Turkey Talk for 2014

[desertmarcy]

I have three Royal Palm turkeys that are about 4 months old. I am trying to figure out if they are hens or toms.

I only see hens in these photos. Oh, and

 

[desertmarcy]

Every time I see this, I think, 'oh no, is that bird sick?' But it is just a crazy Bourbon Red poult sun bathing when it is over 100 degrees in the sun!

 

[MandyMcClure]

Thank you!! I am still learning a lot about all of my birds and I think BYC can help me out a lot!

 

[chickadoodles]

Every time I see this, I think, 'oh no, is that bird sick?' But it is just a crazy Bourbon Red poult sun bathing when it is over 100 degrees in the sun!

Mine do that here to. They love the sun.

 

[TattooedMama]

As Promised!!! I am absolutely, completely IN LOVE

My life is complete again. I am soooo happy to have turkeys back on the farm, they are my favorite poultry. 2 days being shipped in a box and they are so far from traumatized. They are all eager to run to the side of the brooder and say hello when I am checking on them, they are so lovabale. We had one loss in transit and one arrived with a bad umbilicus and after watching her for an hour I culled her humanely. So final count is 3 Penciled Blue Palm, 4 Penciled Chocolate Palm, 6 Silver Auburn, 2 Blacks, & the 2 extras we received are Blue Red Bronze (hopefully a pair). These are just mine, we have 7 more that are for a friend. Super excited

 

[chickadoodles]

They are so cute! Such a wonderful assortment you are going to have so much fun with all those babies!

I am so happy for you getting to have some turkey again.

Thank you so much for posting pics.

 

[desertmarcy]

@TattooedMama they look great! You are so going to enjoy them. I raise Blue Red Bronze so if you don't get a pair, contact me. I'll probably have extra to ship out later in the year since I hatched quite a few. They are a very attractive color variety.

 

[TattooedMama]

They are so cute! Such a wonderful assortment you are going to have so much fun with all those babies!

I am so happy for you getting to have some turkey again.

Thank you so much for posting pics.

Thank you!! I am so happy to have turkeys again too. The blacks are for my Honey. The rest will be for breeding pens. I may put the Chocolate & Blue penciled together but not 100% sure yet.

@TattooedMama they look great! You are so going to enjoy them. I raise Blue Red Bronze so if you don't get a pair, contact me. I'll probably have extra to ship out later in the year since I hatched quite a few. They are a very attractive color variety.

I was on here last year, I had Narrangansetts. We culled our flock due to Mycoplasma. We definitely missed having turkeys around. None of the other poultry even come close to comparing!! Do I want to know how much it costs to ship turkeys? LOL. My friend got 3 of the BRB too so there may be a chance to trade if we each have what the other wants.

 

[desertmarcy]

Thank you!! I am so happy to have turkeys again too. The blacks are for my Honey. The rest will be for breeding pens. I may put the Chocolate & Blue penciled together but not 100% sure yet.

I was on here last year, I had Narrangansetts. We culled our flock due to Mycoplasma. We definitely missed having turkeys around. None of the other poultry even come close to comparing!! Do I want to know how much it costs to ship turkeys? LOL. My friend got 3 of the BRB too so there may be a chance to trade if we each have what the other wants.

Mycoplasma, oh that is terrible. Were the turkeys really sick? I bet you posted about it, but I don't always keep up with threads I subscribe to here.

2 years ago, I got Lilac turkeys from Kevin Porter. This year, I had laying problems with my two hens. They just weren't laying. When all my other turkeys were laying gangbusters, I got just 3 good eggs, which didn't hatch, and a bunch of shell-less eggs. Kevin sent me Bronze hatching eggs this year, all 5 hatched. My plan is to set up two different breeding pens next year, assuming I have both sexes of the Bronze: one will be Lilac tom over Bronze hens, the other Bronze tom over Lilac hens. This breeding will produce all Red Slate. Then the following year, I'll take Red Slates from each breeding group and cross them. That will produce 50% Red Slate and 50% Lilac. So hopefully this plan will increase the size of the Lilacs as well as their vigor and hatchability. I had trouble with my two Blue Red Bronze hens this year, too. Most of their eggs would start developing and then quit, mostly early on, but some late. I suspect these just need an outcross. The inexplicably, one of my Lilac hens started laying again about 6 weeks ago. This caused me to incubate and hatch turkeys WAY later in the year than I really want! But I wanted more Lilac to work with. So far I have 5 hatched from that hen and 2 out of the Blue Red Bronze (which were bred to my second Lilac tom). In the meantime, Kevin suggested putting a Bourbon Red in with the Lilac, that cross produces 100% Blue Red Bronze. So I did that with just one BR hen. Her eggs have been almost 100% fertile and hatching has been almost 100%, too. So far I have 21 Blue Red Bronze hatched from that outcross.
And a few more left to hatch before I shut the incubator off. Do you think I overhatched?

This project better be worth it because the heat is killing me here this time of year, all the work...and the turkeys and chickens all eating a ton...and I need to build more pens for next year in order to complete this Lilac project, more expense and energy needed. I just had another organic feed order of 100 50-lb bags delivered today! Will have to wait for the sun to go down before even thinking about moving it all and stacking it indoors!

 

[feedman77]

Congrats on your new babies. Looks like a colorful bunch.

Glad you could get some turkeys back.