Hen or tom?

muskovy

In the Brooder
Mar 17, 2016
30
3
49
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
My turkey is 2.5 months old, it has a friendly temperament. It runs to me and follows me around the garden, but won't tolerate me touching it. Though when strangers visit it runs in front of the chicken flock and yelps loudly (protecting?). I'm wondering if it's a tom or a hen?

The turkey was raised by one of my hens and is quite attached to its' "mama", but I'm wondering if it will be happy living among chickens or would it be better to find it a flock of turkeys?

Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20170730_182657.jpg
    IMG_20170730_182657.jpg
    582.9 KB · Views: 26
  • IMG_20170730_181938.jpg
    IMG_20170730_181938.jpg
    430.8 KB · Views: 24
  • IMG_20170730_182901.jpg
    IMG_20170730_182901.jpg
    532.8 KB · Views: 23
He/she is a Narragansett/ Heritage Bronze mix.
The only difference between a Bronze and a Narragansett is the Narragansett color gene. If a Bronze is crossed with a Narragansett and the offspring looks like a Narragansett, it is a Narragansett.

It is a sex linked gene and the Narragansett poults will all be hens unless the father is a Bronze carrying a hidden recessive Narragansett color gene. In that case it would be possible to produce a male Narragansett poult by the poult getting the gene from the mother and also from the father.

Narragansett hens cannot pass the Narragansett color gene to their female offspring.
 
The only difference between a Bronze and a Narragansett is the Narragansett color gene. If a Bronze is crossed with a Narragansett and the offspring looks like a Narragansett, it is a Narragansett.

It is a sex linked gene and the Narragansett poults will all be hens unless the father is a Bronze carrying a hidden recessive Narragansett color gene. In that case it would be possible to produce a male Narragansett poult by the poult getting the gene from the mother and also from the father.

Narragansett hens cannot pass the Narragansett color gene to their female offspring.
Fascinating info! I love learning about genetic color variations. The father is indeed a Bronze.
 
Fascinating info! I love learning about genetic color variations. The father is indeed a Bronze.
If the father is a bronze and the mother is a Narragansett, the only way you can get a female Narragansett out of that cross is if the Bronze father is carrying a hidden recessive Narragansett color gene (Nn). A Narragansett hen (n-) cannot pass her Narragansett gene on to her female offspring so if the poult is indeed a hen, she got her Narragansett gene from him. Because he must be carrying the Narragansett gene, it is possible for approximately 50% of the male offspring to be Narragansetts (nn).

If you cross a Narragansett tom (nn) with a Bronze hen (N-), all the female offspring will be Narragansetts (n-) and all the male offspring will be Bronze but will be carrying the hidden recessive Narragansett gene (Nn).
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom