Black bourbon Red poults?

[Drjtaylor]

Hello!

I had some bourbon Red poults hatch in early May. 5 of them were the normal color but three were hatched dark brown. I have attached a picture. I have had the same breeding pair for 3 years and never seen this before. I only have this bourbon Red breeding pair and a breeding pair of midget whites on my farm. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What's the hen look like? Any chance a wild turkey came to visit your hen? Those are definitely mixed breed poults. Your bourbon Tom is gorgeous.

 

[feedman77]

Definitely a bronze gene expressing itself in the poults. All of them.

 

[Drjtaylor]

Interesting! We do have plenty of wild turkeys around. Do you think then all the poults are a mix? The lighter ones look just like what I expected. I would expect that different poults in the same hatching could have different fathers, since I know this is true in cats and dogs. Here is a pic of the mother.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The 3 poults in your photo all look like mixes, I would suspect your hen had a date with a wild Tom than.

 

[feedman77]

The 3 poults in your photo all look like mixes, I would suspect your hen had a date with a wild Tom than.

X2

The 2 lighter one are expressing the bronze coloration.

The black one I have hatched a few like this when I had some Spanish black hens that got with my bourbon Tom. But I also had all my Turkey's running together.

 

[memphis]

Oh oh...looks like moma turkey took a walk on the wild side! They are cute.

 

[fairie]

Ohh my I thought my color difference was notable. That's wild! We had poults hatch from eggs that we bought. 3 were yellow and 2 were brown. They have stayed brownish and the others are still yellowish (bourbon reds). We are currently hatching more from bought incubated eggs, will see how these come out color wise.