First Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatchathon- Join us! Set Day: Easter - Page 203

OK, really. Now how does everyone know they have a ton versus a hen? Can someone please, please post pictures?

Quote:

Originally Posted by superchemicalgirl 

OK, really. Now how does everyone know they have a ton versus a hen? Can someone please, please post pictures?

Here is my hen (you can see the tom's head sticking up behind the dog crate she is sitting on):

And here he is by himself:

You can see the snood on the tom is bigger.  The red flap under the head is bigger and much redder on the tom (though I've noticed that is something that changes. When he is excited or displaying it gets bright red - sometimes it is almost as pale as the hen's).

Something else that is different with my two is the amount of black on the male.  I don't know if that is typical of RP's or if it is just my two.

The biggest difference is that the male gobbles and displays - the female never does either.

Wow that's kinda hard to tell!

Thanks for the pictures and discussion... anyone else got some?
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by superchemicalgirl 

Wow that's kinda hard to tell!

Yeah, I think its harder to tell in photos than in person.  What I didn't mention is body type.  The hen has a rounded body with neatly laid feathers.  The tom is much lankier.  His body is not yet filled out since he is still growing but he's all legs so is taller than the hen.  His feathers always look a little ruffled too.  And, you know how in cartoons the female always has large eyes with big eyelashes?  Well, my hen does have these gorgeous big, brown eyes, that are quite different from the tom's.  The thing is, some of these differences could be just individuals since I only have the one pair.  I don't know if those differences would be noticeable in ALL RP's.

Really I had no idea on Lurkey, until the 14 from Porter's started to grow.  It's one of those things when they are young, I wouldn't be able to tell an individual bird.  But you have male/female side by side, you can tell them apart.  Just as with most other things, there are going to be those few in the middle that could go either way for awhile.  I'm sure as they continue to grow, it will be even more obvious.

I'll try to take some pictices to post.

It's pretty funny to see something the size of a volleyball strutting around and displaying.

Deb

I only hatched Bourbon Reds so I don't know if this will help anyone.  Here are a couple of the last pics I took before they went (last Saturday) to live on a farm where they could have more room.

The tom is a bit darker and larger than the hen.  He would display but was just learning to gobble when he left.  The hen would "puff up" when she was trying to show dominance to the roosters and hens but never displayed like the tom.  Mine "barked" as a "warning" or "I don't like that" (picking them up) and would make a "thut" or whistle when they were out ranging to keep track of each other (I miss this....).  The hen has a row of feathers down the back of her head/neck that the tom does not.  The tom's head changes colors often and his snood would  get longer or shorter when it changed, the hen had very little change.

My tom was darker and had a black edge on his feathers that the hen did not have...lower right shows it best.....

Best pic showing color difference.....it is subtle but it is there.....

The hen is in the foreground and you can see the ridge of feathers on her head/neck...

also not the tail feathers on the tom have a distinct band while the hen does not.

Tom showing off........

Again, the differences are really surprisingly minute. I have BR too and pretty sure they're both girls but they could be anything at this point.

I love how they went from NotAFarm to living on a farm :)