A few questions for Steve...

[Frosty]

I could send this as a PM, but there may be others with the same questions...

First, what is the best age to wing band a turkey, and do you have any advice on which bands are best?

My other question... I have 3 toms right now, 2 White Holland and 1 Regal Red. I have 4 WH hens that I plan to breed with one WH tom, and 4 BBW hens that I plan to breed to the other WH. If I set up to do the line breeding that you described, my concern is that the WH are all from the same source. Do you think it would work ok? They are from Kevin. Would it be better to get a tom or some hens from a different source? I do know that the WH and BBW are from different sources, so I can work some of them into the breeding plan but I would like to keep a line of pure WH, too.

The RR tom will only have 1 hen this year, a BBB (the only hen that I have right now that is suitable for trying to expand my RR population).

I only have 21 acres, how long before the place is over taken by breeding pens?

 

[bargain]

Sigh,,, sniff sniff, I was going to give my opinion on this but since it's really only for Steve, smile, I'll leave it for him to answer.... Steve, if you want a second opinion, please hit me with a pm and I'll post here....Y'all have a blesssed day...Nancy

 

[farmerlor]

I'm not Steve but I play him on TV, does that count?

 

[kuntrygirl]

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[Frosty]

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You are more than welcome to answer! I only addressed it to Steve because he had the breeding thread

 

[bargain]

Okay Frosty, I'll give it a try. We've been working with turkeys only the past 5 years so we still are learning and hopefully will for many many years on turkeys and all our other poultry.

First, what is the best age to wing band a turkey, and do you have any advice on which bands are best? We do not wing band a turkey...We use legbands and they work really well. Do you purposely want a wing band or do you have concerns about using a leg band???

My other question... I have 3 toms right now, 2 White Holland and 1 Regal Red. I have 4 WH hens that I plan to breed with one WH tom, and 4 BBW hens that I plan to breed to the other WH. If I set up to do the line breeding that you described, my concern is that the WH are all from the same source. Do you think it would work ok? They are from Kevin. Would it be better to get a tom or some hens from a different source? I do know that the WH and BBW are from different sources, so I can work some of them into the breeding plan but I would like to keep a line of pure WH, too. I'm assuming that you are on the first year with your breeding program.I would certainly suggest you first look at your results, but would expect that you should be able to set up your line breeds at this time using a closed group. As you see the results of your breeding, you may need to bring in outside flocks to work on a certain trait that you need. Caution that if you should find one of the WH toms is infertile, you will be one short on your plan. We keep one backup male for each of our breeding groups....

The RR tom will only have 1 hen this year, a BBB (the only hen that I have right now that is suitable for trying to expand my RR population).

I only have 21 acres, how long before the place is over taken by breeding pens? At some point you need to decide how many turkeys you want and can handle in terms of food, maintenance, etc.

Re. your BBW hens, I am aware that there can be some issues with natural reproduction. Are you thinking that you will be able to override this problem with your WH and basically develop a bigger than White Holland breed for table purposes. Have these girls naturally bred before? Something to think about. I realize that there are books/chapters written re. non naturally reproducing turkeys and don't want to go into that here, but wondered if you were aware that this can be continue to follow you for a while if this is your goal.

Hope this was helpful and best of wishes...We love our turkeys! Have a blessed day and Year. Nancy

 

[Frosty]

Thank you for the reply!

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I don't have a problem with legs bands, though I admit that I worry about them outgrowing them... in that case, are they easy to remove? And are there any risks that they could catch on something? The way my life goes, a bizzare accident isn't out of the question

I had a guinnea hen disappear, unfortunately I didn't find her until leaves dropped in the fall. Apparently she came off of the roof of the house and went into the lilac bushes. Her foot got hung up and she was hanging upside down.


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Makes sense to me! The WH and RR are going on two... I didn't try setting eggs much last year due to other things going on, but did put a few eggs under a chicken hen and got one WH baby so hopefully at least one tom is doing good.


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The biggest issue with reproduction with the BB is that the toms are so massive that they can't get close enough to do the deed. That plus you can't leave the eggs under the hen, there is a risk of them getting squished. But yes, I am trying to work toward a larger WH, a lot of folks that buy turkeys from me prefer the larger breasted types. If I attempt to keep this going, I am aware that there will be a lot of experimentation to determine the best to keep as breeders to achieve the results that I am looking for. At least for this year I plan to get a few BBW in case it doesn't work out, the BBW that I have now are just going on 1 year old so no experience. They aren't the huge birds you hear about, I feed for slower growth to help cut down on the legs problems.

In all honesty, I am not doing this on a commercial scale, mostly for myself so I don't plan to get stressed about the results. I intend to have fun and enjoy the birds while I am at it

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Thank you again! I love my turkeys, too. I have been raising BB types for 15 or 16 years, heritage off and on in that time. They just make me want to smile...

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

That's my issue with leg bands is if you put them on "poult sized" you will have to change them a few times before adult. It always worried me if one jumped the fence and got away what that band would do. I was at an auction one time and there was a cage jammed full of young chickens for sale, everyone of them had a swollen leg and when I looked closer each was banded and the band was tight to the point of making the leg start to swell. I made it a point to see who bought them and made sure they understood that those bands had to come off like right now.

For the wing bands I use Jiffy style 893 and get them from Cutler's supply. You can put them on from hatch but I like to wait until they start to feather out, they stand out when the poults are fuzzy and they peck at them. As long as you hatch in batches from the same hen the number they get doesn't matter right away. For mixes I do hatch them in pedigree trays and band them all right away as they dry.

Steve

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

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You are more than welcome to answer! I only addressed it to Steve because he had the breeding thread

Stop it Nancy!

The more info we share the more we all learn and gain

Steve

 

[bargain]

Hi Steve, All is well. Yes, I so totally enjoy the friendship and learning I've gotten from BYC....Sometimes I get a little too silly here but I'd rather be remembered as a joyous person! Nice to hear from you! I don't like when I see those bands grown in either.... And yes we do spend a great deal of time rebanding.... Mmmm, I'll now be thinking of wing tagging...!

Y'all have a wonderful evening and Blessed, Happy New Year! Nancy