age of hens to be put with a mature tom for breeding

[Macs farm]

I've got two hens and a tom separate from two other toms, one will be Christmas dinner and the other put on two hens hopefully from a clutch of eggs I'm receiving now from the hens. how old should they be before I introduce them to the frustrated waiting tom?

 

[Celie]

Here in the US, turkeys reach sexual maturity at about 8 to 9 months of age and start laying the season after that. I would start the introductions at about 7to 8 months, so the eggs will be fertile when they start laying. Be sure the toms are not too heavy because they can injure the hens, who are much smaller. I am going to start using only year old toms for breeding, because I raise White Holland Heritage breed and the toms are huge and weigh around 40 to 50 pounds compared to the 25 to 30# hens.

 

[Macs farm]

thanks for the reply, so maybe I should keep one of my two toms incase this batch of eggs don't work out from my breading tom and two hens. then out of the new batch of turkeys, keep a breeding tom and two hens and process the spare tom so the hens and toms are same age in 9 months. Is that right? The tom and hens will be siblings probably, is that ok?

 

[chknoodles]

Siblings shouldn't be mated. Father to daughter or Son to mother..but not siblings..that is straight line breeding and from what I have read, can cause problems...I could be wrong with that...but am pretty sure it's what I have read on proper breeding habits.

 

[Macs farm]

I'm completely new to this, i'm more of an experienced butcher from many moons ago. I guess then the best would be to put two hens from this batch of eggs with the spare tom and have a back up for breeding. Just about to incubate, so wish me luck, regards
Scott

 

[chknoodles]

Good Luck!