Turkey Talk for 2014

[SilkieSensation]

Not sure on the narris but the slates are normal. I see 2 black & 2 blue/lav. Hard to tell from the lighting. Lavenders start out very pale yellow with a grey tint. Blues are darker & actually look blue at hatch. Lavenders begin to feather in a solid pale blue/grey. Blues will be darker blue & have very dark patches in the feathering.

 

[K Epp]

My poults the goose hatched. 1 bronze & 2 Slate x Bourbon Red.

One slate has a lot of blue. The other is more beige and brown.

 

[Kelsykin]

Not sure on the narris but the slates are normal. I see 2 black & 2 blue/lav. Hard to tell from the lighting. Lavenders start out very pale yellow with a grey tint. Blues are darker & actually look blue at hatch. Lavenders begin to feather in a solid pale blue/grey. Blues will be darker blue & have very dark patches in the feathering.

There are a total of 4 blacks. I can't get the 4 of them together in one picture. it is funny. All 8 pairs up. The biggest black and the smallest black hang out together. The two blacks that are similar sized hang together. The two blue/self blues. They look like they are lilac colored more than grey. They really are camera shy.

The other two that I think are Narragansetts hang together. I plan to wait a good while before I try to figure out the color. Just was curious about the two I suspect are narrg. I just can't find anybody that has pictures of 2 week olds. my husband has to run out today to get the proper feed for them. He grabbed chick starter/grower for them not the straight chick starter.

 

[R2elk]

my husband has to run out today to get the proper feed for them. He grabbed chick starter/grower for them not the straight chick starter.

What you want is turkey or game bird starter for the poults. Chick starter has too low of protein content for turkey poults. You want starter that is in the 26 - 30% protein range.

 

[desertmarcy]

There are a total of 4 blacks. I can't get the 4 of them together in one picture. it is funny. All 8 pairs up. The biggest black and the smallest black hang out together. The two blacks that are similar sized hang together. The two blue/self blues. They look like they are lilac colored more than grey. They really are camera shy.

The other two that I think are Narragansetts hang together. I plan to wait a good while before I try to figure out the color. Just was curious about the two I suspect are narrg. I just can't find anybody that has pictures of 2 week olds. my husband has to run out today to get the proper feed for them. He grabbed chick starter/grower for them not the straight chick starter.

I can't help you on the photo of 2 week old Narragansetts. I never took any pics of the ones I hatched last year

but I remember them as being darker than yours. Yours look too light to be pure Narris, I believe. Agree with R2elk, you need turkey/game bird starter, not chick starter.

 

[SilkieSensation]

my husband has to run out today to get the proper feed for them. He grabbed chick starter/grower for them not the straight chick starter. 

What you want is turkey or game bird starter for the poults.  Chick starter has too low of protein content for turkey poults.  You want starter that is in the 26 - 30% protein range.

I use 20-24% protein for my poults but I prefer mine to grow a bit slower. If they grow slower they have stronger legs, especially for broad breasted, but it works well for heritage as well.

 

[chickadoodles]

About two weeks ago I hatched out a bunch of turkeys and ducks. I am down to 8 turkey poults. The eggs I got were from several EBay sellers. I was suppose to be getting Blue Slates and Narragansett eggs. I have four that are Black and two that are a grayish lilac color.





I also have this one. Would this be a Narragansett?



And then there is this one that looks like the one above, but bleached.



Now I am wondering why the last two are so startling different in their coloring? Is this normal? I know the blue Slates can be Self Blue, Black and Slate. If the other two are Narragansetts why the color difference or was I scammed?

Fernie I think the two on the bottom are bourbon reds and possibly mixed as the bottom one is not the same.

 

[lbrykowski2011]

Would I be safe in saying my lil 8wk is a Tom? 1st time i seen him puff up like this, sooo cute.

 

[Sydney Acres]

From a photographic aspect, to my eye it looks like the two lighter poults in the top picture are a little overexposed, so I think the one on the bottom left of the picture is a light slate, but possibly a lavender, and the one slightly above and to the right of the first is a lavender.

Fernie, you said that you were supposed to be getting Blue Slates and Narri eggs, and you got 4 black poults, 2 "greyish liliac" poults, and 2 reddish patterned poults (one more blondish). Did you by any chance ask what colors the Blue Slate parents were? While it certainly would be possible to get 4 blacks, one slate, and one lavender (or 4 blacks plus 2 lavenders) by mating two slates, it would be unusual. If would be more likely to get this mix if there were multiple males and females together, with at least a few black Slates in the breeding pen. A breeder who wants to sell only the slate colored Blue Slates could easily do so by pairing a black Blue Slate with a lavender Blue Slate, and all the poults would be slate colored. Unfortunately, the whole terminology within this breed leads to confusion, because the name of one of the colors is the same as the name of the breed, but the breed has multiple colors.

Regardless of what color they are or whether they're "purebred," they're beautiful poults, and hopefully healthy. I'd love to see some pictures of them from different positions and different lighting.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Would I be safe in saying my lil 8wk is a Tom? 1st time i seen him puff up like this, sooo cute.

Possibly, but my hens also displayed at that age. The hens didn't display as often, or hold the display for as long, but there were definitely times when I started to rethink my guesses. Because I had a mix of 5 hens and 2 toms, I was able to watch their behavior towards each other, which was more accurate then just physical differences or display activity in my group.