NH Homesteader- turkeys!

[NH homesteader]

One in TN, two in SC, and one in VA. Funny, two of the breeders also have Dominiques!

I saw that forecast. I'm looking forward to Tuesday!!

 

[Bruce]

What luck on the birds NH! You could get some breeding stock from more than one of them and mix the best with the best.

 

[CntryBoy777]

One thing ya have to remember too, is there are people in those areas that are already breeding and producing. In all those areas over there are many local animal markets where they are sold and contact made. I would say within a couple of hrs drive in just about every direction. There are probably some really nice birds available really close by, from private individuals. Ya just won't know til ya get there and look around some. You can always order from a hatchery if ya find nothing available. I'm not on FB anymore, but there is a group I was a part of called Ms Poultry Swap....bet there is a similar group/groups over that way too.

 

[NH homesteader]

Yeah there probably is.... We don't do the Facebook thing either, so we aren't aware of a fair amount of things. But life is better without Facebook!

There are also people who choose not to have their name published online so I'm sure there are more breeders I don't know about yet!

 

[farmerjan]

@NH do yourself a favor and go on ebay or somewhere and try to find a fairly current American Poultry Assoc. Standard of Perfection and study up on the Varieties of turkeys that are in it. There are many other varieties like Chocolates, that are not yet recognized but yes, breeders that do raise them. There are requirements for getting a meet that will qualify the color variety and if there are enough breeders and # of birds, they will eventually become a recognized color. A TURKEY is a Breed, any color, size differenciations are a variety. Bronze is a color same as a Slate and even a Beltsville small white. They have different basic sizes, but they are all turkeys. I like some of the rarer colors that are available also. Have bred and raised both Royal Palms and Bourbon reds, and had some bronze also.
The livestock conservancy is the best for breeders of good genetics as they are trying to preserve them. Also realize, most hatcheries do contract out for things like turkeys as they just don't keep all those different breeds...especially the rarer ones. So to get turkey poults from a hatchery, they are getting the eggs from a breeder and then hatching them to sell. Not all breeders are good ones, but the rarer the breed or variety, the more likely it is something someone is putting time into as let's face it, turkeys especially, are big, eat alot and only are seasonal layers so aren't the most profitable thing to keep and feed.
I might very well know some of the breeders, from the show world of poultry. I let my membership lapse a couple of years ago when I moved and got pretty busy, but am now getting back into some of the show world in anticipation of retirement in a couple of years.
Although Bruce is right and there are not "registerable bloodlines" like with cattle and dogs and such, many breeders of good quality birds of any breed do have a reputation of certain traits in their birds. Forrest Beauford had some of the best standard bred Langshans in the country for years. Certain "lines" are known for certain traits in their breed. There is alot to breeding certain colors, like the chocolates, since they do not always breed true. Like the blue color, which does not breed true unless it is a self blue and that is more of a slatey blue with none of the lacing that the "blue color" has in other breeds. Chocolate will be a challenging color to breed and you will have to have a couple of lines to cross back and forth to get the right color in the females and males. Choc x choc will not give you 100% choc offspring.
Join the conservancy and also there is a group called the SPPA which is the Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities. They also will have membership list with the breeds that the members raise. All this you can find and read about in the Poultry Press which is our monthly "go to" paper for most anything poultry related.

 

[NH homesteader]

Thanks @farmerjan. All these places to check out! My husband knows a lot more about turkeys than I do, as I wasn't interested in them until recently, but now I'm starting to research them too. Fortunately we love eating turkey so getting weird colored offspring will fill my freezer just fine, lol!

So, you're getting back into the show world? What breeds do you focus on?

 

[Bruce]

many breeders of good quality birds of any breed do have a reputation of certain traits in their birds.

True in the chicken world to from what I've read on BYC. People will say "these are from xx's line". Like many things, there is "acceptable" (like hatchery), "good" (hatchery or private small breeder) and "wish I could get some of those!" And people serious about their breeding hope (I presume) to be "one of those names" eventually if not for anything other than a validation of all their work.

Choc x choc will not give you 100% choc offspring.

Yep but that isn't a terribly bad thing. Along with "no genetics necessary", APA only requires a bird to reproduce true 50% to be accepted. I kinda thought it would be 100% or really close to that. So @NH homesteader can eat or sell for meat those that are on the wrong side of 50% and, like any other serious breeder, work to get it as close to 100% as possible. Little as I do know, I have learned that poultry genetics is a WHOLE can of worms with "these 3 genes are responsible for xx, those 2 genes for yy, these are recessive, these dominant" etc, etc, etc. "Easier to fix "ww" than "zz" so if you have to use a "bad" bird to improve some trait chose one with "ww" not "zz". One "bad" gene can pop up anywhere down the line and the only way to figure out who is passing it down is to breed ... a lot.

 

[Bruce]

BTW spring must be here, it rained all day yesterday, last night and will rain all day today. It might snow an inch tonight.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Hopefully, with less snow and warmer temps...with good drainage...the mud season won't last too long for y'all up there. You are certainly deserving of a break from that stuff.

 

[Bruce]

The snow mostly melted as it fell, only maybe 1/8" by morning and that has melted. As for "mucky" well there are "streams" all over the place heading for the low land. 2 days of rain and a few feet of melting snow will do that to you. I lowered the 5 low hot wires to about 6" apart on the north line since I now have to worry about foxes and coons coming in rather than keeping a dog from going out. Did that in the rain, good thing those Bog boots are new and waterproof, I wasn't standing in anything that wasn't at least a little wet and muddy. Some areas I was in several inches of water. Yes I DID unplug the fence charger first