A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[R2elk]

R2elk, did both the 9-3 come from me or one from the USDA? I just punch the button and have no idea what happens it's like magic here...

Both came from you. With old crotchety fingers and an over used mouse, it is very possible to get an unintentional second click.

 

[duluthralphie]

Both came from you. With old crotchety fingers and an over used mouse, it is very possible to get an unintentional second click.

This is true..

 

[Finnie]

Good morning everyone.

On closer inspection of my poults, I am beginning to believe that Swan is a blue palm instead of a lavender palm. Crossing her with my Bourbon Red should have produced 100% blue red bronze offspring. But some of them are much darker than others. I checked Porter's calculator, and his photo of the blue Palm hen looks much more like Swan than his photo of the lavender Palm hen does. (His lavender Palm has barely any markings- it's almost all white.)

I am thinking that the breeder I got her from must have mistaken his stock for lavenders. (They all looked pale grey to me, but could easily have been regular blue. How would I know.) That would explain why he was getting two different colors of chicks, which he shouldn't have been able to get from pure lavenders.

You can see in these pics that some of the poults are darker:

Oh dear. I just looked out the window to see if I could get a quick picture of Swan. I see that she is digging her way into our burn pile. Most assuredly planning to lay an egg in there.

I've been watching her searching for a spot all morning. I'll have to go shoo her out. There's no way I could gather eggs from under there!

 

[Finnie]

Mission accomplished. Got her out of the burn pile and got some pictures of her. Then she started walking funny, and the next thing I know, she laid an egg right there in the grass! Too bad I wasn't thinking fast enough to get a shot of her during the laying.

Edit to add images for comparison.
Blue Palm from Feathersite: http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Turkeys/BRKBluePalm.html

Lavender (self blue) palm from porter's site:
http://www.porterturkeys.com/bluepalm.htm

(I added the links to give credit for the photos, in case they are copyrighted. I hope I did that correctly.)

 

[R2elk]

Mission accomplished. Got her out of the burn pile and got some pictures of her. Then she started walking funny, and the next thing I know, she laid an egg right there in the grass! Too bad I wasn't thinking fast enough to get a shot of her during the laying.

Good for you!! She does look like the Blue Palms shown on Porter's site. She looks much darker than his version of Lavender Palms.

 

[Finnie]

Mission accomplished. Got her out of the burn pile and got some pictures of her. Then she started walking funny, and the next thing I know, she laid an egg right there in the grass! Too bad I wasn't thinking fast enough to get a shot of her during the laying.

Good for you!! She does look like the Blue Palms shown on Porter's site. She looks much darker than his version of Lavender Palms.

Thanks! Yeah, now that I edited the photos in, you can see side by side, that blue Palm hen is like a twin to Swan. I have a dilemma with her egg now. I put a moratorium on setting new hatches until after my daughter has her baby (in about 3 1/2 weeks). So I either break down and set Swan's eggs, or I save them up for a lot longer than 10 days and set them later, or I eat them! I'm tempted to eat this one just so I can check fertility, since my tom has been gone over 3 weeks now. But if it's fertile, that would be one poult wasted. I'd rather set it to check fertility.

 

[CherMoz]

Definitely check for fertility! Plus, you should add more so you don't have a lonely poult.

 

[R2elk]

Thanks! Yeah, now that I edited the photos in, you can see side by side, that blue Palm hen is like a twin to Swan.

I have a dilemma with her egg now. I put a moratorium on setting new hatches until after my daughter has her baby (in about 3 1/2 weeks). So I either break down and set Swan's eggs, or I save them up for a lot longer than 10 days and set them later, or I eat them!

I'm tempted to eat this one just so I can check fertility, since my tom has been gone over 3 weeks now. But if it's fertile, that would be one poult wasted. I'd rather set it to check fertility.

I have saved eggs up to 21 days before incubating with reasonable results. I know that 7 - 10 days is the recommended limit but...

@Sally Sunshine has experimented with longer term storage of hatching eggs that shows reasonable results. My understanding is that you place the eggs pointy side up in a carton, place them in a plastic bag, store them in a cool place and do not turn them. It is worth a try.

 

[memphis]

Ahhh spring! Had the hose out back to wash down the chicken coop and both turkeys had to play in it. Why they both love that hose is beyond me. I decided to fill up "Poop Pond" and both girls immediately waded in. Now that they are soaked, I'm sure a dust bath is next on the agenda.

 

[memphis]

Finnie, eat that egg! And enjoy every bite!