Mutts or lilacs?

[Nava]

some kind of Turkey......... or Mutts.......... yea that would do.

 

[southerngamebirds1]

Can't be mutts because that implies cross breeding. All turkeys are one breed (is that really true?). Turkeys are confusing

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Turn on the spotlight again.

 

[Lagerdogger]

How bout "nice turkey"

If it looks like a lilac, you can call it a lilac. Just be aware that it may have some hidden genes so breeding it might produce some surprises.

 

[Lagerdogger]

Quote:
All turkeys are the same species, like dogs are all the same species. The different varieties could be called strains or breeds. A "breed" should always breed true, like Royal Palm. But some of our heritage varieties do not. The ones that don't breed true are really just mutts that we happen to like, so we name them and try to reproduce them.

Ooh. That opinion might not sit well with everyone

 

[southerngamebirds1]

I'll just call them my blue turkeys. But everyone of my poults has been the same colors. Silver and brown. So I am kinda fond of them. Now I'm wondering what would would happen if I crossed my blue mutts with my hatchery bourbon reds

 

[southerngamebirds1]

Forgot to mention that the gobbler came from sandhill. She thot it was an auburn, but it didn't look like the auburn in the pics on feathersite. At first I thot it was a blue slate, but it looked like a lilac in the pics on feathersite

 

[Nava]

Quote:
ypur beautifull blue mutts crossed with Hatchery bourbon red woul most defenetly give you a lot more Mutts or ( I love those cute Turkeys )

 

[Tunastopper]

I don't think the word mutt should even be used with turkeys. We don't call different colors in a dog breed mutts. White poodles and black poodles are not different breeds just different colors and they can be crossed and not be mutts. We should not call different colors in turkeys mutts either. I don't like using "if something does not breed true" as a the only determining factor to a breed. All slate birds will not breed true yet they are not a mix.

I do think some people like to keep some named strains that at one time had certian qualities when the original breeders had them. But to me once that person is no longer breeding them they are no longer that line but a new line.

 

[Lagerdogger]

Tunastopper makes a good point. Are turkeys one species with several breeds, like dogs, or are turkeys one breed with several colors, like Labrador Retreiver. Some of the things that separate breeds are size, temprament, behaviors, different shaped heads or tails. Turkeys are all about the same shape, they're mostly friendly, and they are all really fun to watch. So in that respect, turkeys behave like a single breed. But some kinds of turkeys are smaller than others, and those smaller sizes seem to be linked to color, such as royal palm and midget white. In this sense, some turkeys seem to behave like different breeds.

On the whole, though, I think I will have to agree with tunastopper and suggest that we could treat turkeys as different colors of a single breed of bird. Labrador retrreivers can be bred to produce lines that are all yellow, or all brown, or all black. But when you mix 'em up, you can get yellows that throw blacks and browns, and we still call 'em labs. Oops, that's not true, yellow cross yellow is always yellow, but you can get blacks or chocolates that throw yellows.

Broad-breasteds might be considered a different breed since they have been selected for a trait, and that trait has been so developed that they ar no longer the same as heritage turkeys. Could wild turkeys also be considered a different breed than heritage turkeys?

Interesting things to consider.