Does no one own/breed turkens??

[Kev]

Quote:
Hey you actually could get birds more laced or pencilled, if that is your taste, by breeding her.. She has several of the necessary genes, just is not pure for them. Or even spangle.. all of those patterns share some genes in common, single lace requires the most genes and being pure for all so it's the biggest challenge.. You probably could get a couple pretty decent laceds out of her by breeding with a laced roo.

 

[Kev]

Quote:
JB is beautiful! and love Priss' incredibly dark legs.. is she a hen not pullet in that pic?

 

[gritsar]

I'm appreciative of all this information about the turkens. I'm really enjoying my little brood.
Impy is not downright mean, so even though I've threatened him with the ax, DH insists that I wait him out.
As soon as he sees me he runs over and starts wing-dancing me. Twenty times a day I can shove him away with the edge of my foot and the next time he sees me he wing dances me again. My biggest problem with him is that he's driving the pullets crazy with his mating attempts, so they are all avoiding him now; plus he's torn open two of the pullets necks with his clumsey attempts. I also have a blind pullet (a CX) that he insists on trying to mate and the poor thing can't really get away from him. I should seperate her for her own good, but she cries non-stop for the rest of the flock when I try.
I'm just going to hang in there and hope that Impy's raging hormones settle down soon and/or that my adult brahma roo puts Impy in his place.

 

[nnbreeder]

Truthfully I would put my money on Impy, no matter what size the Brahma is. NNs as a general rule will not start a fight, well the hens will, but they will sure finish one should it get started. LOL

Low egg production? Are you kidding? Well compared to a Leghorn or production bird it might be low but they will all burn out in about three years. I have 10yo NNs that are still laying like troopers although the oldest hens only lay spring till late summer. The younger hens will often lay through the winter too without additional light. The production tests that I have looked at list an average from 230-285 eggs per year which is not too shabby for a dual-purpose bird.

One thing that I try to do is to hatch my replacements about mid-summer. That way instead of coming into lay at the end of summer and trying to grow, lay and stay warm through the winter they spend the winter growing and most of the time they will start laying mid to late spring and be a much more mature bird and have fewer problems that a younger bird does.


Kev we also raise bantam Asils and you are totally right, the stip down the breast that is bare gets very red.

Right now with the Asils we are raising blacks and blues and I am fighting the purple sheen in the plumage on the blacks. I'm going to keep breeding the ones with the most beetle green in them and I hope to have it knocked out in a few years.

 

[nnbreeder]

Kat you were also asking about leg color. If the green legs are on a black bird they may themselves turn black in about a year but I have only had that happen with black chicks.

In this pic you can clearly see that this chick has pink toes. Well she kept the white toenails but the legs did indeed turn black.

And it was those white toenails on the center toes that kept her out of Champion's Row when I showed her.