Is this the end of my BBB couple?

[callieisspooky]

I'm sure there are other sources for heritage breeds, but we purchased our Standard Bronze eggs from coworkers. They have a small but very healthy flock on an all-organic farm. You can contact them through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrevinoFamilyFarm

 

[chicks and hens2]

Thanks for the insight! I think that Thanksgiving is ready to go, even though it makes me sad I can't let an animal suffer and it is still fairly hot here and he just pants. Christmas will be going as well, I just thought we could hang on a little longer not sure though. Our ducks are going to be devastated, they are a flock and the turkeys are their leaders. We hand raised them all together. Is there a breed of turkey that doesn't have their weight issue?

Our BBB are the same ages as yours, 24 weeks in a couple of days. The females are laying down with wings spread because our 35# pound males are mating them. I know they are not suppose to be natural mater's because of their size but at least two of our 3 males mate and 2 of our hens just started laying eggs. They are shell -less eggs at this point because I had not been giving extra calcium(they just started laying 3 days ago)The hen I've seen mating at least once, I actually had to pick up and move from that position last night because the tom was not there and it was time to be locked up for the night,Once I picked her up and put her in the coop, she got right up on her own. But, otherwise they are walking well still.
One hen had hurt her lag a while back when the roost pole broke during their sleep and my guess is she landed wrong on it but if it had fractured it has healed well and she doesn't waddle any more than the other turkey's do.
Our plan is to butcher the 3 toms memorial week end and try to keep the 2 hens until Thanksgiving. They still walk (and run if there are treats) around well and free range. I generally only feed them once a day now because they quit gobbling down their food so voraciously about 3 weeks ago when we got brave enough to let them free range our 2 acres. I guess we kept thinking they wouldn't go back in but they follow us everywhere and even come looking for us. Of course they are free ranging with our 25 chickens too.
Hope this helps some who may be wondering when is a good time. When it was really hot here and the humidity was high they were not moving around as much but now that it is back in the 70's they are all over our property. We put a kiddie pool in their run to cool their feet off and if they wanted they could lay in it. I only put a couple inches of water in it at a time.
DO ANY OF THE REST OF YOU ON BYC HAVE BBB HENS LAYING EGGS OR MATING THAT ARE 24 WEEKS OLD? Just wondering if that is unusual or not

 

[chicks and hens2]

I'm very concerned about my pair of broad breasted bronze turkeys, Christmas and Thanksgiving. We initially got them to eat, but somehow they have wrapped around my heart strings and we decided to keep them. They were born in Feb/March. The tom has started limping really bad and just continues to get worse, he has even quit gobbling. He mostly just lays down and only move if necessary. Our female just walks around the hard making her little chirp noises. Lately, she has begun just laying down or standing with her wings pulled down. When we pick her up to put her in the pen, she continues to keep the same pose. Is this behavior normal, or is it because she has become too plump? Is it time to send our pair to the great buffet in the sky? Any insight would be greatly appreciate! Thanks.

I think it's a normal pose for a hen that is ready to mate, Mine that are the same age and breed started doing that a couple weeks ago and this week they started laying small shell less eggs. Last week they were mating,Which I thought was unusual for this breed because what I've read is they can't naturally mate since they are too big, But the males have been sparring off and on for a couple months now and were finally allowed by the hens to mate.
Anyway,that's my two cents, maybe mine are abnormal???

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

I think it's a normal pose for a hen that is ready to mate, Mine that are the same age and breed started doing that a couple weeks ago and this week they started laying small shell less eggs. Last week they were mating,Which I thought was unusual for this breed because what I've read is they can't naturally mate since they are too big, But the males have been sparring off and on for a couple months now and were finally allowed by the hens to mate.
Anyway,that's my two cents, maybe mine are abnormal???

It is possible that your turkeys are going through the motions of mating without the toms actually fertilizing the hens. I don't think that BBW or BBB have the sex drive bred out of them, only the ability to do the job. I guess the only way you'd know for sure would be if you kept the eggs and tried incubating them.

 

[Celie]

The same thing happened to me last year when I decided to try to raise BBWs for thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. I really really liked having them around they definitely pulled at my heart strings, but I knew they couldn't stay so to help ease me away from my dear BBWs I decided to get Heritage poults and raise them to keep as breeders so I could always have turkeys around. I decided on Bourbon Reds and they are great and it did help me keep the focus off of the BBWs and I knew it wouldn't be kind of me to keep them since they weren't made to live forever.

No bird will live forever, but Heritage turkeys are usually kept for 5 to 7 years, I think! .Hens only have so many eggs and toms will get pretty big after 2 years depending on breed and can damage the hens by becoming too heavy while mating. Use your hens for 3 to 4 years and toms for their first year or two and then introduce new blood into your younger offspring with a new tom for diversifying the genetics so toy do not inbreed.

Our BBB are the same ages as yours, 24 weeks in a couple of days. The females are laying down with wings spread because our 35# pound males are mating them. I know they are not suppose to be natural mater's because of their size but at least two of our 3 males mate and 2 of our hens just started laying eggs. They are shell -less eggs at this point because I had not been giving extra calcium(they just started laying 3 days ago)The hen I've seen mating at least once, I actually had to pick up and move from that position last night because the tom was not there and it was time to be locked up for the night,Once I picked her up and put her in the coop, she got right up on her own. But, otherwise they are walking well still.
One hen had hurt her lag a while back when the roost pole broke during their sleep and my guess is she landed wrong on it but if it had fractured it has healed well and she doesn't waddle any more than the other turkey's do.
Our plan is to butcher the 3 toms memorial week end and try to keep the 2 hens until Thanksgiving. They still walk (and run if there are treats) around well and free range. I generally only feed them once a day now because they quit gobbling down their food so voraciously about 3 weeks ago when we got brave enough to let them free range our 2 acres. I guess we kept thinking they wouldn't go back in but they follow us everywhere and even come looking for us. Of course they are free ranging with our 25 chickens too.
Hope this helps some who may be wondering when is a good time. When it was really hot here and the humidity was high they were not moving around as much but now that it is back in the 70's they are all over our property. We put a kiddie pool in their run to cool their feet off and if they wanted they could lay in it. I only put a couple inches of water in it at a time.
DO ANY OF THE REST OF YOU ON BYC HAVE BBB HENS LAYING EGGS OR MATING THAT ARE 24 WEEKS OLD? Just wondering if that is unusual or not

If the tom is not too fat in the breast, the first few eggs will be fertile, Soon after he reaches sexual maturity, he will be too fat to get the job done and the eggs will no longer be fertile. The hens can mate naturally if you use a heritage Holland White tom, they were bred from in 1935. On a restricted diet, so she does not have heart and leg trouble, she might live on for 3 or 4 years, maybe, before she has foot, leg or heart trouble and her eggs will be fertile. If you were closer, I would give you a Holland White tom!

It is possible that your turkeys are going through the motions of mating without the toms actually fertilizing the hens. I don't think that BBW or BBB have the sex drive bred out of them, only the ability to do the job. I guess the only way you'd know for sure would be if you kept the eggs and tried incubating them.

True, the problem is the toms have too much breast meat to get the job done unless they are put on a restricted diet from 3 weeks and most adults have to be AI to produce fertile eggs! Where do you think the grocery stores get these birds from?