Turkeys For 2013

[Arielle]

Quote:
Other than size issues and health issues . . . .

I have boys that are more uniformly chocolate all over and others that have a faded sunburned chocolate look to many of the feathers on the back. One boy has quite abit and looks very faded. My assumption is that this pale coloring is not desired even if it looks very attractive.

Some of my boys have pink legs and others have white. NO smoke, no black, no smokey pink. Maybe the e gene removes the dark color in the legs and the colors of my boys is a normal color, as in both colors are normal. Pink really does look nice with the chocolate.

 

[desertmarcy]

Other than size issues and health issues . . . .

I have boys that are more uniformly chocolate all over and others that have a faded sunburned chocolate look to many of the feathers on the back. One boy has quite abit and looks very faded. My assumption is that this pale coloring is not desired even if it looks very attractive.

Some of my boys have pink legs and others have white. NO smoke, no black, no smokey pink. Maybe the e gene removes the dark color in the legs and the colors of my boys is a normal color, as in both colors are normal. Pink really does look nice with the chocolate.

Kevin said the chocolate color is susceptible to sun fading more than the other colors. I know you don't have NEAR the intensity of sun that I do here in southern Arizona, but if he notices that in Indiana, then perhaps sun fading is a factor? But you would think they would all fade equally if that were the case. SOP color is sometimes not what you'd think. I had assumed Black turkeys would have black shanks, but I looked them up in the SOP, and they are supposed to be....PINK!

 

[Arielle]

LOL, The melanizers in the chanks are different than the body color apparently. I remember snowbird going into this a bit. Make my head spin. ANd I love genetics.

Well perhaps what Kevin POrter said is true. I was thinking one boy had become lighter as the summer progressed. Several are still uniformally dark. I would think that would be preferred, but the bleached chocolate looks nice too. Without an SOP, this is a bigger challenge than I thought it would be. I have only 5 males left, so I don't have room for mistakes at this point.

 

[desertmarcy]

LOL, The melanizers in the chanks are different than the body color apparently. I remember snowbird going into this a bit. Make my head spin. ANd I love genetics.

Well perhaps what Kevin POrter said is true. I was thinking one boy had become lighter as the summer progressed. Several are still uniformally dark. I would think that would be preferred, but the bleached chocolate looks nice too. Without an SOP, this is a bigger challenge than I thought it would be. I have only 5 males left, so I don't have room for mistakes at this point.

ONLY 5 males??

 

[Arielle]

I already canned a few males. NO females made it to adulthood. I do like them but I'm weighing why keep even to breeder males. other than the limit KEvin porter puts on the quanitiy to purchase.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

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.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I already canned a few males. NO females made it to adulthood. I do like them but I'm weighing why keep even to breeder males. other than the limit KEvin porter puts on the quanitiy to purchase.

I really like the look of his birds, but he is a bit pricy. Some of us will be going in together from the IN thread to split an order this spring.
We are planning to share postage so we don't have to buy 15 birds ourselves. I want to add more BR and mini's to my flock.
Once I get my sportsman cabinet I will go back to hatching eggs.

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
Well worth buying from him. I have healthy birds and they grew up very uniform in shap e, size and coloring. Well worth the money.

 

[Arielle]

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 can hatch hens, lol. JUst needed breeder hens to get the auburn project going. Temps of the incubator can influence which hatch better, the male eggs or the female eggs. If temps are running low, I think that favors the development of the male eggs, and the female eggs are less likely to hatch. and vice versus. I have also read that some hen tend to produce more males and some more females; the 55/45 rule for the others. THis is what I have read about chickens so I would expect it is likely it applies to turkeys.

 

[chickadoodles]

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"