Turkeys For 2013

[Arielle]

Quote: I do try to help the birds have a good life after living with me. But sometimes I do have to sell just a single, which I really really really hate to do. I push to sell pairs or more. THey do better with in a new home with a buddy they know and like.

 

[Arielle]

I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me what color these chicks are? They all have same mother and father.

Hi! Welcome to BYC!

Have a look at Porters website as they have pics of the newly hatched poults on every page for every variety of turkey. SOme poults do look alike though, so if you know something about the parents, that will help you.


Try this website. Hopefully I put the s in the right location. If not, move it to the end of porter instead.
www.porterturkeys.com

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: Thank you Sally!

Chickadoodle-- sorry I'm not great at sexing turkeys. I just wait until they look like boys and girls. The boys are the ones mostly likely to puff and display. Can you see a difference in the size of the snood yet?

That is ok Arielle. I did get a bit of helpful info from a guy on a fb poultry page. He said that at 9-10 weeks old the toms will get a bump on their chest where their beard is. He said to check for the bump and then I would know which is which? I am going to go out and try it in a bit when I take them some ice!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Thank you Sally!

Chickadoodle-- sorry I'm not great at sexing turkeys. I just wait until they look like boys and girls. The boys are the ones mostly likely to puff and display. Can you see a difference in the size of the snood yet?

That is ok Arielle. I did get a bit of helpful info from a guy on a fb poultry page. He said that at 9-10 weeks old the toms will get a bump on their chest where their beard is. He said to check for the bump and then I would know which is which? I am going to go out and try it in a bit when I take them some ice!
I have heard of this method, just didn't know what age it applied to. THey look like boys long before the beard appears.

 

[desertmarcy]

I suppose you don't have your misters working...i was thinking it may be easier since you don't have to clean out their brooder pen(s) in the garage...my garage has been topping out around 100-102...i have a few chicks in there...no light daytime and fan running...keeping it about 99-100 which is fine for this first week...next week i will most likely put them in a large brooder cage with a bottom under my shade trees and small fan perhaps...gonna have to play it 'on the fly' with this heat...one thing is for sure...i will NOT hatch this late in AZ again...gonna shut 'er down in Feb/March latest...

I don't have a mister system set up in my turkey pens yet. Have all the parts, but cutting into the water line is the hard part. I have to decide which is the easier way to do it. I originally had the water line for the misters coming up off the water for the autowaterer in the first pen. But it was PVC, going up from the galvanized pipe, and one winter, they must have flown up against the PVC and it being brittle from the cold, shattered. So I would rather start the line with the timer OUTSIDE the pen this time!

No, I did not need to clean out the pen area in the garage. It had a nice pile of wood chips/sawdust to start and they weren't there long enough and it dried out instantly in there. They are all doing fine outside now, although one of the pencilled chocolate palms has a raw spot where the feathers have rubbed off on it's neck under it's head. I have no idea how that happened. One of the Mottled Blacks, which is one of the older and bigger poults, has been hiding in the corner by the water. It has come out to eat, but is much shyer than some of the others. Every morning I chop up 4 or 5 hard boiled eggs and mix it in their food. Boy is there a feeding frenzy when they see that! I mix it with the dry food, which has a lot of fine material, so the egg is all coated, but they know what it is and when they see the lumps in the food, they are grabbing them as fast as they can. Today I took the wire down that kept them in the corner and they are out exploring and sitting up on the "big turkey's" roost.

I normally stop hatching by the end of April. I don't know what got into me this year! My Bourbon Red hatching eggs are due to hatch 6/22. I bought two batches. Only 5 out of 10 from one seller are developing, but 11 out of 12 from the other seller are looking good.

 

[desertmarcy]

Is there anyone on this board that could help me with telling me if I have any hens in my turkeys? I have 2 slate blue's, I have 3 Narri's and they all puff up so I have no idea if they are all toms or if any of them are hens.

It is hard to see in these photos, but they all look like toms to me. When I'm trying to figure out what sex they are, my first clue is the "shooting red", when the toms get a bright red color down the front where their caruncles will develop, Then I look at the snood, which is thicker on the toms. When they are older, the toms lose the feathers on the top of their heads while the hens retain a "mohawk" strip of feathers down the middle of their head. The tom's heads will generally be a bit wider, too, more masculine-looking, and thicker legs. These are all the characteristics I use and when put all together, can get a good idea.

 

[chickadoodles]

I have heard of this method, just didn't know what age it applied to. THey look like boys long before the beard appears.

Thank you Arielle! I just am trying to figure out how many more turkey I still need.

 

[chickadoodles]

It is hard to see in these photos, but they all look like toms to me. When I'm trying to figure out what sex they are, my first clue is the "shooting red", when the toms get a bright red color down the front where their caruncles will develop, Then I look at the snood, which is thicker on the toms. When they are older, the toms lose the feathers on the top of their heads while the hens retain a "mohawk" strip of feathers down the middle of their head. The tom's heads will generally be a bit wider, too, more masculine-looking, and thicker legs. These are all the characteristics I use and when put all together, can get a good idea.

Thank you desertmarcy! I will look for these signs! I appreciate your help very much!

 

[PeepsCA]

Hi all, haven't posted here in a month or so... been busy hatching like crazy

84 poults so far, lol (plus couple hundred keets, some Silkie and Showgirl chicks, and a few Peachicks). I have about 30-40 or so more Turkey eggs cooking in the 'bator (plus more Guinea, Peafowl and Silkie/Showgirl eggs), but I am not going to LET myself set any more eggs from my Turkey Hens. I am Turkeyed OUT, lol. I thought I was joking when I said I'd probably hatch 100 poults this season... uhhhh, turns out it's no joke, lol. I definitely have plenty to keep, sell and put in the freezer... so it's time to stop hatching them.

Here's a couple pics of some from my 2 oldest batches. They are super tame and spoiled rotten, but got freaked out about the camera

And a couple pics of how the 1st 3 mystery yellow poults from my 1st 2 hatches are feathering out.
14 of the 84 poults have hatched out either pure yellow, yellow with a grey stripe on their back or yellow with a grey stripe on their backs and a tan coloring on their head so far... more to come I am sure.

So far the poults with the grey stripe down their backs and the tan coloring on their heads are feathering out like this close-up pic that shows some tan in the wing feathers.

The other guy was pure yellow at hatch and is feathering out pure white, but with black splotches like a Blue Slate has (his/her Grampa was a Blue Slate).

I still have no clue what they are, exactly why I am hatching them from my Narris and Mottled Blacks, or what they will look like when mature... but I am keeping ALL of them, lol.

And here's a pic of most of my last week's hatch of poults (I have 5 Rio Grande X Eastern mix poults in with a batch of keets in another brooder). 5 of these yellow poults are Royal Palm poults tho (not from my hatches)... I traded some keets for them a couple days ago. LIKE I NEEDED MORE POULTS!?!?! LOL (and there are also 2 IB Peachicks in there that I hatched too). I hatched out a pure yellow poult of my own in this batch, so I had to band it's leg so I can keep track of who is who... for now.

Anyway as you can see, my poult hatching season pretty much exploded on me... lol

I am loving it tho, after hatching/raising mainly just thousands of Guineas for so many years Turkeys are way more fun!

 

[chickadoodles]

Hi all, haven't posted here in a month or so... been busy hatching like crazy

84 poults so far, lol (plus couple hundred keets, some Silkie and Showgirl chicks, and a few Peachicks). I have about 30-40 or so more Turkey eggs cooking in the 'bator (plus more Guinea, Peafowl and Silkie/Showgirl eggs), but I am not going to LET myself set any more eggs from my Turkey Hens. I am Turkeyed OUT, lol. I thought I was joking when I said I'd probably hatch 100 poults this season... uhhhh, turns out it's no joke, lol. I definitely have plenty to keep, sell and put in the freezer... so it's time to stop hatching them.

Here's a couple pics of some from my 2 oldest batches. They are super tame and spoiled rotten, but got freaked out about the camera

And a couple pics of how the 1st 3 mystery yellow poults from my 1st 2 hatches are feathering out.
14 of the 84 poults have hatched out either pure yellow, yellow with a grey stripe on their back or yellow with a grey stripe on their backs and a tan coloring on their head so far... more to come I am sure.

So far the poults with the grey stripe down their backs and the tan coloring on their heads are feathering out like this close-up pic that shows some tan in the wing feathers.

The other guy was pure yellow at hatch and is feathering out pure white, but with black splotches like a Blue Slate has (his/her Grampa was a Blue Slate).

I still have no clue what they are, exactly why I am hatching them from my Narris and Mottled Blacks, or what they will look like when mature... but I am keeping ALL of them, lol.

And here's a pic of most of my last week's hatch of poults (I have 5 Rio Grande X Eastern mix poults in with a batch of keets in another brooder). 5 of these yellow poults are Royal Palm poults tho (not from my hatches)... I traded some keets for them a couple days ago. LIKE I NEEDED MORE POULTS!?!?! LOL (and there are also 2 IB Peachicks in there that I hatched too). I hatched out a pure yellow poult of my own in this batch, so I had to band it's leg so I can keep track of who is who... for now.

Anyway as you can see, my poult hatching season pretty much exploded on me... lol

I am loving it tho, after hatching/raising mainly just thousands of Guineas for so many years Turkeys are way more fun!

All your babies are so adorable! Just love the little guys with the yellow heads!