Knock down Drag outs! Is this severity of fights normal???

[Frosty]

Quote:
Some are just late bloomers... I raise BB turkeys every year for the holidays, and a bunch of friends always come over so that we can do the deed together. Then they take their turkeys and go home. Last year, I wanted to keep a few hens to cross with the White Hollands that I just got, so the guy helping me and I selected two to keep. A few months later I discovered that one was a 'he', not a 'she'. At 5 months old it looked just like a hen!

 

[Ravenworks71]

I hope he "blooms" soon. He needs to figure out what he's supposed to do. If and when he gets spurs, can you keep them clipped?

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

I've never had to clip a toms spurs, they don't keep growing like a chicken does.

Steve

 

[thaiturkey]

Quote:
I think you worry too much! Same as me, perhaps.

 

[Ravenworks71]

OK, I went and took a look at a guys Blue slate's today. He picked out his "best" for me. This is what he claims. Since I am new at this I thought I would ask all you smarter people what you thought before I commit to bringing her home. She is supposedly a year and a half old and has set two clutches. He claims she's in a molt. (She has a very short tail and looks like much of her body feathers are just coming in.) None of my birds are molting right now so I find this puzzling. She is very skittish and stressed. I could not take any good pictures of her since she was so frightened. She's small, maybe 12 lbs. (he free ranges them). Does she look like a good candidate, or should I leave this one alone?

 

[OmaBird]

From the looks of the picture, she is not a pure slate. Did he have other colors, maybe Narragansett or Mottled Black? She kind of looks like a mottled slate.

 

[Ravenworks71]

He stated that he had started with a slate pair several years ago and now he has several black (solid) and one that almost looked like a pastel palm and several slates. This one had the most mottling. They are supposedly out of the same parents. I'm unclear on how the genetic thing works with Turkeys at this time (I'm trying to work on it). Does she look healthy? Her eyes are clear as well as her nostrils. Her vent is clean and free of poo. She's just a spazz. I am concerned with the possibility of a condition parrots get called Beak and Feather or French molt.

 

[thaiturkey]

Did you see his other turkeys and the conditions in which they are kept? What about their feed?

 

[danischi24]

Keep any bird you get quarantined for a few weeks. It's not worth the heartbreak of losing your whole flock because the new bird was carrying a disease that only showed up after a week or two.

 

[OmaBird]

Quote:
The slate gene is a single dilute gene. A lavendar is a double dilute gene. Black does not have any dilute genes. It works like this...

slate X slate= balck, slate and lavendar
black X slate= blacks and slates
slate X lavendar = slates and lavendars

Could see have mites or could someone be eating her feathers? Is she just standing weird in the picture or is she off balance from no tail?