Albino hen!

[Speedwell-Hunter]

Beautiful

 

[Tn Joe]

Beautiful smoke phase

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Not albino, but smoke phase turkeys are incredibly cool.

 

[BSK]

Gorgeous!

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

Way prettier than an albino in my opinion!

 

[axeforce6]

Very cool! Hope she passes those genes along for several years.

 

[Sako]

One of her ancestors got funky with an escape domestic turkey...

 

[Sako]

Beautiful

Does that happen to be close to Melton Hill lake? There are three of those close to where I live... Funny thing is, of all the "crossbreds" that I have seen, every one is a hen

 

[megalomaniac]

We usually have one or two smoke phase hens on my places most years. Been like that for 30 years. I've only seen THREE males that were smoke phase in 30 years. Talk about gorgeous when they were in strut.

 

[RoyalPrudent]

Does that happen to be close to Melton Hill lake? There are three of those close to where I live... Funny thing is, of all the "crossbreds" that I have seen, every one is a hen

pretty sure the color variants are naturally occuring.

 

[tntrkkllr]

That is awesome, not an albino but a smoke phase, I saw my first one in the wild a couple weeks ago hunt in MS. Was more excited seeing her than hearing a turkey gobble

 

[Sako]

pretty sure the color variants are naturally occuring.

Think what you will but domesticated turkeys you eat are solid white... and many get out from farms, etc... and mix with the wild population and breed with wild turkeys causing this

 

[ROVERBOY]

One of her ancestors got funky with an escape domestic turkey...

I had a neighbor growing up, that had some bronze turkeys. One of them lived at least 10 years. It was a gobbler, and he left when wild turkeys started showing up around the area. He never came home either. I'd imagine he bred some wild stock. As far as I know, the local wild turkeys showed no signs of domestic stock.

 

[Topshelf]

Beautiful creature!

 

[Speedwell-Hunter]

Not albino, but smoke phase turkeys are incredibly cool.

Thank you for contacting me. I did not realize that is what they are; as someone mentioned that when they breed with a domestic bird or something, I'm a little bit confused, what causes it?

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

There are a bunch of them in the Unionville area.

 

[megalomaniac]

Think what you will but domesticated turkeys you eat are solid white... and many get out from farms, etc... and mix with the wild population and breed with wild turkeys causing this

History lesson. The Spaniards captured numerous wild turkeys from North America back in the 1500s and took them back to Europe and domesticated them. The colored genes are naturally occurring in wild turkeys back in the 1500s as well as today. The naturally occurring color variations produced after domestication resulted in solid white birds, solid black birds, red birds, slate blue birds, and black tipped white birds. Those were line bred to produce our current 'heritage' breed birds we see now and you can order at most hatcheries (white, Spanish black, Royal Palm, Narragansett, blue slate,, bourbon red, etc, etc, etc over 100s of years). While 'some' color phased birds in our flock are a result of domesticated birds interbreeding with nondomestic native birds, it's also possible for those color variations to come out in wild turkeys on occasion. So, it's impossible to know whether color phased birds are completely wild versus whether they have some domestic color variations introduced at some point previously. Heck, there are normally colored domesticated Easterns that are common in backyard flocks. They look just like wild easterns, except they weigh 35lbs and have heads and necks twice the size of wild birds (and flight is limited, or even nonexistent... just TOO darn big/fat to fly).

Bottom line... a colored phased bird you encounter in the woods hunting could be completely wild, or could be an escapee from someone's backyard... or an offspring from the interbreeding between the two.

 

[RoyalPrudent]

Think what you will but domesticated turkeys you eat are solid white... and many get out from farms, etc... and mix with the wild population and breed with wild turkeys causing this

Think what you will, but science. I'll even give you an example. There are pretty regularly smoke phase hens in Cades cove. They come from visitor center escapees?

And domestic, commercial white turkeys aren't interbreeding with wild turkeys. Due to their overabundant white meat, and insanely fast growth, they struggle to breed even in captivity and have nearly no longevity in the wild because they are incrediblly immoble compared to wild birds.

 

[t_co1515]

well I saw this one about a mile from my house

 

[Biggun4214]

History lesson. The Spaniards captured numerous wild turkeys from North America back in the 1500s and took them back to Europe and domesticated them. The colored genes are naturally occurring in wild turkeys back in the 1500s as well as today. The naturally occurring color variations produced after domestication resulted in solid white birds, solid black birds, red birds, slate blue birds, and black tipped white birds. Those were line bred to produce our current 'heritage' breed birds we see now and you can order at most hatcheries (white, Spanish black, Royal Palm, Narragansett, blue slate,, bourbon red, etc, etc, etc over 100s of years). While 'some' color phased birds in our flock are a result of domesticated birds interbreeding with nondomestic native birds, it's also possible for those color variations to come out in wild turkeys on occasion. So, it's impossible to know whether color phased birds are completely wild versus whether they have some domestic color variations introduced at some point previously. Heck, there are normally colored domesticated Easterns that are common in backyard flocks. They look just like wild easterns, except they weigh 35lbs and have heads and necks twice the size of wild birds (and flight is limited, or even nonexistent... just TOO darn big/fat to fly).

Bottom line... a colored phased bird you encounter in the woods hunting could be completely wild, or could be an escapee from someone's backyard... or an offspring from the interbreeding between the two.

Tellico area has the smoke phase show up from time to time. I've heard old timers refer to them as clay-backs.