At what age can you tell Tom from Hen in a Black Spanish Turkey?

[SkylarMelody]

This is my first time with Turkeys and I am definitely excited to find out what my sweet Honey is. I googled but I have gotten probably 5 different answers now.

Honey is 6 weeks old.

 

[R2elk]

This is my first time with Turkeys and I am definitely excited to find out what my sweet Honey is. I googled but I have gotten probably 5 different answers now.

Honey is 6 weeks old.

Poults cannot be sexually identified from photos until they are at least 3 months old. It may take until they are 6 months old with some, especially late developing toms.

If you can't wait that long, there are at least 2 companies that will DNA sex them from either a blood or feather sample. The last time I checked the cost was $20 to $25 per test.

Turkeys are very social birds and should not be raised alone. They should have other turkeys for companions. It also isn't a good idea to human imprint poults especially if they turn out to be males.

All of the human aggressive turkeys that I have had to deal with have been ones that were human imprinted as poults.

 

[SkylarMelody]

Poults cannot be sexually identified from photos until they are at least 3 months old. It may take until they are 6 months old with some, especially late developing toms.

If you can't wait that long, there are at least 2 companies that will DNA sex them from either a blood or feather sample. The last time I checked the cost was $20 to $25 per test.

Turkeys are very social birds and should not be raised alone. They should have other turkeys for companions. It also isn't a good idea to human imprint poults especially if they turn out to be males.

All of the human aggressive turkeys that I have had to deal with have been ones that were human imprinted as poults.

Oh yeah, Honey has companions! This he/she just follows me around constantly so I’ve grown a little bit of favoritism. I actually do have a question though because I didn’t buy her, my mom bought the turkeys. Honey is the only black Spanish turkey. Would it be a good idea to get the same turkey species or is it ok that we have a variety? I know that the others are Hens but Honey was straight run (although I have been assuming hen but I know you can’t be certain until you are 100% certain)

 

[SkylarMelody]

Poults cannot be sexually identified from photos until they are at least 3 months old. It may take until they are 6 months old with some, especially late developing toms.

If you can't wait that long, there are at least 2 companies that will DNA sex them from either a blood or feather sample. The last time I checked the cost was $20 to $25 per test.

Turkeys are very social birds and should not be raised alone. They should have other turkeys for companions. It also isn't a good idea to human imprint poults especially if they turn out to be males.

All of the human aggressive turkeys that I have had to deal with have been ones that were human imprinted as poults.

Also I really appreciate your reply! i Knew Turkeys took longer than chickens but I didn’t realize how long it took. Google said 4 weeks up to 8-9 weeks but also said it could be months as well so I was confused

 

[R2elk]

Oh yeah, Honey has companions! This he/she just follows me around constantly so I’ve grown a little bit of favoritism. I actually do have a question though because I didn’t buy her, my mom bought the turkeys. Honey is the only black Spanish turkey. Would it be a good idea to get the same turkey species or is it ok that we have a variety? I know that the others are Hens but Honey was straight run (although I have been assuming hen but I know you can’t be certain until you are 100% certain)

All domestic turkeys are the same genus and species. They differ only at the sub species level.

While they can show some segregation characteristics if raised in separate varieties, they normally get along fine if different varieties are raised together.

Originally Black Spanish turkeys were Black turkeys that were raised in Spain.

What some hatcheries are selling as "Black Spanish" now are a mixed variety that for the most part are Barred Blacks.

The APA recognizes Black turkeys. It does not recognize "Black Spanish" turkeys.

The only poults that I know of that are being sold sexed are broad breasted turkeys that have been developed to be able to be feather sexed. All other poults being sold commercially are all sold straight run.

There are a few varieties that can be used to produce sex linked poults. I am not aware of anyone selling sex linked poults commercially.