The Light Gray later known as the Oregon Gray turkey variety has been considered extinct for over a decade now as the last known pair died back in the late 1990's. But they can be recreated since the necessary genes are present in several other heritage turkey varieties.
I successfully re-created them with an experimental breeding group of turkeys that I called Silver Dapple which carried all the necessary genes.
The Oregon gray has white under plumage with grayish-black pigmentation about the edges of the body feathers. The typical black and white colored barring in the wing feathers appears as a mixing of the two colors without definition.
The adult pattern resembles the palm pattern but is different.
Toms are a shade darker than hens. At hatch, the gray poult has a yellow-gray down color with dark black or brown stripes on its back.
I have found through test breeding over the years that Oregon Grays are actually homozygous bronze based with a single gray and white allele at the color locus as well as the addition of the Narragansett mutation to create this phenotype.
Genotype: bb cgc nn for males and n- at the Narragansett locus for hens.
This variety produces three results, Oregon gray, dark gray and white.
Approx. Mature Weights: Toms 33 pounds and hens 18 pounds.
