Problem with breeding my turkeys

[Strange Hatter Farms]

So I’m new to breeding turkeys but my older females don’t want anything to do with my males that I hatched this summer.

my older two females are my pets, they were my first babies I hatched and were my only turkeys for a whole year until I hatched more eggs this summer and got three males. The males are mature now, gobble, puff up and have a beard.

I realized I might have a with them breeding after I was sitting in the field and Martha sat next to me as she does before laying eggs (the submissive ready to breed sitting) and a male came over and tried and it scared her and she jumped up on my lap.

what should I do? I planned on breeding them. as a bonus question- what will a bourbon red and lavender produce?

the bourbon red is Martha and the bronze is Ramsey, my older female. The black and lavender in the picture are my males

 

[Strange Hatter Farms]

Martha is also puffing up in this picture

 

[R2elk]

what will a bourbon red and lavender produce?

Crossing a Lavender with a Bourbon Red will produce Rusty Slates.

I do not see a Lavender in any of your pictures. Lavenders do not have any black spots on them.

 

[Finnie]

This is not necessarily breeding season. Do you think Martha is sitting next to you in a breeding position and therefore getting ready to start laying? Based on how she acted last time just before she began laying? It is a possibility, but if she is not going into breeding mode, then that would be why she is rebuffing the tom(s).

When was the last time she laid, and for how long?

 

[Strange Hatter Farms]

This is not necessarily breeding season. Do you think Martha is sitting next to you in a breeding position and therefore getting ready to start laying? Based on how she acted last time just before she began laying? It is a possibility, but if she is not going into breeding mode, then that would be why she is rebuffing the tom(s).

When was the last time she laid, and for how long?

Yeah, this is the same behavior she had before she started laying last time last November and in the spring and she started laying eggs again 3 days ago.

She stayed on the nest until I took her eggs away because they weren’t fertile

 

[Strange Hatter Farms]

Crossing a Lavender with a Bourbon Red will produce Rusty Slates.

I do not see a Lavender in any of your pictures. Lavenders do not have any black spots on them.

Oh, oops, I thought lavender and blue slate were interchangeable names.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

Oh, oops, I thought lavender and blue slate were interchangeable names.

They’re names for turkey colors caused by the same gene.
Two copies of said gene would be lavender, lighter overall and no black spots, while slate is one copy of the gene and darker gray with black spots.

This of course being assumed that the turkey is homozygous for the black base

 

[Strange Hatter Farms]

They’re names for turkey colors caused by the same gene.
Two copies of said gene would be lavender, lighter overall and no black spots, while slate is one copy of the gene and darker gray with black spots.

This of course being assumed that the turkey is homozygous for the black base

That’s interesting! I’m not sure tho, bought the eggs from a semi local farm. I hatched a black one along with the blue slates so maybe?

 

[R2elk]

Oh, oops, I thought lavender and blue slate were interchangeable names.

Blue Slate is BB Dd. Lavender aka Self Blue is BB DD. Lavenders breed true because they are homozygous for their color genes. Blue Slates do not breed true because they are heterozygous for the dominant slate gene (Dd).

Crossing a Blue Slate with a Bourbon Red will produce 50% Rusty Slates and 50% Rusty Blacks.

 

[R2elk]

That’s interesting! I’m not sure tho, bought the eggs from a semi local farm. I hatched a black one along with the blue slates so maybe?

Blue Slates do not breed true. When bred together they should produce 50% Blue Slates (BB Dd), 25% Blacks (BB dd) and 25% Self Blue aka Lavender (BB DD).