When to separate turkey poults

[PetMomKathy]

Probably a stupid question, but is the largest trap the size I need for racoon? My up-close experience with racoons is babies scampering in a tree in my yard when I lived in NJ.

Re: start of breeding, so I need to be rid of my extra tom(s?) by mid-late December? This is my first year, so I don't want injured toms or hens! It will be hard to choose which to let go of.... The blue slate will make pretty offspring if he mates, especially with the other blue slates and the bourbon red, but the Narragansett is the friendliest of the bunch. That is assuming I am correct that both are toms.

Thank you for all the help and advice you give!

 

[R2elk]

Probably a stupid question, but is the largest trap the size I need for racoon? My up-close experience with racoons is babies scampering in a tree in my yard when I lived in NJ.

No. I have caught raccoons in all 3 traps. I once caught 2 full grown male raccoons at the same time in the smallest trap. I did end up having to stake it down because one large male kept turning it on end to dump out the eggs that were the bait.

DPC (dog proof coon) traps can also work well for raccoons.

Re: start of breeding, so I need to be rid of my extra tom(s?) by mid-late December?

That is likely. I have gotten by with two toms at the same time by keeping one in the run and one outside of the run during the daytime. You do need to put up a no see through barrier around the run to prevent the toms from spending the whole day fighting through the fence.

It will be hard to choose which to let go of.... The blue slate will make pretty offspring if he mates, especially with the other blue slates and the bourbon red, but the Narragansett is the friendliest of the bunch.

You can see what possibilities will be produced by running the Turkey Color Calculator at Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys.

 

[PetMomKathy]

No. I have caught raccoons in all 3 traps. I once caught 2 full grown male raccoons at the same time in the smallest trap. I did end up having to stake it down because one large male kept turning it on end to dump out the eggs that were the bait.

DPC (dog proof coon) traps can also work well for raccoons.

That is likely. I have gotten by with two toms at the same time by keeping one in the run and one outside of the run during the daytime. You do need to put up a no see through barrier around the run to prevent the toms from spending the whole day fighting through the fence.

You can see what possibilities will be produced by running the Turkey Color Calculator at Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys.

Thank you again for all your excellent advice!
Going to look at traps at Bass Pro and Tractor Supply later.

I am attaching the most recent pictures of the two I think are toms. Rebel is the Narragansett and Bingo is the blue slate. Both get very red when excited. Rebel struts more. Bingo has a larger snood. Rebel seems to be leader of the flock. I have heard a gobble or two, but can't really tell who it is from, as they are often very close together.
Not great, but I think you can see enough of their heads. 9 weeks old.

 

[R2elk]

Thank you again for all your excellent advice!
Going to look at traps at Bass Pro and Tractor Supply later.

I am attaching the most recent pictures of the two I think are toms. Rebel is the Narragansett and Bingo is the blue slate. Both get very red when excited. Rebel struts more. Bingo has a larger snood. Rebel seems to be leader of the flock. I have heard a gobble or two, but can't really tell who it is from, as they are often very close together.
Not great, but I think you can see enough of their heads. 9 weeks old. View attachment 3643244View attachment 3643245View attachment 3643246View attachment 3643254

Too young to sex from photos but not to young to notice the differences in person especially if you have both sexes to compare against each other.

 

[PetMomKathy]

That's how I came to the conclusion that these two are males. The three that I am pretty sure are females are also pretty easy. You can see Pepper next to Rebel. She is smaller and her head is very different. I only have one blue slate that I am not sure of. He/she was the largest poult, but also the one who started to "wilt" after the cold nights. Now, he/she is larger than the ones I am pretty sure are hens, but smaller than Bingo. Rebel is the largest, but not by much. He was also the first to strut and chest bump his flock mates by the third day I had them, even though he and the bourbon red were the smallest poults!
I am such a novice, and I have read posts by people who were sure that they had toms until they laid an egg!

 

[R2elk]

I have seen numerous posts where people have misidentified the sex of their turkey by going by "it has a beard therefore it is a male", "it struts so it is a male", it is 2 months old and has a "mohawk" so it is a hen, etc.

I have a bearded hen, I have had most of my hens strut and at 2 months old, both hens and toms have "mohawks". Toms don't go bald until at least 3 months old and some even later.