Do Hens have Beards

[LinckHillPoultry]

hens can have beards. I have a hen with a beard.

 

[Olive]

Well, I got my answer today. We had both turkeys out of their pens, free ranging for the first time since last year. They were both flirting with me and they both gobbled. So now I know for sure I have 2 toms.

No eggs this year. I'll have to order some babies.

Mary

 

[wilds of pa]

olive do you live near any wild turkey flocks, if so you may get wild hens coming in to hang with yours.

I use to have a Royal palm gobbler but when wild breeding season came id pen him up as i didnt want him breeding the wild hens that come off the mountain behind our home.. didnt want to mess up the gene pool here.. I found him a new home with an older fella that had a nice big pen and girls for him..

Charlie

 

[Olive]

I haven't seen any wild turkeys around our place, but I know there are some about 2 miles from here. I'd be really surprised if any showed up here. There is a lot of traffic around us. I'm going to either order some hatching eggs or poults.

Mary

 

[Ranman]

In regards to Turkeys..."Do Hens Have Beards", Yes and No. Let's first tackle the "No" part. Typically a hen turkey does not have a beard, although...I took a "Bearded Hen, Wild Turkey" in the Lower Penninsula of Michigan during their annaul 1991 Spring Turkey Hunt. I teamed-up with a co-worder/friend, that was the Michigans, Iosco County Turkey Calling Champion. The man was awesome when it came to turkey calling. It was not only awesome, it was an experience of a life-time. Sparing all of the details, on our last outing, we were driving down an old logging road and seen a flock of turkeys crossing ahead of us. Doc Walker (his nick-name) told me he knew where they were heading and knew how to cut them off. He directed me down a couple of off-shoots to the main logging road, I parked the vehicle, we grabbed our stuff and headed into the woods. When we were far enough in, he setup the decoy and we took our positions. Doc Walker began his turkey calling session and a turkey showed up nearly immediately. I checked it out and it appeared to be a smaller bird and upon closer examination, it had every sign of being a hen. As the turkey approached the decoy, it lowered it's head in a sub-servant manner, then raised it's body and turned a circle. While performing it's circling move, I seen a beard about 4 inches in length and then it went sub-servant again, which it did 3 or 4 times...each time, showing off a beard. After seeing the beard, I had decided it must be a Jake (1st year turkey), so I raised my barrel, placed the sights on it's head and pulled the trigger. The turkey took a roll and landed on its chest. Doc Walker and I got up immediately and ran to the turkey, he kept saying..."You shot a hen, you shot a hen". I responded by telling him, "I seen a beard, I seen a beard". Upon arriving to the turkey, Doc Walker picked it up and said, I'll be ******, it does have a beard! The Turkey was a hen and it did have a 4 inch beard. Michigan's turkey law states that "any bearded turkey". The turkey was perfectly legal. We brought it by Michigan's Department of Natural Resources for the warden to see. The Game Warden told us that one in a thousand hens will have a beard. So....YES, some hens have beards.

 

[frank53061]

My Turkeys have beards both male and female but I have this one Tom that is a little different.

 

[KrisH]

ALL of our toms have beards(9), and 2 of our 10 hens have beards, but the females beards are lighter (thinner or smaller in circumference and don't grow as fast) than the tom turkeys do

RobertH.

Oh and the hens with beards seem to display more than the hens without them.
also are crankier with the other birds, especially the rooster.

 

[wolfie115]

We have 3 toms and 5 hens. I'm pretty sure 4 of our 5 hens have beards, 3 I know of for sure.

 

[TMANOR]

Yes. They do. Everyone told me my bbw was a Tom because she had a beard and would strut until two months later when she laid her first egg.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Yes, all of my hens have beards.