Turkeys For 2013

[Arielle]

I have a trio of sweetgrass and boy is the tom lovely. His color continues to intesify. More black in the breast like a palm, and the tail feathers have added the brown. I guess I don't need a calico cat now!! lol

I do have some eggs for sale if anyone is intersted-- though the narriganset tom was visiting so mixed mutts are possible too. THey are very pretty too!

 

[chickadoodles]

I have a trio of sweetgrass and boy is the tom lovely. His color continues to intesify. More black in the breast like a palm, and the tail feathers have added the brown. I guess I don't need a calico cat now!! lol

I do have some eggs for sale if anyone is intersted-- though the narriganset tom was visiting so mixed mutts are possible too. THey are very pretty too!

I am still waiting for mine to hatch, they should hatch on Oct. 2nd.

 

[Arielle]

Feels like a long wait doesn't it??

 

[chickadoodles]

Yes is does!

 

[JourneymanSun]

I have a few questions regarding when to start turkeys. I understand the amount of time for a turkey to reach sexual maturity is 26 weeks.Depending or your purpose for raising Breeding/Meat is there a "preferred" time to start the project? Start March ,September January Etc...? Hatching eggs or Poults. / Incubator or Broody Hen ?

I'm reading that some have hens laying in January, is that mostly in the south ? Is it the first "spring" once mature or when maturity is reached get ready ? Being in Southeastern Pennsylvania would It be a March/April thing .


I started with hatchery birds early this spring. I have 3-BBW(1tom,2hens), I-Black(hen),2-MW(toms),1-BR(Hen),2-Nag(1tom,1hen). The BBW's are going to the freezer. I have noticed the Heritage breeds do well with keeping themselves clean whereas the BBW's are filthy.

Would breeding and crossing the turkeys I have be something I should look into? I don't want to breed out inferior birds. I realize there is a plethora of questions here . I 'm looking for honest opinions.

Thank You

 

[chickadoodles]

Feels like a long wait doesn't it??

I just candled the turkey eggs for the first time, and all 4 of the sweet grass are developing nicely. I have two clears on the the br's and one that looks like it started and quit. I still have them all in the bator! Looking good!

 

[Arielle]

Quote:

 

[Arielle]

I have a few questions regarding when to start turkeys. I understand the amount of time for a turkey to reach sexual maturity is 26 weeks.Depending or your purpose for raising Breeding/Meat is there a "preferred" time to start the project? Start March ,September January Etc...? Hatching eggs or Poults. / Incubator or Broody Hen ?

I'm reading that some have hens laying in January, is that mostly in the south ? Is it the first "spring" once mature or when maturity is reached get ready ? Being in Southeastern Pennsylvania would It be a March/April thing .


I started with hatchery birds early this spring. I have 3-BBW(1tom,2hens), I-Black(hen),2-MW(toms),1-BR(Hen),2-Nag(1tom,1hen). The BBW's are going to the freezer. I have noticed the Heritage breeds do well with keeping themselves clean whereas the BBW's are filthy.

Would breeding and crossing the turkeys I have be something I should look into? I don't want to breed out inferior birds. I realize there is a plethora of questions here . I 'm looking for honest opinions.

Thank You

Whether or not you should breed is a matter of choice. I remember an aunt that had only one tom as a pet. I keep a flock of 4 toms= my 4 muskateers!! they traveled together.

YOu can use the BBW girls to breed to possiblly to add more breast meat and more growth. IN theory the growth rate will be increased but the actual amount is likely to vary bird to bird. It is a project I hve wanted to do myself.

You can cross the heritage breeds and get interesting colors; and the birds should grow a little faster; it is called hybrid vigor. I have narri crosses that are gorgeous.

If you want purebreds, get those 2 penned LONG before you plan to collect eggs. I learned that they are active breeding-wise long before the eggs arrive. Once you have collected allt he purebred eggs you want and get them hatched, THEN the hen can beused with another male, or not. lol

Will you try to cross the bourbon red hen with the MW??? Give her only one boy, as I sometimes see three turkeys stacked up. Poor hen dealing with 2 toms like a totem pole. . GIve her just one to deal with.

Also Just one pair can give you a lot of eggs over the full season. At about an egg a day. My point is you don't need to keep a lot of birds once you find out which birds you like best.

 

[Celie]

ROTFL-- so true.

THe auburns are not SOP which creates more of an issue. NOthing written as a guide. HOwever Jeff says on his web site that these are an old breed and need more breeders. HE knows that is why I wanted these birds, ( Maybe he doesn't remember with so many buyers) but he sent me extras beyond the usual number to try to establish a breeding group. So a little help would be appreciated. Even if he mentioned the yahoo group . . . .

I read that Bourbon Reds were bred using the Auburns and because people favored the coloring in the BRs, Auburns became almost non-existing! They must be very rare, not to be considered for APA SOP?

Hi guys same thing here! I cant seem to hatch any hens, ugh. The last egg this season its a tom. OH well, fill up the freezer.
Keeping the 2 hens out of the bbw so i have some for next year! My RP gave me -0-. so far. Any insight on genetics what chooses the sex of the poult?
Tom or hen? I have hatched all boys.

I would think it more depends on the temp. of the incubator? I read that1/2 degree lower produces more female and 1/2 degree higher produces more males, IDK, with my Sportsmen, so far, it has been half and half. In December, when my hens start laying again, I think I might try to test that theory! More hens are needed for breeding, but toms have more meat for the freezer, so for me half and half works out.

This is a quote from Porters linebreeding page

Inbreeding and Linebreeding

The following info was written by Franklin Albertsen


"1 tom and 4 or 5 hens, per pen with a spare full-brother tom as a backup for each pen"

Another quote "I have maintained a flock of Sweetgrass colored birds for about 35 years with never more than one or two trios at a time"

Like I do with my rabbits, I will try to start 2 different genetic lines with my turkeys, using toms from one supplier and hens from another. Keeping them separate while free ranging will be the biggest problem, I will have to pen them and only let them out every other day? I was thinking one tom to 4 or 5 hens, too, but I want 5 breeds, so that's 10 breeding pens! Since I will be raising the MWs for everyday turkey meals, I would want to raise a lot more of them, but since they are a lot smaller, I should be able to keep more than 5 hens? I have 2 lines of Hollands, and only kept one mature tom from one of the lines and all the hens from the other, so with them line breeding will work. In another year or two, I'll try to swap eggs with someone in another state and switch out my tom. Holland toms get quite heavy and using year old toms is easier on the much smaller hens! I don't know if that is the case with the other heritage breeds?

I have a few questions regarding when to start turkeys. I understand the amount of time for a turkey to reach sexual maturity is 26 weeks.Depending or your purpose for raising Breeding/Meat is there a "preferred" time to start the project? Start March ,September January Etc...? Hatching eggs or Poults. / Incubator or Broody Hen ?

I'm reading that some have hens laying in January, is that mostly in the south ? Is it the first "spring" once mature or when maturity is reached get ready ? Being in Southeastern Pennsylvania would It be a March/April thing .


I started with hatchery birds early this spring. I have 3-BBW(1tom,2hens), I-Black(hen),2-MW(toms),1-BR(Hen),2-Nag(1tom,1hen). The BBW's are going to the freezer. I have noticed the Heritage breeds do well with keeping themselves clean whereas the BBW's are filthy.

Would breeding and crossing the turkeys I have be something I should look into? I don't want to breed out inferior birds. I realize there is a plethora of questions here . I 'm looking for honest opinions.

Thank You

As far as I can tell, BB Hybrids become sexually mature at 6 to 7 months, but Heritage turkeys take 8 to 9 months, depending on the breed and individual turkey.
In the South, my Hollands start laying in December as do BRs, but I have heard some other Heritage breeds will start laying in January. In the North, the season will be different, so March or April sounds right.
You can put a large breed Heritage tom over a BB Hybrid hen and get fertile eggs, but they will be mutts, Good tasting mutts, but not true heritage birds. All white feathered birds look dirtier, when they lay in mud puddles, than the darker colored ones, but after they molt, look pristine again!
As far as crossing goes, it depends if you plan to sell the eggs and poults and/or show them or if you are just growing for food! Either way, any inferior bird should never be bred, IMHO !

 

[OffGridMAMA]

Just got 8 Turkey poults subscribed! I'm still on. Page 5 Lol