Interesting! Haven't heard of Chocolate Palms.
I think I actually have a Blue and a Lavender Palm as the later is much lighter in color
and probably a dilute version of blues from breeding blue x blue.

This breeder has A LOT of interesting breeds:
http://www.porterturkeys.com/

I know when you breed blue chickens you can get black, blue and splash, not sure if the same holds for turkeys.

tveguy3 said:I know when you breed blue chickens you can get black, blue and splash, not sure if the same holds for turkeys.

It can vary depending on the species. Like in Muscovy Ducks with blue x blue you can get some silvers, not splashes.
I use to raise black and blue Ameraucanas and you'd get some splashes from blue x blue.
In blue Sebastopol Geese (which I raise) it doesn't work that way. I think Blue Palm x BP turkeys produces some lavenders.
On Porter's website they talk about that in the Blue Palms.

Well, I finally got my turkeys in the freezer. I was surprised how much fat they had on them. I just thought since they were free range that they might be leaner. I hadn't raised any free range before that I butchered. Haven't cooked one yet though. That will be later. I was kind of glad to get them done. I was becoming annoyed by their flying up on the cars and trucks and trampling the flower gardens. I still have my breeding pair for more next year.

I sold my two White Midgets girls to a lady that had a lone White Midget tom.
I kept the 2 Palm girls. They've kind of turned into pets. Hope to get a Tom for them.

They look like nice hens. When they go broody in the summer, you'll have to get some fertile Palm eggs and let them raise you a nice Tom.

Well, I roasted my first turkey for Christmas dinner. I had one that was smaller then the rest, weighting about 7 lbs. so that's the one I cooked. It was really good, and tender. It had a slight bit of a gamey taste, but not a bad taste. It's the first time I've eaten free range turkey. I was worried that it might be a bit tough, but that wasn't an issue.

I got my first turkey egg yesterday for the season. Hard to figure out why she layed an egg in this cold weather. Usually they don't start until later.

Are you going to eat it or hatch it?

I used it for my french toast yesterday. I may let them hatch a few later when it's warm. Royal Palms are such good parents. I have a few people who like to use them for baking, so I sell a lot of them, I also use them as I would chicken eggs. They make the best cakes!

Yum, love French toast, great way to use it.

Ok, time to revive this old thread.

*takes out syringe and injects the thread*

There, now it's alive. I had had a separate thread asking some questions about turkeys. Tom told me of this thread, and recommended I read through the information here and maybe ask the folks here a couple of questions.

So here they are:
We live in a very wild area with copious coyotes and foxes, so would it be wise to free-range my turkeys as long as it's during daytime?
Is it essential to buy feed, or could I rotate where five turkeys eat on a 34-acre property, and just have them live off the land?
Do I need really sturdy pieces of wood to keep out the coyotes, or will just any regular wood work?

Thanks for any info!