Which Royal Palm tom should I keep?

[Donna R]

I have 3 tom turkeys. I Bourbon - 3-4+ years old and 2 Royal Palm - will be 2 years this spring. I would like to sell one of the Royal Palm. They are equally beautiful. One has a much longer beard than the other. Does this mean anything? Does this mean that the one with the longer beard is the dominant one. The Bourbon also has a shorter beard. Which Royal Palm should I keep?

 

[meriruka]

Maybe you could post some pics?

 

[chickenannie]

Are they the same age? Typically a longer beard means older tom.

I would keep a tom based on:
- his attitude (I like gentle, non-attacking toms!)
- his fertility (if you want him to breed)
- his build and genetic qualities (you don't want to breed bad genes)
- what breed you are looking for
- general all over health and fine qualities

not necessarily in that order.

 

[Donna R]

They are the same age, bought on the same day. They both have a good temperment and are basically identical in every way. Both are nice looking and nicely marked. Was thinking of entering one in the state fair in February. At this time I have 1 female royal palm, looking for another. That is why I want to get rid of one male, Unless you think 2 males and 2 females is OK. Don't know how to get pictures on the site.

 

[bee_wrangler]

I am getting 7 young royal palms this week and I don't know much about turkeys so I have been doing alot of reading up on them. Alot of people say they have more than one tom and they get along fine as long as they have been together. They say the toms will fight for pecking order but it should not get too bad and if they get a little cut out of it they heal up very fast. If it does get bad they say to use pine tar on their heads. Again, this is just what I have read up on so its not from personal experience.

To post a picture I think you have to go to a photo site to download your pictures (or upload, I don't know computer lingo lol) then push the img above the smilly faces, then copy and paste the link beside it. I do mine through photobucket, I had no idea what I was doing, had the get my wife to show me lol

 

[fancybanty]

Not to hijack this post but I have the same problem, too many toms -who do you keep? I was wondering if anyone has the standard of perfection for royal palms? Is there one? All of mine are very tame but I would like to keep the closest to the standard.

 

[pdpatch]

Generally speaking you want to try and keep the most senior male, as long as he fits in the criteria post by chickenannie.

Usually it's easiest to pick out the senior tom then see if he meets the criteria.

fertility is the most difficult, our last years choice for a Red Bourbon turned out to be infertile.

Tom

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
Steve in NC