A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[aliciaplus3]

DD took 4 black turkeys to our local county fair yesterday. It was a tough market turkey class with 13 pens of 2 entered. The judge had a hard time deciding but finally gave grand to a pair of BBB hens. One of the heritage pens did come in 6th even over several pens of broad breasted! My Dd came in 8th and 10th place a big step down from reserve champion last year but this years judge had a very different style than last year's. I think it's good for the kids to see what different judges want and I thinks the kids learned a lot this year

 

[R2elk]

Blue Slate hen with Sweetgrass and Tri-Color Mottled poults

 

[Pyxis]

Anyone ever tried crossbreeding a BB White hen with a non-BB Tom?

I rescued some poults from my job at a feed store; when they come in dying, which they usually do when the feed store starts getting chicks in early March, ugh, I take home the really bad ones to try to save them.

This year I took home several dying poults and only Wishbone made it. She (pretty positive she's a she) now has a Narragansett/Midget White cross boyfriend that I took off the hands of someone who didn't need him. I'm wondering what the offspring might be like, if they have any.

 

[aliciaplus3]

I have managed to hatch one that was half broad breasted. I got the eggs from a friend it turned out to be a hen.

this was spudley.... she lived a year and a half??? She was the only one to hatch out of several dozen eggs. .. it seemed to me the broad breasted had a harder time with fertility even using a hen.
There are many on here that are much more knowledgeable than I am. This is just my meager experience

 

[Finnie]

Anyone ever tried crossbreeding a BB White hen with a non-BB Tom?

In 2018 I had a huge broad breasted bronze hen who was about 9 months old, according to the people I got her from. They had decided they didn’t want to eat her after all. I hatched out many poults from her and my tom Elderberry. Those poults were a bit bigger than my non-meat poults, but for the most part I could only tell them apart because I put colored leg rings on them all. They seemed to be just as healthy as the regular poults. I sold them all though, so I have no idea what their longevity was like.

 

[Finnie]

I have managed to hatch one that was half broad breasted. I got the eggs from a friend it turned out to be a hen.View attachment 2262387this was spudley.... she lived a year and a half??? She was the only one to hatch out of several dozen eggs. .. it seemed to me the broad breasted had a harder time with fertility even using a hen.
There are many on here that are much more knowledgeable than I am. This is just my meager experience

Spudley was a a pretty bird! I wonder what genetics her meat parent had.

 

[R2elk]

Anyone ever tried crossbreeding a BB White hen with a non-BB Tom?

I rescued some poults from my job at a feed store; when they come in dying, which they usually do when the feed store starts getting chicks in early March, ugh, I take home the really bad ones to try to save them.

This year I took home several dying poults and only Wishbone made it. She (pretty positive she's a she) now has a Narragansett/Midget White cross boyfriend that I took off the hands of someone who didn't need him. I'm wondering what the offspring might be like, if they have any.

The younger the BB hen is, the more likely a breeding by a heritage tom will be. The offspring can be nearly as big as the BB.

 

[Pyxis]

So, do we think Wishbone is a girl? I think she's a girl. She's still got the line of feathers up the back of her neck. Also I suspect Cranberry (the Tom) agrees with me that she's a girl because he follows her around displaying everywhere. (Please ignore the chaotic coop cleaning going on in the background, haha, I was in the process of replacing the floor tarp and the covering tarp.)

Also here she is pretending to be a duck:

 

[Molpet]

So, do we think Wishbone is a girl? I think she's a girl. She's still got the line of feathers up the back of her neck. Also I suspect Cranberry (the Tom) agrees with me that she's a girl because he follows her around displaying everywhere. (Please ignore the chaotic coop cleaning going on in the background, haha, I was in the process of replacing the floor tarp and the covering tarp.)

Also here she is pretending to be a duck:

Girl...is she a BBW?

 

[memphis]

Girlie! And I'm trilled to see other turkeys enjoying wading
pools!! Mine have wading pools & fans to keep cool!