in her 2nd year and even developed the proper feathers that most U.S. Royal Palms do not have.

Good luck.

Thats kind of what I figured, that likely they won't be show quality but I will keep them as pets. If I get one show quality bird out of the 10 I will be happy. If not I will look elsewhere later on.

I am worried July will be too hot on the shipped poults. Do you think they will do okay with the heat?

Thank you for the genetics lesson! Like chicken genetics, turkey genetics sounds fascinating.

 

[R2elk]

Thats kind of what I figured, that likely they won't be show quality but I will keep them as pets. If I get one show quality bird out of the 10 I will be happy. If not I will look elsewhere later on.

I am worried July will be too hot on the shipped poults. Do you think they will do okay with the heat?

Thank you for the genetics lesson! Like chicken genetics, turkey genetics sounds fascinating.

It all depends on how the USPS handles them and how long they take to deliver them.

Turkey genetics are easier than chicken genetics, at least as far as colors go.

You can learn a lot on Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys and the Turkey Color Calculator that is linked to from there.