Turkey poult colors

[PittyLova]

I had my first Turkey baby pop out of its shell and more coming. I've used porter's calculator to see what colored babies I should get. I have 3 differently colored hens and a chocolate tom.

So, babies will all be different variations of chocolate and black (unless there are some hidden genes). I'm wondering if it's possible to tell a barred/molted from a regular say chocolate as poults? Or are they all brown or black with white faces? I just want to figure out who is the momma to who for some record keeping.

Here's baby #1 cuz....cute!

 

[EggWalrus]

You just can't help but fall in love with baby turkeys!

 

[R2elk]

I had my first Turkey baby pop out of its shell and more coming. I've used porter's calculator to see what colored babies I should get. I have 3 differently colored hens and a chocolate tom.

So, babies will all be different variations of chocolate and black (unless there are some hidden genes). I'm wondering if it's possible to tell a barred/molted from a regular say chocolate as poults? Or are they all brown or black with white faces? I just want to figure out who is the momma to who for some record keeping.

Here's baby #1 cuz....cute!
View attachment 1815870

You probably won't be able to tell a barred/mottled from a regular Chocolate until at least two months old if not longer.

Depending on what the hens are, you may be able to visually sex the poults as soon as they are dry based on color.

The brown gene is a sex linked gene meaning that any female offspring will be a version of Chocolate and males will be a version of Black because of the tom being the Chocolate one.

It only takes one Brown gene (e-) for a hen to be Chocolate because they can only have one Brown gene. For the males to be Chocolate they have to have two Brown genes (ee) for the color to be expressed since it is recessive.

The white face mask is due to the Black gene (B). Both the Chocolates and the Blacks will have the white mask because Chocolate is Black based and Black is a dominant gene causing the traits to be expressed with only one Black gene present.

Without knowing what varieties the hens are, that is all I can speculate on.

 

[PittyLova]

You probably won't be able to tell a barred/mottled from a regular Chocolate until at least two months old if not longer.

Depending on what the hens are, you may be able to visually sex the poults as soon as they are dry based on color.

The brown gene is a sex linked gene meaning that any female offspring will be a version of Chocolate and males will be a version of Black because of the tom being the Chocolate one.

It only takes one Brown gene (e-) for a hen to be Chocolate because they can only have one Brown gene. For the males to be Chocolate they have to have two Brown genes (ee) for the color to be expressed since it is recessive.

The white face mask is due to the Black gene (B). Both the Chocolates and the Blacks will have the white mask because Chocolate is Black based and Black is a dominant gene causing the traits to be expressed with only one Black gene present.

Without knowing what varieties the hens are, that is all I can speculate on.

Thank you! I did read some on the chocolate being sex linked, which is why I chose a chocolate tom. My hens include a broad breasted bronze, silver-tipped black, and either a sweetgrass or calico (I'm not sure of her actual genes). By the calculator I see all of the poults should be sex linked.

I want to try to track growth, etc of the poults based on who mama turkey is so was hoping there would be a way to tell the markings apart early on. I'm mostly curious about my BBB hen's chicks. I know that the BBB SHOULD have barred offspring, the silver-tipped SHOULD have solid chocolate or black, and the other girl depends on if she's sweetgrass or calico. I guess I'm going to have to keep all of the poults this year!

 

[R2elk]

Thank you! I did read some on the chocolate being sex linked, which is why I chose a chocolate tom. My hens include a broad breasted bronze, silver-tipped black, and either a sweetgrass or calico (I'm not sure of her actual genes). By the calculator I see all of the poults should be sex linked.

I want to try to track growth, etc of the poults based on who mama turkey is so was hoping there would be a way to tell the markings apart early on. I'm mostly curious about my BBB hen's chicks. I know that the BBB SHOULD have barred offspring, the silver-tipped SHOULD have solid chocolate or black, and the other girl depends on if she's sweetgrass or calico. I guess I'm going to have to keep all of the poults this year!

Based on that information, your first Chocolate poult is a girl and any Chocolate colored poults will be female.

If you end up with any Rusty Blacks you will know that your hen is a Calico rather than a Sweetgrass. Also if you end up with any hens that don't look Chocolate, you will know she is a Calico.

You don't have to keep all of them, you just have to wait until they have their adult plumage in order to know what is what.