A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[memphis]

Molpet...how can you tell your 6 week old is a tom? Experience?

 

[Grammy60]

Good Morning

 

[duluthralphie]

Molpet...how can you tell your 6 week old is a tom? Experience?

Wishful thinking..

How old are yours now?

There should be some baby strutting soon.. but the tomboys will strut too...

Real Toms more...

So not much help but a little indicator.

 

[Molpet]

Molpet...how can you tell your 6 week old is a tom? Experience?

Thick legs, big snood. I have 3 left from the hatch I took from a bad mama. I have been bringing them in at night when it's going to be low 60's... they are in a tractor...so I handle them.
None of mine are strutting , some older onesare fighting.

 

[memphis]

No displaying with either of my poults. Just the tail fan. They are over 3 months old close to 4 months. The mottled has larger legs & feet than the penciled. Also a larger snood. But it's not big by any means.

 

[R2elk]

No displaying with either of my poults. Just the tail fan. They are over 3 months old close to 4 months. The mottled has larger legs & feet than the penciled. Also a larger snood. But it's not big by any means.

People that have been around poults a long time and closely observe their behavior can tell the sex of their poults at a very early age. I have had hens that I picked out as hens as young as two weeks old. The two oldest poults from this year, I picked out as a hen and a tom at 4 weeks old. He was hatched June 6 and is over 2 1/2 months old. I have never seen him strut but he is the only tom his age here and he is around a dominant tom that will not tolerate strutting by juveniles.

If your poults are 3 to 4 months old, they should be able to be identified from pictures. Post three shots of each. One shot from the side showing the whole turkey, one shot from the front and one shot looking down on them from the back including the back of the neck and top of the head.

If your poults are as old as you claim and you have not found any J shaped or long line droppings, they are both hens.

When using the "one is bigger and has heavier legs" method, it may not be valid if they are different varieties. The same age Palm along side the same age Bourbon Red will not be the same size. The Bourbon Red will be bigger and heavier than the Palm but it does mean that the Bourbon Red is a tom.

After looking up how old my oldest poults are, I suspect that yours are not as old as you claim they are since mine were hatched May 6 and I don't think that you got your poults until some time after mine were hatched. If my recollection is wrong, I blame it on CRS.

 

[duluthralphie]

People that have been around poults a long time and closely observe their behavior can tell the sex of their poults at a very early age. I have had hens that I picked out as hens as young as two weeks old. The two oldest poults from this year, I picked out as a hen and a tom at 4 weeks old. He was hatched June 6 and is over 2 1/2 months old. I have never seen him strut but he is the only tom his age here and he is around a dominant tom that will not tolerate strutting by juveniles.

If your poults are 3 to 4 months old, they should be able to be identified from pictures. Post three shots of each. One shot from the side showing the whole turkey, one shot from the front and one shot looking down on them from the back including the back of the neck and top of the head.

If your poults are as old as you claim and you have not found any J shaped or long line droppings, they are both hens.

When using the "one is bigger and has heavier legs" method, it may not be valid if they are different varieties. The same age Palm along side the same age Bourbon Red will not be the same size. The Bourbon Red will be bigger and heavier than the Palm but it does mean that the Bourbon Red is a tom.

After looking up how old my oldest poults are, I suspect that yours are not as old as you claim they are since mine were hatched May 6 and I don't think that you got your poults until some time after mine were hatched. If my recollection is wrong, I blame it on CRS.

I can tell my own fairly young. But because I do make errors once in a while I am hesitant to tell others, especially from pictures.

Mine always strut extremely young. I believe this is because I raise them inside pens where they can see the older Toms strutting and the older Toms are unable to get to the young show offs and bat them down a notch.

I have noticed on the few batches that I have raised out of sights of the old Toms don’t strut as young or often.

I admit to being a skeptic on the J poop... but I have never looked closely at their poop... other than noticing on of them leaves a huge quantity of poop..

 

[CindyinSD]

Do toms do that sweet little trill like my girls do??

My three amigos trill. It’s very fetching.

They gobble, too. They’ve also recently been gobbling up my chicken eggs. I adore them, but...

They’re now isolated in a recently dried-out, no-longer-inundated chicken run close to my butchering area. The above picture was taken maybe six weeks ago. At present I can barely carry them and I’m strong. I’m pretty sure they’ve gotten past fitting in any cooking vessel I own. Oh well. Whole roasted turkey takes soooo long anyway.

The good thing about turkeys over traditional pets... if they’re naughty (or become dangerous) you can always eat them. Technically one could do that with dogs too, but it is generally frowned upon in our society.

 

[sfgwife]

My three amigos trill. It’s very fetching.

View attachment 1859047
They gobble, too. They’ve also recently been gobbling up my chicken eggs. I adore them, but...

They’re now isolated in a recently dried-out, no-longer-inundated chicken run close to my butchering area. The above picture was taken maybe six weeks ago. At present I can barely carry them and I’m strong. I’m pretty sure they’ve gotten past fitting in any cooking vessel I own. Oh well. Whole roasted turkey takes soooo long anyway.

The good thing about turkeys over traditional pets... if they’re naughty (or become dangerous) you can always eat them. Technically one could do that with dogs too, but it is generally frowned upon in our society.

We cut ours in half last year to fit in the oven.

 

[CindyinSD]

We cut ours in half last year to fit in the oven.