Lavender/Slate Clarification?

[Omniskies]

I'm finding mixed information about Blue Slate turkeys and would love some clarification.

"Splash" birds are ashy colored birds with black/dark spots scattered around. Splash to Splash breed true.

"Blue" are light, even colored birds. Blue to Blue results in Blue/Black/Splash poults.

"Black" is, well, black.

Then I'm finding that Splash to Splash creates Blue/Black/Splash, and Blue are Self Blue/Lavenders that breed true.

Half the information I'm finding online, and half the information I'm finding on Porter's genetics site. However, Porter also has Slates listed as a 33lb bird, which is ridiculous. I'm pretty sure the standard has them at around 23lbs, which is what I saw on the ALBC and a few other places. And, well, that's roughly how much my toms weigh. I've tried to keep nice, large birds without going too overboard, since Slates in general seem to be a little undersized. But still, the reason I have Blue Slates is because they _aren't_ the size of a Bourbon Red. So I'm not sure how much I can trust the rest of Porter's seemingly well researched information.

Any help?

 

[Tunastopper]

Don't think of it like chicken genetics. Thats why your confused.

Self blues is what some people call lavender. The bird is a even light blue color with no spots. The bird has two slate dilute genes. Lavender self blues breed true. All of the poults will have two slate genes.

A slate turkey (has the spots and looks like a splash chicken) has one slate gene. It does not breed true. You will get black, slate and self blue.

The standards do say old toms should be 33 lbs. You can read the standards on the Yahoo genetics board under files.

 

[Omniskies]

Thank you.

And...geh. You're right. Ugh. I went back through to cite everything that said 23lbs and everything mentioned a young tom being around 23lbs. I've never bothered weighing my older birds - just my younger stock. I figured they were a lot like geese - virtually all of their growing happened in the first year.

I suppose that explains why I'd get toms that weighed 25lbs~.

Ah well. Huge, huge thanks.