A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[Finnie]

Aaaand we have a new contestant that wants to play!

This one definitely looks blue to me. If it’s blue, then that makes it a Rusty Slate, right?

When this one dries off more, I’ll have to take a photo with all 3 shades together. At this point I have to believe that one of the BR toms must be carrying a chocolate gene.

 

[Pyxis]

So Petrie's eggs are close to due (I don't know exactly when she started sitting, but it's any time now). I've never let a hen raise them before - are the toms generally fine with the poults, or should I look to keep her and her babies separate?

 

[Molpet]

So Petrie's eggs are close to due (I don't know exactly when she started sitting, but it's any time now). I've never let a hen raise them before - are the toms generally fine with the poults, or should I look to keep her and her babies separate?

Depends on the tom. some step on poults accidentally...hard to see your feet when your strutting around LOL.

Mine were fine with poults. I had a mama that wasn't taking care and I found lost poults. One I couldn't find anywhere. Then I realized the oldest tom was sitting down instead of strutting. The poult was warming up under him LOL

 

[R2elk]

So Petrie's eggs are close to due (I don't know exactly when she started sitting, but it's any time now). I've never let a hen raise them before - are the toms generally fine with the poults, or should I look to keep her and her babies separate?

When letting a hen raise poults it is always better that they are kept out of the general population for at least the first two weeks. There are too many bad things that can happen to them in the general population.

 

[Pyxis]

Depends on the tom. some step on poults accidentally...hard to see your feet when your strutting around LOL.

Mine were fine with poults. I had a mama that wasn't taking care and I found lost poults. One I couldn't find anywhere. Then I realized the oldest tom was sitting down instead of strutting. The poult was warming up under him LOL

When letting a hen raise poults it is always better that they are kept out of the general population for at least the first two weeks. There are too many bad things that can happen to them in the general population.

Thank you both, I think based on this I will separate them out for at least two weeks in a pen where they can still see and be seen by everyone else, but will keep them together and safe.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

I have been nearly drowning in poults this season. There’s been so many.
Aside from that, I had this poult hatch. About a month ago I had a (presumably barred) black hen escape a few times from her breeding pen, and she was exposed to my rusty black male, so it being mixed isn’t out of the question. I know some of my black breeders are technically barred black.

Anyways, the poult below has a reddish tinged chest. Can this occur in barred black or black poults, or is it evidence of the red gene? poult doesn’t have a reddish head, just the chest.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

So Petrie's eggs are close to due (I don't know exactly when she started sitting, but it's any time now). I've never let a hen raise them before - are the toms generally fine with the poults, or should I look to keep her and her babies separate?

My tom Romeo routinely will sit for poults. They'll get warm under him, climb all over him etc. He's the sweetest guy with them. I remember him having a poult sitting on his back and he had to stand up for a second to calm an argument in the flock but he did it in such a way that the poult never flinched or moved. That same poult tried to sit on another Tom's back... and he panicked and ran away lol

 

[Finnie]

So I don’t think my lighter “brown” poult is black-based after all. It’s kind of stripey and doesn’t have the yellow face mask that a black or a blue or chocolate poult starts out with.

And the one that hatched out blue-looking lost that look when it dried out. Now it looks like the bourbon red poults, only with more markings, possibly blue markings.

I got some pictures of those two along with one of the rusty blacks.

I messed around with the genetics calculator a bit, and if I’m wrong about my chocolate lavender hen- if she could be a chocolate blue slate instead, then she could possibly have had a Sweetgrass mother. In that case, there could be a whole slew of possible results for her babies. And no way could I tell them apart from pure bourbon reds.

I wonder if that is what’s going on here. Not even counting the fact that the bourbon reds themselves might not be pure.

I’ve come to the decision to sell both my chocolate hens and then I will know from then on that all the eggs will be from bourbon red parents.

I also think I will grow out some of the more unique looking poults and see how they feather in.

 

[Pyxis]

Unfortunately Petrie has had a tragedy I went to check her to close in her nest so that when the poults hatched I could move them all together easily, and also so I didn't have poults falling off the counter. I found that somehow the entire nest had been knocked down and off the counter and the eggs were all smashed.

She moved herself into a crate that I had tossed some eggs in a long time ago to try to get her to lay there. So now's she's brooding there.

I am wondering what the best course of action is. I could either give her new eggs and let her sit, give her some newly hatched chicken chicks and see if she will take those, or break her of brooding.

 

[R2elk]

Unfortunately Petrie has had a tragedy I went to check her to close in her nest so that when the poults hatched I could move them all together easily, and also so I didn't have poults falling off the counter. I found that somehow the entire nest had been knocked down and off the counter and the eggs were all smashed.

She moved herself into a crate that I had tossed some eggs in a long time ago to try to get her to lay there. So now's she's brooding there.

I am wondering what the best course of action is. I could either give her new eggs and let her sit, give her some newly hatched chicken chicks and see if she will take those, or break her of brooding.

Give her some new eggs.