I got some eggs in the spring from a man that had Bronze and Bourbon Red Turkeys. I visited his farm and bought his only pair of royal palm and saw his turkeys and was promised some Bourbon Red hatching eggs once they started laying. A month later I actually got a mixture of many eggs from him at a swap. Due to my incubator fluctuating (I'm a newb) I only managed to hatch 7 of the eggs. One of them oddly enough hatched out solid black. I didn't understand this since I am about 90% sure the man did not have any Black Spanish turkeys. Recently it dawned on me that maybe it is a melanistic form of Bronze. As it has gotten larger you can now see some patterning on some of the feathers, especially the tail. Has anyone heard of a melanistic Bronze? Unfortunately I threw out the guys number just a few weeks ago (wouldn't you know) and I'm not sure if I could contact him. But like I said I saw his farm and did not see any black turkeys of any sort. I'm not sure if the picture is good enough, it is a Tom. All the other turkeys I raised with him got killed by a raccoon so this one was going to be 'Thanksgiving', but if it is something rare I don't want to kill it.........
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