A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[duluthralphie]

We've had our share of "fun" weather lately. First freezing rain then about 7-8" of snow on top, stuck around for 2 days and then got 5" of rain in a 48 hour period leading to flash flooding in the area. Thankfully we're at a higher elevation so the flooding didn't directly affect us...

Random question(s) as I plan for this years' birds... we have people interested in meat turkeys and we've looked at selling some broad breasted so we can use an electric portable fence to pasture them. My bourbons would just hop that without a care... Might do some bourbons for meat next year but would need a more covered area.

So question is, what's the golden age of harvest for broad breasted? I hear anywhere from 3-5 months, some say 20 weeks, others saying even 22-24 weeks. I hear some at 24 weeks can be 40-60 pounds which is much larger than what the people interested want. Aiming for the 15-20 pounders. Also, the hatchery has BBW, BB Bronze, and BB Black. Is there a grow out time difference for those different colors or if going for table-birds should I just pick the BBW for clean dressed?

Thanks in advance!

I say,,,when they start to look like the knees will give out or develop water on the breast...(ascites)

 

[feedman77]

Weather been rough here. Snow, rain, freezing rain, last storm about 1/2to inch of ice. Got above freezing yesterday and today. Now all that has melted but the mud is now horrible.

Haven't seen roads and ground this soft for a long time.

Calling for 5 to 6 inches of snow this weekend. Winter won't give up

 

[memphis]

Hey Feedman! Nice to hear from you! Hope all is well. Last several weekends I've wanted to head to Ste. Gen & there has been snow or ice predicted each weekend. Wacky weather.

Ralph....I was in the ground control tower watching heavies land. Wind sheer is not a good thing. But its interesting to watch em get on the ground. No one had to go around. And they all sound so calm....as they come in sideways.

 

[duluthralphie]

Hey Feedman! Nice to hear from you! Hope all is well. Last several weekends I've wanted to head to Ste. Gen & there has been snow or ice predicted each weekend. Wacky weather.

Ralph....I was in the ground control tower watching heavies land. Wind sheer is not a good thing. But its interesting to watch em get on the ground. No one had to go around. And they all sound so calm....as they come in sideways.

The official term is crabbing....into wind... not sideways....landing sideways can be determental to taking off again....BTW do not confuse crabbing with slipping...

 

[duluthralphie]

I just had a terrible mess in the coop/shed. A couple tom turkeys revolted....The broke through the over head netting to get into the breeding cages.
Wrong toms in wrong place........ They ripped down the netting so the hens escaped.

The Toms are so stupid, instead of following the hens, they started fighting with the Toms outside the breeding pens.....You know how it goes, put a fence between toms and they start to fight with each other.....Intelligent Male Donkeys.

I had to run fix the netting, get the Toms out that did not belong, then run down the hens and put them back in. The whole time the Toms are fighting and screaming at each other....ALMOST made me want a nunnery.....

I got 5 eggs today 4 turkey and 1 chicken...


I am thinking of applying for a 4 million dollar government grant to study why Toms immediately start fighting when a fence is between them....

 

[aliciaplus3]

a window with a view.... almost

huh.... this one could be a fun color??? lol

 

[PolarBerry]

So I've been trying to figure out what this hatchery is calling a Broad Breasted Black... they say it's a hybrid. I'm wondering is it a spanish black tom covering broad breasted bronze hens? The poults they show look like spanish black (and if I recall the black is dominant?). Either way, they're promoting them as a longer living meat bird that's not a heritage breed but still gets to table size in a decent time frame and forages well... *confused* Link: https://thechickhatchery.com/product/broad-breasted-black-turkey/?v=7516fd43adaa

 

[R2elk]

So I've been trying to figure out what this hatchery is calling a Broad Breasted Black... they say it's a hybrid. I'm wondering is it a spanish black tom covering broad breasted bronze hens? The poults they show look like spanish black (and if I recall the black is dominant?). Either way, they're promoting them as a longer living meat bird that's not a heritage breed but still gets to table size in a decent time frame and forages well... *confused* Link: https://thechickhatchery.com/product/broad-breasted-black-turkey/?v=7516fd43adaa

You need to get over the Spanish Black thing since they really don't exist anymore. Spanish Blacks were called so because of where they were raised just like Norfolk Blacks were so called because of where they were raised. There really isn't any difference because they were both Black turkeys.

My guess is that they were developed by crossing Black turkeys with black based Broad Breasted White turkeys. You can sort Broad Breasted Whites into bronze based or back based by their eye color. Black based whites will have blue eyes and bronze based whites will have brown eyes. I imagine that they used true blacks and not Black Slates to get a purer start. It is also possible that accidentally found a broad breasted black to start with. The broad breast gene can show up in all kind of unexpected places. I had the broad breast gene show up in one of my young Blue Slate toms a few years ago. Maybe it was a mutation or just finally hit the pair of recessive genes getting together. I suspect that it may have been a mutation since it only occurred once in all the years I was raising Slates.

It is entirely possible that they used the same combination as the Artisan Gold turkey which is just a brand name for a Black turkey.

Personally if I was going to raise turkeys for meat, I would pick a white turkey since they present a much cleaner nicer looking carcass.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Princess and Pebbles being content with their babies

 

[PolarBerry]

You need to get over the Spanish Black thing since they really don't exist anymore. Spanish Blacks were called so because of where they were raised just like Norfolk Blacks were so called because of where they were raised. There really isn't any difference because they were both Black turkeys.

My guess is that they were developed by crossing Black turkeys with black based Broad Breasted White turkeys. You can sort Broad Breasted Whites into bronze based or back based by their eye color. Black based whites will have blue eyes and bronze based whites will have brown eyes. I imagine that they used true blacks and not Black Slates to get a purer start. It is also possible that accidentally found a broad breasted black to start with. The broad breast gene can show up in all kind of unexpected places. I had the broad breast gene show up in one of my young Blue Slate toms a few years ago. Maybe it was a mutation or just finally hit the pair of recessive genes getting together. I suspect that it may have been a mutation since it only occurred once in all the years I was raising Slates.

It is entirely possible that they used the same combination as the Artisan Gold turkey which is just a brand name for a Black turkey.

Personally if I was going to raise turkeys for meat, I would pick a white turkey since they present a much cleaner nicer looking carcass.

Thanks... I have people buying them that care about "heritage" vs "commercial" so that's my only concern, lol... people are weirdly particular around here. I'll just slap the pasture raised and non-gmo label on them (which they will be) and they'll probably still sell just fine.

I just called them spanish black since that's all I could locate when looking up the black broad breasted, but thanks for the lesson. I see someone around here selling purebred spanish blacks, so that's interesting to know.

The hatchery got back to me and said they're a heritage black mixed with something but not a broad breasted, so basically a hybrid of some sort. They take 2-4 weeks longer to grow out and can be somewhat flighty but don't develop any leg issues.

Originally I was looking at the BBW for the lessened time of dealing with them and less likely to fly over a fence vs my bourbons. The BBW are also a good bit cheaper to purchase initially as well.