AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

This was given to me quite some years ago by my friend Lance Hicks, it was written out on a piece of paper - he said it might help me as a guide in breeding my turkeys to a good type

Male & female Characteristics
Carriage – general appearance : well balanced, with shoulders carried high; active and alert with smart action = must appear strong and healthy
Type – body wide, deep and rounded with full, rounded, well fleshed breast and ribs well sprung [rounded almost]
Keel must be straight, long, free from dents or knobs
Back – curving with a good slope to the tail which is long and drooping when not displaying
Wings – large and held close
Shoulders – wide and symmetrical, merging into the neck
Head – long, broad and carunculated
Beak – strong, curved and well set
Eyes – bright and bold
Throat wattle – large and pendant
Neck – long, curving backwards towards tail
Legs and feet – thighs [drumsticks] plump and moderately short
Shanks – short and strong
Toes – four, evenly spread and sound
In both sexes - the beard is black in and may be present in females but is preferably absent. Head including face, dewlap, throat, wattles and caruncules = brilliant red, changeable to blue-white.

Colour for Royal Palm –
Male and Female =
Neck, breast, body, wing coverts, front and bows: plumage white with narrow band of black running the entire width of each feather. Edging becoming greater in width on breast.
Back and saddle - rich metallic black, forming a sharp contrast of black against the white base colour of body plumage.
Wings – Primaries dull black. Secondaries white edged with black.
Tail – white with wide band of metallic black about 3.75cm [1½ inches] in width terminating in pure white at end of tail.
Tail coverts – white and broad band of metallic black across feather and terminating in a wide edge of white. Black band on females in all sections are usually less intense and contrasting than in males.
Beak – light horn
Eyes – light brown
Shanks and toes – deep pink or pinkish white

Weight –
Male = 7.25 – 10.00kg [16 – 22lb]
Female = 3.60 – 5.45kg [8 – 12lb]

Scale of points for showing –
Carriage and symmetry - - - - - - - - - 9
Weight * - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8
Head and neck - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 6
Body 10, breast & keel 25 - - - - - - 35
Thighs, legs and toes - - - - - - - - - - 12
Tail, wings and shoulders - - - - - - - - 6
Colour - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12
Condition - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12
TOTAL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 100

• deduct ½ point for each 1 lb [0.45kg] below minimum weight

Serious defects –
Crooked breast bone, roach back, wry tail, unthriftiness or any major physical defects
Lack of Snood in males

General disqualifications –
Specimen seriously lacking in breed characteristics
Definite signs of contagious or communicable disease.
Definite signs of infestation of lice, mites or scaly leg mites
Clear evidence of faking

#edited to add a D in one word as I cant spell and to add bits I overlooked as Lance's handwriting isnt the best#

I have posted a diagram in Gallery pure breeds poultry [I think]
to help with parts terminology

and remember = perfection is the objective - not always possible - but the objective

Wow fantastic information. Louis

Hi Soozorps, yes this is excellent information for all Turkey breeders any ware in the world.



Thanks
P.A

P.S we have request this be made a "Sticky" when Admin has time.

thanks soozorps for this great piece of info

Would the weights be the same for other types of turkeys ?

no the weights are different for each type

Interesting, cheers for submitting it

We have 1 royal palm tom & he is much loved pet. I did consider finding a mate for him but I worry he will change & he seems content with the chooks so not willing to risk it.

Are they hard to keep?