Turkey genetics/ feather color!

[greygoose]

Hi there, this has probably been gone over several times. I did make an attempt to search through other posts and couldn't quite find a situation like mine. I am just trying to understand what I am dealing with, sorry if this is a repeat!

My husband gifted me a pair of young Bourbon red turkeys last fall. Whoever hatched/raised them must have loved them. They were so sweet and the Tom loved to be pet. He also LOVED the hen, a little too much! LOL! To give her a break we searched for another hen. At the time the only thing we could find nearby and in our price range was a 4 month old hen. She is a cross between a Royal palm Tom and a Narragansett hen. She was gorgeous! She had red/bronze and blue striped feathers. As she has gotten older I am not sure what color she is? She looks kinda buff, but a little grey too? Would like a classification on her if anyone knows!?

The hens started laying early spring this year and I hatched out some eggs. I got some beautiful pure Bourbon Reds, and some? Well, not sure? At first I thought they were looking like narragansett, now kinda like bronze? The young hens feathers are very striking in person. Very metallic and showing all colors of the rainbow with gold "glitter" around her neck and back. The feathers at the base of her tail have a strip of gold to rose gold with the same gold flecks throughout the feather. I don't think photos could do it justice? Was wondering if anyone has ideas of what they are classified as? Maybe there are some weird recessive genes at play here? I have never seen a hen with this much color. The Tom's are beautiful as well!
mother hen breast feathers
tom, got cloudy and could get a good photo of him.

 

[greygoose]

I tried to capture the "gold flecks" or "glitter" and it's just not showing up the way I see it. Sorry I am kinda turkey crazy! I love all my babies!

Feather from base of tail, doesn't quite show all the "rose gold" color.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi there, hope you are enjoying BYC!

Check out this turkey color calculator...
https://www.porterturkeys.com/turkeycolorcalculator.htm

If you click on the varieties tab.. I think most of them will give you the genotype in the description. It takes some playing to get it figured out... but what fun!

Hope this helps!

 

[greygoose]

Hi there, hope you are enjoying BYC!

Check out this turkey color calculator...
https://www.porterturkeys.com/turkeycolorcalculator.htm

If you click on the varieties tab.. I think most of them will give you the genotype in the description. It takes some playing to get it figured out... but what fun!

Hope this helps!

Thanks! I will try to figure it out!

 

[R2elk]

Hi there, this has probably been gone over several times. I did make an attempt to search through other posts and couldn't quite find a situation like mine. I am just trying to understand what I am dealing with, sorry if this is a repeat!

My husband gifted me a pair of young Bourbon red turkeys last fall. Whoever hatched/raised them must have loved them. They were so sweet and the Tom loved to be pet. He also LOVED the hen, a little too much! LOL! To give her a break we searched for another hen. At the time the only thing we could find nearby and in our price range was a 4 month old hen. She is a cross between a Royal palm Tom and a Narragansett hen. She was gorgeous! She had red/bronze and blue striped feathers. As she has gotten older I am not sure what color she is? She looks kinda buff, but a little grey too? Would like a classification on her if anyone knows!?

The hens started laying early spring this year and I hatched out some eggs. I got some beautiful pure Bourbon Reds, and some? Well, not sure? At first I thought they were looking like narragansett, now kinda like bronze? The young hens feathers are very striking in person. Very metallic and showing all colors of the rainbow with gold "glitter" around her neck and back. The feathers at the base of her tail have a strip of gold to rose gold with the same gold flecks throughout the feather. I don't think photos could do it justice? Was wondering if anyone has ideas of what they are classified as? Maybe there are some weird recessive genes at play here? I have never seen a hen with this much color. The Tom's are beautiful as well!
View attachment 1919281 mother henView attachment 1919283 View attachment 1919284 View attachment 1919292 View attachment 1919294 View attachment 1919295 View attachment 1919296 breast feathers
View attachment 1919298 tom, got cloudy and could get a good photo of him.

If the father was a pure Royal Palm and the mother was a pure Narragansett hen, your cross hen is a Narragansett Semi-Color Semi-Gray (bb1 ccg n-). I would not expect her to have as much white as the photo shows.

All of the offspring produced by breeding her to a Bourbon Red tom will be Red Bronze some of which will have at least one or two hidden recessive color genes.

The bronze color showing is the cause of all the iridescence.

 

[greygoose]

If the father was a pure Royal Palm and the mother was a pure Narragansett hen, your cross hen is a Narragansett Semi-Color Semi-Gray (bb1 ccg n-). I would not expect her to have as much white as the photo shows.

All of the offspring produced by breeding her to a Bourbon Red tom will be Red Bronze some of which will have at least one or two hidden recessive color genes.

The bronze color showing is the cause of all the iridescence.

Thanks so much! I have been on Porters turkeys, took a minute to figure it out, but I agree with you. His photos of red bronze looks almost identical.

 

[greygoose]

Will be fun trying to figure out where to go from here with my breedings!

 

[R2elk]

Will be fun trying to figure out where to go from here with my breedings!

The Red Bronze will not breed true. You may have any or all of the following versions of Red Bronze:
females
bb CC N- Rr
bb Ccg N- Rr
bb1 CC N- Rr
bb1 Ccg N- Rr

males
bb CC Nn Rr
bb Ccg Nn Rr
bb1 CC Nn Rr
bb1 Ccg Nn Rr

 

[Amer]

Your hen is semi-grey.
bb^1 Ccg n-
The offspring should be red bronze.

The Re Bronze will not breed true. You may any or all of the following versions of Red Bronze:
females
bb CC N- Rr
bb Ccg N- Rr
bb1 CC N- Rr
bb1 Ccg N- Rr

males
bb CC Nn Rr
bb Ccg Nn Rr
bb1 CC Nn Rr
bb1 Ccg Nn Rr

These are the correct genotypes for the offspring, yes.

 

[greygoose]

Your hen is semi-grey.
bb^1 Ccg n-
The offspring should be red bronze.

These are the correct genotypes for the offspring, yes.

On Porters calculator I ended up with bb Ccg n- and got the the same result? I must have done something wrong, still learning!