Miniature/bantam turkey?

[R2elk]

That’s cool! I thought if I lived in a residential area I would probably get turkey hens instead of regular hens because they are so sweet.

Turkey hens are a lot noisier than chickens are. They can be a lot louder too.

 

[FloorCandy]

That’s cool! I thought if I lived in a residential area I would probably get turkey hens instead of regular hens because they are so sweet.

They imprinted to my daughter as chicks, they think they’re people. When they were in the brooder, I had them on a table next to the recliner my little girl always sits in, and they would sit on top of their cardboard house on the side closest to her, watching her constantly, calling her if she wasn’t there. If you look out at the aviary, their shed is sort of in the same area the cardboard box was in the brooder, so it’s like they’re still sitting in their baby configuration waiting for their little girl to come out lol.

 

[FloorCandy]

Turkey hens are a lot noisier than chickens are. They can be a lot louder too.

My chickens are WAY louder than the Turks, and the chickens constantly complain about something, someone is sitting in my favorite spot, time to walk around complaining, someone took my mealworm and even tho there are 100 more on the ground I’m gonna walk around moaning for 10 minutes haha. The female turkeys make a chook chook chook sound, and they alarm call when distressed, I can hear them from my deck, but no further inside than maybe 10 feet, so I’d say the hens cant be heard from over 50-70 feet. The Tom and even the chickens in an uproar can be heard much further. The turkey hens are quieter than my male quail for sure, both in volume and frequency.

 

[Amer]

My chickens are WAY louder than the Turks, and the chickens constantly complain about something, someone is sitting in my favorite spot, time to walk around complaining, someone took my mealworm and even tho there are 100 more on the ground I’m gonna walk around moaning for 10 minutes haha. The female turkeys make a chook chook chook sound, and they alarm call when distressed, I can hear them from my deck, but no further inside than maybe 10 feet, so I’d say the hens cant be heard from over 50-70 feet. The Tom and even the chickens in an uproar can be heard much further. The turkey hens are quieter than my male quail for sure, both in volume and frequency.

Yeah, I’ve always found turks to be the most musical and easy to listen to. Definitely my favorite birds when it comes to vocalizations. (Also in many other ways.)

 

[SarahGfa]

My friend told me about it, he said that pure occelated breeders didn’t like the idea of mixing them so the guy who did it stopped breeding them.
It was just a hobby project so there’s probably not information about it.
I think breeding hybrids is a great idea and a way to introduce new, colorful turkey varieties, but it is way more work and expense than necessary if you just want a pet mini turkey.

Yes that is also true for junglefowl breeders. They don't like to sell to people who plan to hybridise them, but people do it anyway.

My guess is that ocellated + New World turkey hybrids are unviable or sterile. There is archaelogical research that says Mayans kept both kinds of turkeys in captivity. But no evidence of any hybrids, that I can find.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure...-6-in-Mesoamerica-and-location_fig1_230699895

 

[R2elk]

My chickens are WAY louder than the Turks, and the chickens constantly complain about something, someone is sitting in my favorite spot, time to walk around complaining, someone took my mealworm and even tho there are 100 more on the ground I’m gonna walk around moaning for 10 minutes haha. The female turkeys make a chook chook chook sound, and they alarm call when distressed, I can hear them from my deck, but no further inside than maybe 10 feet, so I’d say the hens cant be heard from over 50-70 feet. The Tom and even the chickens in an uproar can be heard much further. The turkey hens are quieter than my male quail for sure, both in volume and frequency.

You haven't heard my turkey hens when they are demanding to be let in or out. Non-stop until they get what they want. During breeding season the toms gobble all day long.

 

[FloorCandy]

Here are some pics of my Turks, the bucket feeder helps show their size. The chickens are bantam barnyard mixes that are very cochiny and are bantam Cochin sized for size reference. I think they’re pretty small for turkeys. They’re super docile with the chickens and I had 6 quail that they didn’t harm either. They look at my dogs with curiosity and they don’t try to threaten them when they stare at each other thru the doors, and they protect the smaller birds from small rodents and such.

My 2 ladies, Gobbles on top, Thanksgiving on the bottom (we didn’t know Gobbles would be a hen when we named her haha):

Thanksgiving and a chicken:

Rusty Shackleford, he hasn’t molted yet and he’s almost a year, that’s why his tail is so beat up, they hatched in late summer so I guess his chronometer is off:

A small to average turkey egg vs normal sized bantam chicken eggs:

 

[Amer]

Here are some pics of my Turks, the bucket feeder helps show their size. The chickens are bantam barnyard mixes that are very cochiny and are bantam Cochin sized for size reference. I think they’re pretty small for turkeys. They’re super docile with the chickens and I had 6 quail that they didn’t harm either. They look at my dogs with curiosity and they don’t try to threaten them when they stare at each other thru the doors, and they protect the smaller birds from small rodents and such.

My 2 ladies, Gobbles on top, Thanksgiving on the bottom (we didn’t know Gobbles would be a hen when we named her haha):
View attachment 3539074

Thanksgiving and a chicken:
View attachment 3539073

View attachment 3539075


Rusty Shackleford, he hasn’t molted yet and he’s almost a year, that’s why his tail is so beat up, they hatched in late summer so I guess his chronometer is off:
View attachment 3539077

View attachment 3539076

A small to average turkey egg vs normal sized bantam chicken eggs:
View attachment 3539078

Wow, your turkeys are so cute!

 

[GCrumb]

I have a spare coop! If people can make shetland ponies and mini pigs and pigmy goats, how hard can it be to breed a teacup turkey. City folk will pay gobs of money for useless farm animals.

Hey, some of them are right useful A friend of mine had a dairy of mini-nubians, because she didn't want to work with animals that outweigh her (maybe she gets enough of that from the Great Danes) and largely those goats seemed to produce as much milk as standards while eating less.

I'm a little guy but couldn't ride my mom's pony without looking as if I was about to sack Rome, but the pony pulls a cart prettily and would pull a plow if we had one and asked her to. And 'miniature' Jersey cattle are actually the original size.

I think mini-turkeys could be really useful for pest control. Chickens destroy the garden, digging everything up. Turkeys trample everything down chasing grasshoppers. But what about a chicken sized turkey? @FloorCandy, how are the midget whites in that regard?

I figure there's already a turkey variety about the right size that might be perfect except they're just not ornamental enough.

I bet that even if a hybrid with the occellated turkey produced viable and fertile offspring it wouldn't be such a great idea because you would sacrifice tameness and cold-hardyness for colour when there are already so many interesting and beaautiful colours in domestic turkeys. I'm particularly delighted with all these colours that are possible but do not breed true and that I've never seen outside of the Porter's website.

 

[FloorCandy]

Hey, some of them are right useful A friend of mine had a dairy of mini-nubians, because she didn't want to work with animals that outweigh her (maybe she gets enough of that from the Great Danes) and largely those goats seemed to produce as much milk as standards while eating less.

I'm a little guy but couldn't ride my mom's pony without looking as if I was about to sack Rome, but the pony pulls a cart prettily and would pull a plow if we had one and asked her to. And 'miniature' Jersey cattle are actually the original size.

I think mini-turkeys could be really useful for pest control. Chickens destroy the garden, digging everything up. Turkeys trample everything down chasing grasshoppers. But what about a chicken sized turkey? @FloorCandy, how are the midget whites in that regard?

I figure there's already a turkey variety about the right size that might be perfect except they're just not ornamental enough.

I bet that even if a hybrid with the occellated turkey produced viable and fertile offspring it wouldn't be such a great idea because you would sacrifice tameness and cold-hardyness for colour when there are already so many interesting and beaautiful colours in domestic turkeys. I'm particularly delighted with all these colours that are possible but do not breed true and that I've never seen outside of the Porter's website.

I don’t let mine loose, so I’m not sure how they would be with pest control in gardens, but I used to have them living under my raised deck, now that they’ve moved to the aviary, I’m seeing mice under the deck like crazy, I’m pretty sure the Turks ate them when they lived there, and now the population is exploding.