Beginner turkey breeding

[Red84]

I am interested in beginning a heritage turkey flock, small at first. I have raised chickens and last year I raised some BBB, which I really enjoyed! I would like to have a sustained supply of cool looking turkeys though. So...I have a few questions. Is inbreeding a concern with your first breeding pair? What about half siblings? I found a person raising heritage birds, sounds like a bourbon red Tom and a few other heritage hens, including a bourbon red. I don’t know if I should be mixing breeds to start a flock, but the idea is intriguing to me. I’m not real interested in being a purist at this time. I figured if I mix breeds I may have less genetic issues. I am assuming everything of course. Just looking to get off on the right foot, so please provide input. Thanks!

 

[R2elk]

I am interested in beginning a heritage turkey flock, small at first. I have raised chickens and last year I raised some BBB, which I really enjoyed! I would like to have a sustained supply of cool looking turkeys though. So...I have a few questions. Is inbreeding a concern with your first breeding pair? What about half siblings? I found a person raising heritage birds, sounds like a bourbon red Tom and a few other heritage hens, including a bourbon red. I don’t know if I should be mixing breeds to start a flock, but the idea is intriguing to me. I’m not real interested in being a purist at this time. I figured if I mix breeds I may have less genetic issues. I am assuming everything of course. Just looking to get off on the right foot, so please provide input. Thanks!

All domestic turkeys are one breed. There are many varieties but only the one breed which is Turkey.

You can find much information about the numerous varieties of heritage turkeys at Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys.

He has a section on Inbreeding and linebreeding.

 

[Red84]

Thank you for the links! Lots of good info, I never realized there were so many varieties.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Hello! It would be wise NOT to choose Broad Breasted Bronze as your breeders, at least if you desire them to breed naturally. The Toms become incapable of mating because of their broad breast and are unable to fertilize the female. Artificial insemination is required for the most part.

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[Red84]

Hopefully I was more clear than that, lol. I have no desire to keep BBB's year round. I have them solely to raise, enjoy for a few months, then eat . I am interested in having something less "run of the mill" that is self sustaining while providing entertainment and to compliment my chicken and goat hobby. After looking at Porter's I am really thinking about mismatching different heritage breeds to keep things lively around the farm. I also wonder about how many. It can be dangerous, I know, lol. With straight run poults I wouldn't really like ending up with 100% of anything, given my goal here. Coupling that with trying to stay in the good graces with my better half, my level 100 turkey math shows I should start with 6 heritage birds, get a 1-2 or 1-3 ratio, then butcher the overages. Thoughts?

 

[R2elk]

Hopefully I was more clear than that, lol. I have no desire to keep BBB's year round. I have them solely to raise, enjoy for a few months, then eat . I am interested in having something less "run of the mill" that is self sustaining while providing entertainment and to compliment my chicken and goat hobby. After looking at Porter's I am really thinking about mismatching different heritage breeds to keep things lively around the farm. I also wonder about how many. It can be dangerous, I know, lol. With straight run poults I wouldn't really like ending up with 100% of anything, given my goal here. Coupling that with trying to stay in the good graces with my better half, my level 100 turkey math shows I should start with 6 heritage birds, get a 1-2 or 1-3 ratio, then butcher the overages. Thoughts?

If you plan on just keeping 6 turkeys to start, I recommend that you only keep one tom and all the rest hens. There are lots of issues to deal with when you keep multiple toms and too few hens. I try to keep at least four to five hens for one tom and have seen places where a person kept one tom to as many as thirteen hens with no fertility issues.

A possible addictive site is Porter's Turkey Color Calculator which can be used to predict the results of mating different varieties of turkeys. Porter's Phenotypes and Genotypes page can help provide the genotypes needed to operate the Turkey Color Calculator.

 

[Red84]

If you plan on just keeping 6 turkeys to start, I recommend that you only keep one tom and all the rest hens. There are lots of issues to deal with when you keep multiple toms and too few hens. I try to keep at least four to five hens for one tom and have seen places where a person kept one tom to as many as thirteen hens with no fertility issues.

A possible addictive site is Porter's Turkey Color Calculator which can be used to predict the results of mating different varieties of turkeys. Porter's Phenotypes and Genotypes page can help provide the genotypes needed to operate the Turkey Color Calculator.

That site is addictive! I was mismatching all sort of varieties on there, mainly the ones I will have access to buy, hopefully next week. I did not see the genotypes link, so now I will have to return. What I meant by starting with 6 is, I am hoping to end up with maybe 3 or 4 turkeys TOTAL. In order to achieve that, I was wondering how many straight run turkeys I should get to TRY to achieve a single tom to 2 or 3 hens ratio. I'd prefer not to have a bunch go to the freezer for this year because I know I will be putting 20 chickens and 2 other turkeys in there by August. And it's already a zoo in there! For me it's all an assumption based process, but I figured maybe someone had a more proven approach.

 

[graciel57]

Ha ha! Good luck trying to limit turkeys! They are WAY too much fun. I'm putting five dozen in the incubator this week, and I've been doing it since 2001 . . .

 

[Red84]

Haha! Exactly why I’m TRYING to start small. Another reason why I plan to build a spacious coop

 

[cgmccary]

Breeds or varieties, it is all just a matter of APA semantics. I would pick one breed / variety and go with it a few years. I raise Blacks. Turkeys take up a lot of space so it is difficult to do well if you have a number of different kinds & you are wanting to improve your specific breed. I TRY to avoid sibling pairing just like I do in chickens.