Okay, what breed of tom turkey do I have here?

[SilverPhoenix]

This guy is a rescue, he turned up in someone's yard unexpectedly. He's very friendly, and I think I'm most likely going to keep him (as a pet). I know a little about turkey breeds, but when I looked at pictures of different breeds he didn't match anything I saw. He is tan and black. Definitely not white, pronounced tan. Whatever he is, he is gorgeous!

Any ideas?









He's currently got a bit of a bald chest, as you can see below. I doubt it's a problem but I thought I'd post it anyway. He otherwise seems healthy. There are some small, shallow scabs, maybe from a previous injury, but they don't look bad at all.





Also, I think/hope I know the answer, but he is not broad-breasted, right? If so, he'll need to go live at my work where he can be kept on a limited diet. He seems to weigh only around 20 lbs or so, so it seems unlikely to me, but that's my main turkey concern.

I tried to get some non-puffy pictures but he's too hormonal for that! He really wants to impress me, haha.

Thanks for any help! I am going to do my turkey research--I work at a farm animal sanctuary so I can interrogate my co-workers about turkeys--but for now I'm just trying to figure out the basic breed question!

 

[brahmabreeder]

Narragansett

 

[frank53061]

I am new to Turkey Raising some my self but I have been doing a lot of research and don't claim to know it all by any means.
That Tom appears to me to be a cross Royal Palm and something else maybe Narraganset but I,m only guessing.
The one Tom may do well by its self but Turkeys are very social birds and need others around I have seen stories of single birds dieing from loneliness.


The feathers may have been removed by another Turkey ? from what I have read if it were molting there would be replacement pin feathers coming in.
have you checked the bird for parasites like mites.

 

[frank53061]

Or he could have rubbed them off that happens

 

[chickenboy1]

They probably had him in a cage to small and he was trying to get out and rubbed them off my gobbler does that sometimes

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Thanks, I was thinking maybe royal palm and [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]narraganset cross myself! I think he's too light colored to be a full narraganset and too large to be a full royal palm (we have some royal palms at work), so that could be it! I'll see what my co-workers think, too, they know quite a bit about turkeys. Forgot to bring pictures in to show them today![/FONT]

Yeah, it's possible he rubbed them off or that something took the feathers. I don't really know much of his story, other than that he showed up in a guy's yard and was following the guy around like a dog. Definitely used to people, he has no fear and readily lets me touch him and even pick him up. He was out free range for at least a few days, so something could have gotten the feathers in that time, or maybe before that he was kept in a small cage before he escaped or something. All I can say is he's one lucky bird to end up with me, where he'll never be anyone's dinner.

He's in with ducks and a peahen (and a few big roosters) for now, in a large pen. I know about the danger of blackhead so I'm being careful. We're finishing our property fence soon, then he can be out of the pen most of the time. He seems pretty content with the other fowl for now, but I would like to get him some female turkeys once some turn up as rescues.

 

[Glenmar]

Wow he is pretty.

I can't wait until my babies grow up, if they stop dying.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Thank you! He is an impressive bird, and so sweet, too! I'm glad to have him in my flock. A friend suggested Augustus for his name, and I think it fits him perfectly!

I hope your babies pull through, Glenmar. Always so sad and disappointing. I had some wild turkey poults once that I brought back from severe malnutrition (some kids left them in a bucket for days when they were just a few days old) and metabolic bone disease. When they came to me, they couldn't even stand up and their legs were totally splayed out and limp. By the time I left for a vacation around two weeks later, with hand feeding them every hour, leg therapy, and wrapping their legs, I had them walking around behaving totally normally. I had a friend watch them for me, and she treated them the same as I did, but they all died, one by one, within forty-eight hours. I still feel sad about that, and it was years ago...