What Breed of Turkey is my Tom Tom (I know original name, Huh?)

[ColbyNTX]

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Can you show us what a Narragansett looks like? I guess some of us that have them don't know. Please post the pics of yours.

I guess I will have to tell poor Henery here he is no longer a Narragansett.

 

[turkaholic]

Your tom is probably a Narr. x Royal palm. His tertial feathers look palm and the presence of a solid black primary is a good indicator of palm genes. Hes not a pure Narragansett but still a nice bird. I have one that is similar, but he's in a pen with spare gobblers and his plumage right now is far from ideal. Otherwise I'd post a photo.

On a side note, most Narragansetts start out their new plumage a light steely grey, edged with black, but UV rays from the sun will bleach the grey to almost white. The more sun the birds are exposed to, the quicker the bleaching effect.

 

[cindyschicks]

So, I went to the poultry swap over the weekend. Turkey hens were hard to come by and certainly no Narragansetts. I have been worried about him wandering off to find a wild female and it is Turkey season in my area, so I got him a friend of another breed. She (hopefully) is very young but as soon as we put her in the cage near where he has been hanging out he started showing himself.

Above is a picture of just after she came to live with us, Tom Tom looks impressive I think.

 

[Thomasturkey]

Narragansetts where my first turkeys. They have always been a favorite of mine. I hope you find him a girl. I think Tom Tom is a great name too

 

[cindyschicks]

Thanks ThomasTurkey.

By the way, is there any way to gauge the age of an adult turkey? I know it's a strange question, but I didn't know if there were some tell tale signs of their stage of maturity, like with horses, etc. Something like the amount of growth/sagging involved in the skin on the neck/throat. TomTom appears to have had his Snood removed.

 

[Thomasturkey]

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Normally you look at the beard on a Tom. It is that paint brush coming out of the chest. 1 inch per year is the general rule. But like hair, some grow faster and some slower so it is not 100% accurate. You can also look at the spurs like on a rooster. Your turkey looks to me a year maybe a year or more. This is a picture of one of my babies.

 

[cindyschicks]

Thank you, that helps alot.