Turkey breeding

[stockedkitchen]

My friend gave me her turkeys. 2 Narragansett hens and what she was told was from a wild stock tom. She was also thinking one of the hens was a tom and she was obviously not. She a bit gullible. I think, the tom is bronze. When I got them they along with the ducks were in ratty condition. She had them in a tiny pen and they were all under weight. Now they are in our garden soon to be moved into a pen of their own. The ducks are out with the chickens. Does any one think he will be able to breed with the hens? They start laying this week, out in the open in the rain so even if I put them in the incubator... One other question, are all turkey prim a donnas? They wont eat greens, they dont like crumble but seem to love dog food and seed. Which the seed I dont mind, but the dog food??? I add it as a treat along with greens, oatmeal, scraps, and other stuff. I heard that they liked it, so thought once in awhile it wouldn't hurt. Tom gets pushy about it and wont eat sometimes if there isnt any.

They love playing with jugs and figuring out how to get their food out. I put some in and the next day the jugs are moved all over and empty. If I dont do it I think they get up set. LOL

 

[Lagerdogger]

The tom really doesn't look standard bronze. The tips of his tail and is tail coverts are too dark. In St bronze, the tips are creamy, often almost white. So the tom could be from eastern wild stock (domesticated eastern wild). It look like he will breed those hens just fine.

If you quit feeding snacks for a while, I'm sure the turkeys will adjust to crumble. You might want to find a pelletized feed as well. But they will eat either if they get hungry.

 

[stockedkitchen]

Thanks so much for the info!! I was just going on what pictures I could find. My friend had no idea what she had gotten. Just that he was maybe from some sort of wild stock. She didn't know what breed the hens were. I figured that out, after some research. I believe that they are Narragansett. Bronze was the only thing I could come up with for Tom. One of the hens was born with a "bent" beak but eats fine now that it's grown out. When I got her it was bad. I have things for her to rough it up against since beaks are like nails. I tried pellets over crumble they let that rot. They picked thru it and ate the seeds that I would mix in with it at 25/75 seed to pellet. I was worried about there weight since all the bird I got from my friend were have starved. She was having money issues because of a divorce plus didnt know what she was getting into starting a small farm. Here another pic most of the tips of his tail feathers are missing. This show on of the few tips. Id this what you mean by cream color. Oh this is the hen with the beak prob, just happen to be in the same picture. It's really one of the few good ones of her.