what kind of turkey is this

[Mother of All]

can any one tell us what kind of turkeys they are and maybe how old you think they are?

 

[chicmom]

They look like Narragansett Turkeys to me, but I couldn't tell you the age.

 

[turkaholic]

Not Narr's. More like standard bronze, possibly bronze mixed with wild.
The one in strut is at least 2 years old. His secondary wing coverts are fully developed. Can't tell age on the others by the photo.

 

[Mother of All]

Thank you. just picked-up the two inside the pen this weekend

 

[Mother of All]

Here are pics of each of them. If the tom is 2 then is he to old for the dinner table. I have been told a two year old chicken is tough what about a turkey?

 

[turkaholic]

He will taste just fine at two. Heritage breeds grow slower and it takes about a year and a half to get them at a good oven- ready weight. The other two look like young birds, but with feather molt going on it is a little tough to tell.

I always hate to see a good looking turkey like that end up in an oven

He would make a good breeder with some hens next spring!

 

[Lagerdogger]

The top photo of the single turkey looks like a standard bronze tom at about 10 weeks. The snood is starting to develop but there are still a lot of juvenile feathers on its body.

The second looks like a chocolate about the same age, maybe a hen. The waddle doesn't seem very large yet. And it looks like there may still be some juvenile feathers as well.

The bigger tom bronze is definitely a nice-looking mature bird. It does have some Narragansett-like feathers on its breast, the light grey ones with the black margins. But it doesn't have the grey wing coverts that you would expect with a narragansett. Tail also looks more bronze than narragansett. The upper tail coverts seem a little funny as well. I would guess its a bronze based bird with some recessive genes being expressed. Beautiful, though.

 

[turkaholic]

Quote:
I don't see any Narr in that larger tom Lager. The grey on that first photo is more likely just sunlight reflecting off of the bronze plumage. In all the years I've breed Narrs and bronzes, I've never had a bird that had a little Narr. plumage. It was always all or none.

The brown bird looks chocolate, but it seems to have some barring on the secondaries. Don't chocolates have solid brown wings? I've never had them, but at the rate I'm going it will be inevitable.

 

[Mother of All]

does anyone else agree that the larger Tom is in year. if so what would you do. Thanksgiving or keep for next year breeding. I also have five youngsters. two white breasted? and three bourbaw? can anyone verify the five babies. yes the first one is lame. I also added a new pic of big tom
reds?

 

[Lagerdogger]

Thanks turkaholic for the insight into the light in the photo. The new photo looks totally bronze.