Share your thoughts on my turkey girl please

[chickenmomma16]

I posted in a previous thread about my new turkey hen who showed up at a friends house as a stray and they gave her to us. some said eat her some said keep her.
I'm not sure what to do with her still... My husband just wants to eat her but I want to explore all my options before putting her on the table so I have a few questions.

She is getting on our roof and I cannot have that, Is it OK to clip her wings? How do Turkeys fare with a clipped wing?

What is the market for turkey hatching eggs or hatched/started poults?

If I pick up a tom, should he be of the same breed or are mixes OK?

If she stays she will have to earn her keep and not cause trouble. I do hope to keep her as she is an awesome little lady. Makes the cutest sounds too!

And she is a Bronze right?

 

[americana-lover]

Shes very beautiful!

 

[Lagerdogger]

I posted in a previous thread about my new turkey hen who showed up at a friends house as a stray and they gave her to us. some said eat her some said keep her.
I'm not sure what to do with her still... My husband just wants to eat her but I want to explore all my options before putting her on the table so I have a few questions.

She is getting on our roof and I cannot have that, Is it OK to clip her wings? How do Turkeys fare with a clipped wing?

What is the market for turkey hatching eggs or hatched/started poults?

If I pick up a tom, should he be of the same breed or are mixes OK?

If she stays she will have to earn her keep and not cause trouble. I do hope to keep her as she is an awesome little lady. Makes the cutest sounds too!

And she is a Bronze right?

She is not a standard bronze. If she were she would have a light tan terminal stripe on her tail. She would also have light tan edges on the feathers that cover her lower back and the base of the tail. If she were eastern wild, she would have rich chestnut tail band and feather tips. Maybe there is a hint of the wild tail color and it just doesn't show real well in the picture.

 

[chickenmomma16]

So she could be a mix of the two? If you look at this pic though notice the copper colors that the camera picked up. This is a very blury picture. Sorry! Also, she does have a stripes on her tail. When our friends put her in a (too small) crate the poor girl got poo on it so that must be why you can't see it in the pic very well. Looks like I need to get more pictures...

Shes very beautiful!

Thank you!

 

[chickenmomma16]

New pictures! These should clear up what breed or cross she may be.

 

[Lagerdogger]

OK. I'm changing my mind. Nice pictures of what we needed to see!

Looks pretty much like a standard bronze with a dirty tail now.

 

[chickenmomma16]

Now where would be a good place to find an adult tom? I can't find one on craigslist only some mixed poults.
If I can't find a standard bronze tom what would be a good breed to mix her with?

 

[KrisH]

Now where would be a good place to find an adult tom? I can't find one on craigslist only some mixed poults.
If I can't find a standard bronze tom what would be a good breed to mix her with?

Not sure wher to get one, but here is one from Porters that arrived in August 2012 (took picture today)

you could print this out and use it as a pinup in the coop. lol



and two of his girlfriends





RobertH

 

[Lagerdogger]

Now where would be a good place to find an adult tom? I can't find one on craigslist only some mixed poults.
If I can't find a standard bronze tom what would be a good breed to mix her with?

What would be good to mix her with depends on what you ultimately want to have. If you cross it with a bourbon red, you will get red bronzes, which I think are one of the nicest colors out there.
If you cross it with a Royal Palm, you will get bronze birds with single recessive black-wing, gray and Narragansett genes. You won't see these genes until you cross them back, but then many colors become possible. Actually that's not quite true. Since you have a hen, the Narragansett gene from the Royal Palm tom or a Narragansett tom will make all the hens appear like Narragansett while all the toms will still look standard bronze.

So what you cross it with depends on if you just want more turkeys (anything will do) or if you want to have a plan.

 

[Yukonchick]

They are cool looking birds. I wanna get some turkeys this spring. I jsut gotta figure out what kind of house to build for them. Can't put them with the chickens.