Kaye's free range turkey thread

[oldhenlikesdogs]

He was from Porters sold as a blue slate, I just assumed they occasionally came in dark, a few of my porter birds have been off on color, especially his special mixes. Either way he has always been my favorite. The blue hen that came in the same batch was dark like him too.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have some Oregon blue hatching eggs on order from him, so I guess I will see this year how he compares.

 

[memphis]

He does look to have some red in him. Boy he's gorgeous!!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hmmm, I guess I haven't really thought about him not being a slate, I guess I thought it was like blue in chickens where some are darker. Guess I just learned something again.

Thank you, memphis. He's my absolute favorite boy. He loves getting his picture taken.

 

[BantamTurkey]

Jacob is a result of my late Tom, who was a self-blue, and my late Annie, who was a bearded eastern wild hen. Tom was a true self blue, as in he had a solid one color uniformly. I think he was also considered a 'lavender'. Jacob is a mix, but a very beautiful mix. I would love to have some sweetgrass turks to mix with his line. I'm imagining beautiful offspring

 

[R2elk]

These images don't make him look so chocolate. The tail feathers are definitely those associated with a Blue Slate but I have never seen a pure Blue Slate with the amount of red this turkey is showing. I have had Blue Slates for 9 years now and have only ever had the one shade of blue. I did bring in a Self Blue from Porter's and he had much more reddish tinge on him than any Blue Slates that I have ever seen.

He is definitely not an Oregon Blue because they have white on the end of their tail feathers. I only suggested an Oregon Blue since Porter's pictures show an Oregon Blue that looks much darker than a Blue Slate.

This was my original Blue Slate tom.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Interesting, I never thought nothing of it, but I haven't seen any other photos of a turkey as dark blue as he is. I certainly see the difference compared to yours.

 

[BantamTurkey]

Exactly!! Oh how pretty!!

 

[GlennLee]

Stunning!

 

[GlennLee]

I have a fondness for blue too!

Beautiful bird!