65 day old BR sex?

[ShannonR]

That's adorable!!

I look forward to your update.

 

[crealbilly]

It's official unless hens gobble -:lol sitting on the front porch I heard a gobble. We got a lot of wild turkey around here so I thought it might be a wild turkey. But just to case checked the turkey coop and sure enough the two I thought were Tom's all along are gobbling.

So it's pretty offical the two I dotted in blue are Jakes/Toms. The three I colored in pink - I'm pretty sure are hens. But they may need a few more weeks to be sure.

 

[crealbilly]

Day 87 - I finally got some pics of one of the Jakes displaying. They don't display long so hard to get a pic. Amazing how they almost instantly become a different bird.

 

[crealbilly]

Day 90 - Yep most definitely 2 Toms and 3 Hens - Nothing left to do but name 1 Tom Thanksgiving and 1 Hen Christmas

3 Hens on right

2 Toms on left

A couple more clues to help guess the sex of a young turkey poult.

1) Flipping the chicks over on their backs and noticing if the extend their legs (male) or draw them in close body (female) does NOT work. All 5 of these drew their legs in close to their body.

2) noticing the shape of their poop piles does NOT work either.

3) Feathers on the back of their necks are definitely different at a very young age. Hens have a white ring around their neck but Toms do not - this may be a good clue.

4) The legs on hens are skinner and lighter colored than Toms which are thicker and darker colored. This may be a good clue also.

5) Snoods are noticeably thicker at a very young age on Toms. Also see this thread -
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1089790/burbon-red-poults#post_16966440

6) as they start to develop both hens and toms will display (head skin gets beet red, fan tail feathers, drop wings and puff up) but notice that the tom's snood will grow almost instantly, hens snood does not grow at all or at least it's not noticeable to me.

Anyways I hope this thread helps someone. It's just my observations about sexing young turkeys.

Question - This brood is from the same Tom and Hen. I'll leave 1 Tom and 2 Hens to overwinter. Hopefully the hens will lay a clutch next spring. Are there any concerns breeding siblings?

 

[ShannonR]

Thanks for your update! Those are some good looking birds.

As far as breeding, it would be more desirable to stagger generations, like breed mother to son type of thing than to breed the siblings together. There is a slightly larger gene pool there. With that said, breeding siblings together for a generation or two probably won't be an issue, but do consider bringing in some fresh blood ASAP.

 

[crealbilly]

Thank you for responding. I have to see about bringing in some new blood soon then.

I'm wanting to build another pen for 5 or 6 Narragansetts but with 30 chickens already (15 RIR & 15 BO) plus 20 more cornish X roos on order I think I better wait until next spring - I blame chicken math...

 

[crealbilly]

One of my two Toms came down with what I believe to be black head based on what I've read here and other places. I'm not a animal doctor but all the signs are pointing to black head. Runny sulfur colored poop, head is dull orange, has isolated himself from the rest of the turkeys, stands with wings drooped and panting.

I noticed this 5 days ago and started with chyanne pepper added to feed and water. based on this post https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/134230/hope-this-saves-a-turkey-from-blackhead/20#post_6929403 He has got no worse but no better either. The other 4 turkeys are doing fine though.

So tonight I'm trying habanero pepper. It's all organic from my garden last and is HOT stuff I put about a teaspoon in a about 1/8 cup of warm water and let it seep for about 1/2 hour then drew some up in two eye droppers. My wife and I just gave him the two droppers full you see in the picture. He did not seem to mind having it squirted down his throat I looked in on him about an hour after the "dose" and he was eating out of the feeder which I have not noticed him do since he came down with what I believe to be blackhead. could just be a coincidence too I guess... when red color returns back to his head and I see his snood grow long again - I'll know hes doing better.

Well see how he's doing tomorrow. I wished I knew more about this and I hope my Tom is doing better soon.

 

[crealbilly]

On a positive note after his initial dose of habanero - he appears to be doing a little better. I went out to check on him this morning and honestly it was hard to spot him at first because he was eating grass with the other turkeys but his head color is still a bit off (orange rather than red and blue) but better than yesterday.

I'll give him another dose of habanero this evening, I'm full of hope now that I see him doing a little better and I did not notice any fresh sulfur poop but that's not to say hes cured only time will tell if he is or not.

Here he is... the one the red arrow is pointing too. You can tell he's lost some weight for sure.

Hers another pic of him I can see by the pic he is starting to get his color back in his head there is a little pink starting at the base of his neck. I should have taken better before and after pics - sorry...

Here's what he looked like last night just after his initial dose of habanero. I picked him up and set him on the roast with the other turkeys. Poor guy was laying in the grass by himself. Notice how dull and orange his head was.

 

[crealbilly]

Hooray \o/ he's doing better!!! I just checked in on him... he's still standing around with wings drooped but his head color is just about back and he is eating out of the feeder I'm still going to give him another dose of habanero this evening but it's looking like he's on the mend now.

 

[crealbilly]

I don't know if anyone is even reading this but I thought I would share my outcome, hopefully someone else will find it useful.

I just checked in on my sick Tom that I believe had blackhead. I'm happy to say he is doing great, best I've seen him look in a over a week.

My experiences only... treating my sick turkey with blackhead and Cheyenne pepper didn't make him any worse or better. But just one dose of habanero as delivered in a few posts up seems to work as a cure. Although I'm no animal doctor or drug scientist it worked for my Tom.

Even though he's doing great - I did just sprinkled some crushed habenro on top of their feed just to clear up any remaining black head and as a preventative measure... I was amazed ths turkeys eat it right up... must not burn them like it does us? But they may be crapping a forest fire tomorrow.