Standard or Broad Breasted Bronze, What is my Turkey Breed ?

[elijah]

Hey all,

A couple of weeks ago I bought a beautiful grey female turkey. I could only suspect she is a Bronze turkey.
To be honest, I bought her just because I thought she looked friendly and nice (and she is), and I was told she lays eggs and I always wondered how would a turkey egg look and taste like

. After having her for a couple of days, she started laying eggs and brooding!

So I decided to buy a male turkey, and maybe raise a happy turkey family!

So I went to the same place I bought the turkey from, and bought a male turkey, but the seller has no idea if its a Broad Breasted Bronze or a Standard Bronze... and So I have no idea if I will have any hatching eggs because I read the Broad Breasted Bronze cannot naturally breed!

So could anyone help me decide if my Turkey is a Broad Breasted Bronze or a standard Bronze?

Thank you in advance,

 

[Alexander]

The BBB's cannot breed?Well then I have a tom that I thought was a Broad Breasted Bronze but some eggs hatched and he is the only tom I have so if he is not a Broad Breasted then is he a Bronze?I am confused

I will say that yours is a standard bronze and mine is a BBB because it has more white feathers.Can someone help us?


Here is mine:

 

[ChickyLaura]

I have 4 BBB girls, but they are only a few months old. Mine have more "ticking" on their feathers, but then again they are still very young. I didn't realize how much the family would fall in love with these ladies, and wish they weren't broad breasted and "only" bronze.

 

[elijah]

Thank you for the welcome and kind answer Alexander,

Well, I have no experience or what so ever with turkeys, but while reading in several places they all note that BBB cannot naturally breed!
Maybe some of them can?!

Also, I have no idea how to separate BBB and Bronze from each other. All the resources state that BBB is larger, and I did not wight my Tom, and they also say that BBB have double breast - and I have no idea what that means!

I have seen the tom sitting on top of the hen, several times, I don't know if turkeys who cannot breed naturally can do that to begin with!

Well my hen is sitting on 5 eggs right now, it is still very difficult for me to determine if the eggs are fertile or not right now.

 

[Thomasturkey]

The confirmation of the turkey and weight is what will make the difference if the turkey can breed naturally. The ALBC list these points to look for on page 10 of the breeding manual. http://www.albc-usa.org/EducationalResources/master_breeder_turkeys.html
Breast And Keel The frontal part of the breast is full, broad, and deep. The breast is well rounded and carried forward slightly above the horizontal. From the front, the breast should appear wide and flat. The keel, or breastbone, is 4-5 inches long in females and 6.5-7 inches long in males. It is slightly convex and should be fully fleshed throughout its entire length. Note that the keel length is similar in length to the shank of the bird. This point is extremely important for effective mating by the males.

Body Turkeys have a broad body that is also deep and compact. The carriage of the body is sufficiently upright so that the angle of the back is approximately forty-five degrees (45o) from horizontal from base of the tail to its shoulders. This aspect is important for fertility in that it allows the male to effectively mate. This does not means that the body should be „up‟ or carried high, but rather that the back should be at a 45o slope.

Legs And Toes The legs should be medium in length, strong, straight, and of good substance. They must be filled out with flesh down to the hocks and set wide apart from each other. The feet of the birds include four toes on each foot which should be well spread, straight, and strong. As mentioned above, the shanks should be approximately as long as the keel, being 7 inches long in males and 4-5 inches long in females. Again note that this attribute is important for effective mating by the males.


BBB are no longer a commercially breed turkey. The BBW is. The heritage bronze is very close to what we call a BBB today. Ideal Hatchery list the weight of there BBB at maturity are males-25 lbs. and hens-16 lbs. The BBW standard weights at maturity are males-45 lbs. and hens-25 lbs. My heritage bronze toms are a good 10-15 pounds more than the weights listed for BBB males and still breed naturally. I don't think you will know if your turkeys are one of these small BBB or a heritage bronze unless you start having a problem with them. the first picture to me looks like it has a longer leg than the old commercial BBB.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Quote:

I thought mine from the feed store were BBB, maybe not? Maybe they WILL be able to reproduce?

 

[Brookiesflock]

here in my BB

 

[vkyzar]

I have four toms and one female. They are all in the same pen. They are 3 months old and HUGE! Should I separate them?

 

[frank53061]

Some one correct me if I am wrong but even if the Hen is Double breasted and you got a Tom that was single breasted wouldn't the chances of fertile eggs be increased.
You would have a mix breed but isn't it due to the girth and size of the Tome that reduces the chance of mating properly.
Like I said someone correct me if I am wrong logic gets me into trouble all the time LOL.

 

[Celie]

I agree with Frank, but you really need to go by weight and the double breast size. The breast on the BBB will be at least double the size of a standard bronze and the BBW will be at least double the size of the heritage White Holland from which these BB birds were bred in 1935. A BB female can breed with a standard bronze male. As for the mature weight, the ads are wrong, that is what they weight a harvesting age. They grow much larger at mature age.
Another way of telling is the feed store will be selling the day old BB poults for around $3.50 to $5.00, the day old Heritage poults will set you back about $10a bird! This won't help with older bird prices, Sorry !