Turkey Talk for 2014

[Sydney Acres]

Quote: I've posted these before. My hens will be one year old the first week of April. I just processed the last tom a couple weeks ago. I'd guess they were around 9 months when these pictures were taken. My hens still run around and don't have leg problems, yet. These are BBB from Ideal. I read somewhere, no idea where, that Ideal's BB are smaller than other hatcheries.



Pictures of toms are so hard to read. I look at the hen and there's absolutely no doubt that she's a BBB. I look at the tom and it could go either way, they puff up so much when they display. My boys display the entire time I'm outside with them, so the only pictures I have of them that show any body shape at all are taken out the window, and only when they don't see me.

 

[Sydney Acres]

We have three toms. 1 bourbon red 1 Narragansett and 1 sweet grass. We have only four hens. 1 Bourbon red 1 Narragansett 1 sweet grass and 1 gray. We don't care if they mix and the kids are excited what crosses will come up!

By gray, do you mean a purebred Oregon Gray, which is quite rare, or do you mean the color gray. If just the color gray, it might be a mixed breed, or it might be a Blue Slate, Self Blue, Lilac, Bronze, or several others, depending on how your eye interprets colors. Can you post a picture?

As far as what colors will come up, you've got quite a lot of possibilities with this group. Here is a link to the feather color genetics page from Porter's Turkeys: http://www.porterturkeys.com/feathercolorgenetics.htm. That can help you figure out what each potential cross would produce (a great learning experience for the kids, depending on their ages), but you've got the potential for more than a dozen genotypes (the internal genetic makeup, which may or may not be expressed in an animal's appearance), and probably just a few less phenotypes (the outward appearance of color or other features). If you're familiar with genetics, this page will give you everything you need to know to predict your possible genotypes. For the mixed breed birds, it can sometimes be difficult to determine what a particular genotype will look like. You can find many examples when you go through the Porter's website. If you're still stumped, I have heard that there is a turkey genetics thread on BYC that can answer questions.

If everyone is kept together in the same pen or yard, be careful that the boys don't fight on top of the girls when they squat down for breeding. That many boys with only that many girls might cause an issue, depending on the social relationships between them. The hens could easily be injured, or the toms might fight often enough or aggressively enough to cause injury. There are several posts on this thread of toms dying after prolonged fights, sometimes days after the event. If you keep them penned, consider that you may have build more pens to divide them up as breeding season progresses, probably one pen for each tom. If they all free range together, you may need to put a divider or two in their yard to prevent injury. There's no magic ratio, as I've seen anything from one tom to five hens up to one tom per 20 hens published as the ideal ratio for breeding pens. Most people have less hens per tom and do fine. But with three toms and only four hens, it's not just the very tom-heavy ratio you have to worry about, but the interaction between the three toms. I have 2 toms and 5 hens, and 99% of the time everything is perfect, as the toms are best friends and have a well established dominance between the two of them. But on rare occasion the submissive tom tries to breed with the dominant tom's favorite hen, and it gets really ugly around here. I can't imagine the chaos if there was a third tom in the mix, and one less hen. If you keep roosters in with the turkeys, I have found that some bratty little roosters tend to be instigators of fights, which can end up with two toms fighting each other long after the roosters have left the scene, so be careful of that if you have a mixed group.

Good luck with your turkeys. They're wonderful birds.

 

[piglett]

well shoot now that i have seen the med. & the BB

i can clearly see my girl is BB

what to do with a 30lb tom once he is all dressed out?

that's a bunch of turkey sandwiches

 

[poultryaspets]

By gray I mean slate blue

 

[BullChick]

well shoot now that i have seen the med. & the BB

i can clearly see my girl is BB

what to do with a 30lb tom once he is all dressed out?

that's a bunch of turkey sandwiches

Fry it!

 

[Penny Hen]

well shoot now that i have seen the med. & the BB

i can clearly see my girl is BB

what to do with a 30lb tom once he is all dressed out?

that's a bunch of turkey sandwiches

Turkey Pie! Shred turkey add leeks or onions, mashed potatoes. I learned this as a medieval recipe (the mashed potatoes are a cheat by the way) and so it is spiced with allspice and mace and black pepper.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I think this has a lot of value!!! The potential is faster growthrate and better muscling. Hope it works for you.

Every one of the turkey eggs laid have been fertile so far! I am getting 2-3 eggs a day now, so hopefully soon I can sell some! If I counted right, we would be setting eggs for the Cinco de Mayo hatch-a-long on April 7th, so April 1st or 2nd I'll start collecting eggs to set for that. I can't wait!

Geez, I have the set date wrong--- thought it was Apr 9th

turkey eggs are hatching.. two poults out already.. another zipping as I type..

The poults are growing so fast!
This was five days ago,

And this is today!

Okay, this is today.

They grew taller overnight. It is so weird! They amaze me!

Is it wrong that I tell them I am going to eat them?

We have three toms. 1 bourbon red 1 Narragansett and 1 sweet grass. We have only four hens. 1 Bourbon red 1 Narragansett 1 sweet grass and 1 gray. We don't care if they mix and the kids are excited what crosses will come up!

You will decrease the color variety as the recessive genes will not express themselves. I would pair up everyone and separate them for the most color fun. They gray can go with which every tom you choose. Most of my cross breds became bronse or auburn. BORING!!!

THey are yours- so of course . . you can do what you want to.

 

[Reyvaughn]

I may have the set day wrong, thats why I said "if I counted right!" LOL!

 

[chicken pickin]

I may have the set day wrong, thats why I said "if I counted right!" LOL!

You are correct. Set date is April 7th.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:

lol.. here are the first five

Daddy is a Sweetgrass.. moms are Buffs.. gotta love surprise color hatches!