Turkey Talk for 2014

[chickadoodles]

Got my 2nd turkey egg of the season yesterday. My son found it in the bed of his truck last night. I know who it was too. I caught Connie in the truck & chased her out right before we found the first egg in the mud outside the back door. She's rotten...lol

That's great!

 

[WalnutHill]

Got my 2nd turkey egg of the season yesterday. My son found it in the bed of his truck last night. I know who it was too. I caught Connie in the truck & chased her out right before we found the first egg in the mud outside the back door. She's rotten...lol

I'm jealous...and looking forward to eggs!

I have two lovely Narragansett toms, and two Narri hens and a bronze hen. So far from what I've seen, the gals do a great job of avoiding those sailing ships we call strutting toms. The guys come up and bump the girls from behind, and the girls laugh at them and run away. They show no interest in the guys, and no broody behavior, and nothing to indicate impending motherhood. So it may be a while before I see any eggs...last year my sole hen was laying in January, and the weather was a lot worse than it was this winter!

I have a 200 egg incubator with chicken eggs (to tide me over) and can't find 6 doz turkey eggs near me!

 

[JJSS89]

Eastern...not enough color for Rio Grande. They carry a good bit more irridescence in chest & wings. Easterns are closer to a standard bronze with barring in the wings like in your pic.

It's interesting how they change throughout the country. We have all three major subspecies (Eastern, Rio Grande, and Merriams) in Washington. That bird has way too much color for the Easterns that I've seen...but I've never seen turkeys back East.

 

[WalnutHill]

The Easterns here in SE Michigan look like Bronze, with chestnut tone on the tail covert and tan tips on the tail feathers. They are very iridescent and overall dark feathered.

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote:
I started giving my breeders Canine Red Cell a cap full in their water buckets and they soon started laying.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Got my 2nd turkey egg of the season yesterday. My son found it in the bed of his truck last night. I know who it was too. I caught Connie in the truck

I'm jealous...and looking forward to eggs!

I have two lovely Narragansett toms, and two Narri hens and a bronze hen.  So far from what I've seen, the gals do a great job of avoiding those sailing ships we call strutting toms.  The guys come up and bump the girls from behind, and the girls laugh at them and run away.  They show no interest in the guys, and no broody behavior, and nothing to indicate impending motherhood.  So it may be a while before I see any eggs...last year my sole hen was laying in January, and the weather was a lot worse than it was this winter!

I have a 200 egg incubator with chicken eggs (to tide me over) and can't find 6 doz turkey eggs near me!

I have 2 toms & 6 hens. We've been watching them breed for several weeks now & not entirely positive the girls aren't hiding eggs since they are free ranging.

 

[AmericanMom]

Ok, 2nd round is in Lockdown... 8 BR eggs and 6 chicken eggs...... All upright in cartons, temp in still air (I unplug the fan) is holding at between 100.8-101.7 and Humidity is 65% 6 of the air cells looked awesome, 2 are a bit smaller . dry incubation so not much to do but wait til Thursday/Friday

I'm getting out of here today, the suspense is gonna kill me lol

 

[chickadoodles]

Ok, 2nd round is in Lockdown... 8 BR eggs and 6 chicken eggs...... All upright in cartons, temp in still air (I unplug the fan) is holding at between 100.8-101.7 and Humidity is 65% 6 of the air cells looked awesome, 2 are a bit smaller . dry incubation so not much to do but wait til Thursday/Friday

I'm getting out of here today, the suspense is gonna kill me lol

Good luck with your lockdown.

 

[gevshiba]

Got my 2nd turkey egg of the season yesterday. My son found it in the bed of his truck last night. I know who it was too. I caught Connie in the truck & chased her out right before we found the first egg in the mud outside the back door. She's rotten...lol

I'm getting turkey eggs too. 3 over the last 2 weeks, smashed on the ground under the roost. Now someone's eating chicken eggs. I suspect a turkey and I need to figure out who.

 

[gevshiba]

It's interesting how they change throughout the country. We have all three major subspecies (Eastern, Rio Grande, and Merriams) in Washington. That bird has way too much color for the Easterns that I've seen...but I've never seen turkeys back East.

I'm in TX. All I can say is, that boy is huge. My 6 hens are calling him constantly. I don't have a tom and those girls are desperate. I should probably sell them to someone with a tom. I do have eggs ordered from Country Hatchery. I could start over with better stock. decisions, decisions.