9 week old Bourbon Reds...too early to tell boy from girl??

[AmericanMom]

I have four... My guess is one tom and three hens but of course I am not an expert.

 

[chooks4life]

You're the second person to post turkeys at an age I am sure they will show gender strongly but they're quite non-obvious. I'm just used to very precocious developers. :/

I think you may be right, though, one of them has a male something about its appearance... Are you observing any difference in foot size yet? Obviously nothing much going on with the caruncles, snood or wattle.

Best wishes.

 

[AmericanMom]

not seeing a huge difference in foot size, the one I think is a male is larger and has a bigger head, and although its not showing up in the photos,it also has a noticeable stood ( is that what the growth is called on the beak?) I would be ecstatic if its a one male and three female's it just means no fresh turkey this year

 

[chooks4life]

Yeah, one of them did seem to have a larger head and snood, but still within development levels I've seen in many females.... But comparing it to the others is the best bet so if you think it has a larger skull/snood/feet/shoulder width/back to keel depth than the others, chances are it's a male.

Best wishes with them, I hope to get back to breeding my turkeys soon too.

 

[AmericanMom]

Yeah, one of them did seem to have a larger head and snood, but still within development levels I've seen in many females.... But comparing it to the others is the best bet so if you think it has a larger skull/snood/feet/shoulder width/back to keel depth than the others, chances are it's a male.

Best wishes with them, I hope to get back to breeding my turkeys soon too.

This is my first time... I have lost over half of what hatched, 3 more in the last month due to a cold wet snap we had ( I say that only because once it warmed up the one I thought would die perked right up) I have wanted to raise Turkeys for so long and even if I get three males and one female I will be happy . They are pretty friendly and I can get very close to them, I have not seen the tell tale black in the feathering yet but the one that is larger is also getting some darker patterns on its feathers... Hopefully its just not my wishful thinking lol

What is keel depth? I'm kinda learning as I go here

 

[chooks4life]

What's the 'tell tale black'? I've only kept mongrels, in terms of turkeys, as far as I know... Some may have been purebred but I doubt it... I haven't heard of any breed where color is sexlinked in turkeys but I'm not a purebred expert so I wouldn't know.

'Keel depth' basically is just a way of referring to the depth of the body from the backbone to the breastbone. The breastbone of poultry is often referred to as the keel, usually more so in waterbirds but many use it for land fowl as well.

They can be sensitive birds indeed. I found the best approach with my first few generations years back, which I still have some remnants of, was to treat them like they're weak no matter how healthy they look and give them the 'weak or special chick diet' which is used for sickly or future breeder chicks, namely, hard boiled eggs with dandelion and/or raw onion. It stopped tuberculosis from affecting them and asides from that they just did so much better than on proprietary feeds.

Best wishes.

 

[AmericanMom]

What's the 'tell tale black'? I've only kept mongrels, in terms of turkeys, as far as I know... Some may have been purebred but I doubt it... I haven't heard of any breed where color is sexlinked in turkeys but I'm not a purebred expert so I wouldn't know.

I have heard that males will have black tips on some of their feathers... I have a few that are darker but not black...

'Keel depth' basically is just a way of referring to the depth of the body from the backbone to the breastbone. The breastbone of poultry is often referred to as the keel, usually more so in waterbirds but many use it for land fowl as well.

Ok, Will have to look at that..



They can be sensitive birds indeed. I found the best approach with my first few generations years back, which I still have some remnants of, was to treat them like they're weak no matter how healthy they look and give them the 'weak or special chick diet' which is used for sickly or future breeder chicks, namely, hard boiled eggs with dandelion and/or raw onion. It stopped tuberculosis from affecting them and asides from that they just did so much better than on proprietary feeds.

Yes, the other four are being monitored a lot more carefully, since we warmed up they are doing great, the growth in them in the last two weeks has been amazing! I heard about feeding poultry chopped fresh garlic but not onions... I'll get it to them!

Best wishes.

Thanks! I am super excited to finally be raising them and hopefully breeding them next year..

 

[chooks4life]

The special feed is more for younger chicks than older turkeys who tend to try to avoid animal protein if possible beyond a certain age. I'm not totally sure they wouldn't become vegetarian as adults given the right food choices. Chooks obviously prefer animal proteins though. I also did give my chooks and turkeys onions and garlic on a regular basis, they liked it. But some of the onions I've been seeing sold by shops have a strange taste and composition lately, quite sugary and watery. I also don't like the modern cultivars of corn and potatoes you get in most large shops, they smell and taste wrong.

Anyway, best wishes with them.