New tom update...with surprises...

[Twilia]

So some of you might remember I posted looking for a heritage tom as we have 4 ten month old hens that are heritage breeds. Our goal was to mate our hens and hatch some eggs to sell or keep. So back to the story...

I posted a few times on Facebook and finally got someone that said they had a couple of toms available. So long story short, the family piled into the Forester and away we went 1 hour and 45 minutes to check out this bird. When we got there, turns out this guy has BROAD BREASTED and didnt tell me...

I was a little angry inside that we drove all that way and he didn't indicate they were BBB. Daughter was enamored with the tom, roughly 9 months and semi large, beautiful colors and my guess hes around 60 lbs***. Farm was very well maintained, farmer very nice...I was still bummed out we drove all that way...needless to say, told the wife and daughter there is a very minimal chance this guy will be able to mate with our hens but figured worst case scenario we would give it a shot and see what happens but im not getting my hopes up...

So there are a lot of takeaways from this, and some I already knew...I do get attached to animals, and its hard to tell my wife and daughter no...I do like the bird, very friendly, docile...but at the same time I have a few questions now as I am "new" to BB.

1) Are the chances "pretty low" or just straight up impossible he will mate our heritage hens?
2) Will he crush our hens? Hes large but not OVERLY huge. He will be a year in June 2025
3) Daughter talks about keeping him as a pet...you know how kids get...Seems like these guys die around 2 years of age?
4) Probably the most important question I have here...Can we pick up a heritage tom and somehow have the heritage tom and BB tom co-mingle with the 4 hens? Or would we want to pick up a couple more hens?

In our heads the farm life sounds easy and black and white...but sometimes it gets a little gray given the personal feelings of family members and attachments to the animals...definitely makes it hard to just unload this guy as he is a very sweet bird and pretty. Looking for some answers to those questions and if anyone wants to share their personal feelings or stories on if you guys have dealt with stuff like this before Its tough with kids sometimes!

EDIT- Updated weight

Hey,
I have a rescue commercial turkey tom that ranges with two heritage toms and six heritage hens. My BB tom pretty much just does hen stuff, no mounting so I do not consider cross breeding.
He is not bullied by the toms or the hens but is very much a part of the flock as he has even learned to jump roost five feet to be next to them. He is the gentlest tom I have. He is about 50 lbs. and still kicking. I recently have added a joint supplement to his diet, but he has been fine without it the last 4 years; My friend had a BB hen that lived to be 9 1/2 years, and she had died from liver damage.
They are not generally hard to care for, and can last quite longer than their "kill" range while still thriving.
I guess it depends on the situation, and what is best for your bird; )
Hopes this helps someone.

_twilia ; )

 

[Pearlescent]

Hens are SO uninterested in him and would rather from what it seems try to mate with humans...so we have to work on that lol

my original Turkey hen is human imprinted, but we managed to trick her into breeding last year & again this year. If they don’t start showing interest in the tom you can get them to squat for a human they like, and pet them while the Tom approaches so they stay down.

It takes quite a few tries, because the hen may get up when she realizes tom is behind her, but usually works in the end.

If the hen tries to get up once the Tom steps onto her tail, she was not successfully tricked and it’s best to help her get the Tom away momentarily so she doesn’t lose too many feathers trying to stand.
Of course there is no guarantee it’ll work, and the hen may lose some tail feathers, but it’s the method I’ve found works the best.