A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[cluckylady812]

I apologize for the multiple posts and a duplicate pic, as well as the poor quality. It's tough to get them to pose lol. They mob me when I'm near, so all views are from above

 

[desertmarcy]

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I'm hoping for some help,a have a few questions that I hope y'all can answer for me. We have 8 turkeys, three 2.5 mo old palms, and 5 bronze. We don't know if they are bbb or standard. One is a Tom, gobbles, displays, quite a handsome fellow.
Can anyone tell gender and breed?
Also, I need to clip a wing on them. We are not allowed to free range here, and in order to greatly increase the run space it will include a section of trees that I cannot fence off.
I will attempt posting more pics, but my phone is being difficult lol.
Thank you,!!

I'm no expert on the broad breasted type, never keep them, but these look pretty big to be heritage bronze at 4 months old. In this photo, the top bird is a tom and the bottom one by the feeder is a hen. Can't quite see enough of the one that only shows the head, but that one looks head-ish. On the palms, they'd be heritage. The only colors that are generally broad-breasted (unless someone has bred BB into a heritage, and then it would only be partial) are the Bronze and White.

 

[cluckylady812]

I was praying for standard bronze, BBB was NOT what we wanted, but I think it's what we have. A friend hatched the palms, so I needed a few lol. We really wanted heritage breeds. It's going to be hard to eat Herman tho, he/she is such a love! I'm sure I have 2 hens, one Tom but the other two... I will try to get individual pics. I think they are either BBB hens, or if possible standard toms?? No gobbles tho. These are our first turkeys, so I have nothing to compare them to.
I'm totally hooked on these guys tho!

 

[duluthralphie]

The pictures make it hard to tell, but I tend to agree the Bronze are BBB...

Do not consider it eating Herman, instead have a dinner in his honor, if he is 4 months now, he will be huge at Thanksgiving. You will find he might have trouble walking if you can even keep him walking then. You will be saving him the misery of old age and lots of pain if you make him a dinner guest.

You can also be proud you gave him a great life even if it was a short one. For a BBB anyone raising them is making them a lucky bird. They tend to live inside in crowded conditions and not a lot of interaction with people.

Holm has a BBB hen, he is an expert at keeping birds alive well beyond their time. But even he has not been able to get her to breed or live a truly normal turkey life. I think he is planning a dinner with his family in her honor.

 

[Finnie]

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I'm hoping for some help,a have a few questions that I hope y'all can answer for me. We have 8 turkeys, three 2.5 mo old palms, and 5 bronze. We don't know if they are bbb or standard. One is a Tom, gobbles, displays, quite a handsome fellow.
Can anyone tell gender and breed?
Also, I need to clip a wing on them. We are not allowed to free range here, and in order to greatly increase the run space it will include a section of trees that I cannot fence off.
I will attempt posting more pics, but my phone is being difficult lol.
Thank you,!!

I'm a little confused about your "not free range" that includes an unfenced area. And how wing clipping would keep them in a run that's not fenced. I think I am missing part of the picture.

(ETA: dumb phone, hit submit three times, it keeps saying "you already submitted this form", but the post isn't there. Now I expect it to show up in triplicate. If it does, sorry about that!)

 

[cluckylady812]

They have a fenced run, and I'm building a new huge run. They are and will be fenced in. Our town requires " enclosures from which they cannot escape ". I can't have them flying over the 6' fence. All the runs are covered with aviary netting, but the new area has trees in a portion. The netting won't work there.it's along the back privacy fence and I can't block the trees from the run and the fence. I'm sorry for the confusion. I read over the post and that really wasn't clear. Thank you for your help tho!

 

[duluthralphie]

If you have feed in the area I doubt your turkeys will fly over the fence. My turkeys are free range, no fences anywhere. They do not go more than 100 feet in any one direction all day long. They just hang out around me or where the feed is. They are lazy by nature like we are, the only time they fly 6 feet in the air is when the roost at night.

Clipping a wing is a drastic undertaking as you are leaving that bird helpless and at the mercy of a predator. Most predators do not have lots of mercy to give.

 

[cluckylady812]

That's part of my concern, them trying to roost in the trees. We have bears, Mtn lion, Bob cat, roaming dogs, if they get in a tree I may not be able to get them out. If the come down on the wrong side of the fence the town seizes the flock. Very strict. I also have two dogs of my own to protect them from. All my birds are in secure coops and runs, but my Turks deserve more space. I've tried everything I can think of to avoid clipping, but after all I tried, nothing else is practical.

 

[lcertuche]

I really want some turkeys. I learned a lot of information today reading these last couple of post. Now another question if you don't mind. Do they come to the coup to roost or up in a tree. Granddad used to tell me about a huge turkey he raised that would roost on the top peak of the barn roof every night at least until 2 days before Thanksgiving when he disappeared.

 

[duluthralphie]

I really want some turkeys. I learned a lot of information today reading these last couple of post. Now another question if you don't mind. Do they come to the coup to roost or up in a tree. Granddad used to tell me about a huge turkey he raised that would roost on the top peak of the barn roof every night at least until 2 days before Thanksgiving when he disappeared.

Mine do not roost in trees, they do roost on the coop roofs. I have a couple smaller hens that will roost in the coop, but the Toms just try to prove how tough they are by roosting outdoors even in blizzards!