Balding Poult

[HennyJenny]

So - I have a three week old Bourbon Red - Kramer. Kramer's fuzz on his head is falling off in little pieces revealing what I am guessing will be his lovely bald dome - I have gently ignored the aesthetics of this until today - now I've decided to ask "this is normal right?" - Kramer was the only one to hatch so I have no one else to compare him too and he is my first turkey ever. I don't really want to ignore something that looks kind of odd and have it be something bad (like the mange it looks like). His self esteem doesn't seem to be suffering any

and the bigger chickens are more than happy to help with the wayward pieces of fluff sticking up (they aren't hurting him). So I just want to verify that this is the somewhat normal appearance in turkey life cycle and also wondering if this is an indication of Kramer's gender?

Thanks for your help!
Jenny

 

[CoopCrazy]

Yeah its the ugly teen stage they all seem to go thru it .. They look terrible and then all of a sudden they are pretty...