[bpmahagan]

Seems like a silly question, but....
Given a choice, will toms do the cha-cha-cha (as my 7 year old granddaughter called it) within their own breed? I have a pair of Bourbon Red and a pair of Narragansett in the same enclosure. All we've ever seen mate are the Bourbon Red. Both hens are now laying but we've only hatched Bourbon Red eggs. Can I sell the poults as Bourbon Red or is there a chance they are a mix.

Thanks.
Brian

 

[RJ2019]

Definitely a chance they are mixed.

 

[Pony]

Heck, my Blue Slate tom would breed anything that moved. When he "bred" the 3 month old poults and killed them, we decided to have a picnic with the neighbors.

Tasty tom.

 

[KSALguy]

It’s likely that only one tom is breeding because he is the dominant one. The hens will only squat for the male of their choice. You really need more hens.

 

[bpmahagan]

It’s likely that only one tom is breeding because he is the dominant one. The hens will only squat for the male of their choice. You really need more hens.

If I were to guess I would have said the Narragansett was the dominant tom based on how beat up the tail feathers are on the Bourbon Red but the Bourbon Reds are the only ones I've seen mate.

I'd like to have more hens bought out of ten purchased, seven survived past two weeks and of those, five were toms. Any problem keeping whatever hens hatch and let them mate with potentially their father?

 

[altair]

^ No problem with the father/daughters, but I wouldn't keep that long term.

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

In Wildlife Biology ever so many years ago, it was said a North American Meriam turkey with a thin white band at the very end of the tail feathers has some amount of domestic turkey in there linage..
Kind of the same in many ways that about 90% of bison will have some level of domestic bovine in there DNA...

There are 5 types of wild turkeys across the parts of North America where they can thrive.. Unfortunately they don't thrive here in our part of the far north..
I have never studied them close enough for more details than this..

 

[RJ2019]

In Wildlife Biology ever so many years ago, it was said a North American Meriam turkey with a thin white band at the very end of the tail feathers has some amount of domestic turkey in there linage..
Kind of the same in many ways that about 90% of bison will have some level of domestic bovine in there DNA...

There are 5 types of wild turkeys across the parts of North America where they can thrive.. Unfortunately they don't thrive here in our part of the far north..
I have never studied them close enough for more details than this..

Fascinating! I do often see "wild" turkeys that look much different than normal. Once, a full blown slate looking turkey in a flock of wild ones.
As to the bison having domestic bovine blood, I had no idea. About what percentage, on average?

 

[KSALguy]

Keeping hens that hatch out in your flock to breed from isn’t a problem. Inbreeding is not the Devil people make it out to be. It is a tool. A hammer is a tool that can be used to build a house or smash you thumb.

 

[Danaus29]

Article about bison and cattle dna

Genetic Integrity of Bison - National Bison Association

To understand the full story, we have to go back more than 120 years. As the 1800’s came to a close, the American bison teetered on the brink of extinction. The more than 30 million animals roaming North America at one time had been decimated to the point where fewer than 600 remained alive...

bisoncentral.com

About 6% of the bison tested had an average of less than 1.5% domestic cattle dna.

 

[Forcast]

Wv I also see wild turkey steal domestic hens.