Do Hens have Beards

[Olive]

This is my first time having turkeys. I feel stupid asking this, but do hens have beards? I have a bourbon red turkey and we yet to figure out if it a tom or a hen. One thing is I have heard it gobble, but it has been a long time since it has done that. Two, is it's neck isn't anything like our other turkey, who we know is a tom. They are exactly the same age. The turkey fans it's feathers alittle, but nothing like the tom. He is always gobbling. I looked at the feathers and they are trimmed in black on the front breast. It's snood is short. But this turkey has a black beard, so can hens have beards?

thanks
Mary

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

No, hens typically do not have beards.

 

[Olive]

Okay, thanks I was hoping I had one of each.

Mary

 

[hinkjc]

A turkey hen can get a beard, but it is typically very straggly and thin in comparison to the thick tom beard. I can tell you that if you've heard a gobble, it is undoubtedly a boy. Hens cannot gobble at all.

Jody

 

[Omniskies]

All three of our hens have very tiny beards and one of our Royal Palm hens tends to puff up and display all the time. If she didn't lay eggs we'd think she was a tom. We noticed that our hens have a teeny tiny snood that never extends, so that's probably your best bet for figuring out the gender. Also, our hens never gobble - they're content to chirp, trill and make other nifty sounds.

I hope that helps.

 

[Olive]

The beard isn't very big and the snood is small. I have never seen it get long like our other turkey. The turkeys are almost 8 months old. It hasn't laid any eggs At what age do they start laying eggs?

Mary

 

[bobbieguyette]

Oh yes hens can get beards! I have been raising all diffrent kinds of turkeys for 10 years now and just love them
sounds like a hen they can be tricky to tell sometimes but at that age and yes she is of laying age now usually about 7-8 months old if they hatch the year before they usually start about now im waiting for the first egg of the season now anytime between now and depends on the weather where you are too. the hens are quite the chatterboxes and gals cannot gobble either.its been a very long winter here but they usually start laying around end of feb-and if you have a good warm fall till oct here in NH. I have black winged bronze black spanish rio grande here.One of my favorite things is to have some babies in my lap while watching tv.keep a eye out for eggs and may you have a few new babies this year good luck!

 

[Ilikechickens!]

What the heck is a beard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????

 

[wilds of pa]

here you can see the beard hanging down off his chest as he mounts the hen turkey..

Awesome photo By PGraphx

 

[Carole AM]

Oh yes, I've seen so much of that lately, with our tom and four hens! And also, we have a royal palm hen with a beard, but her mother had a beard too, so it must be hereditary.