Is it too early to tell if these are male or females?

[CharterChick]

These poults are 6-9 weeks old I'm not sure exactly. They are all that's left out of 13 and Mama went missing too. They were my dad's turkeys but I had a single female that took them both in as her own. I'm hoping for at least 1 male out of the 2 so I can eventually hatch out some turkeys.

They both have red bumps on their heads. I'm new to turkeys and I was planning to eat my female till she took on these 2! She got lucky! Lol

These are the best pictures I could get for now. My female turkey goes on the attack if I try to take the poults. So these are all through the fence.











Here's just their heads. Its the same pictures just cropped...

 

[chooks4life]

I have never seen snoods so miniature on turkeys even two weeks old, never mind 6 or over!

I have no personal experience with this breed (I'm thinking to get a female for my tom though) but they look like hens to me. Their almost non-existent snoods, small wattles, non-existent caruncles etc certainly aren't showing male development but then again they're very underdeveloped for hens, too, I've never seen such an absence. Perhaps a breed trait? Their legs and feet are not oversized like a male's should be from a fairly young age onwards, either.

Time will tell, most US turkeys I look at are very underdeveloped compared to the ones I'm used to which tend to show gender far sooner and more reliably.

Best wishes.

 

[CharterChick]

Thank you for the response! They have little snoods (and I mean little) but they aren't showing up good in pics. I'll try to go get better ones maybe I can catch them without getting mauled lol

 

[chooks4life]

That hen of yours... You might want to get rid of her. I recently had a fox take my last female turkey but it was a good thing, in her short time she's killed another turkey hen after trying for months to do just that, trampled and crippled and killed her own babies with aggravation directed at me when I came to feed and water her, and towards the end there progressed to leaping at my face from the side or behind to attack me. Her anger and aggression only escalated nonstop until she was far too dangerous to bother keeping for meat or eggs.

Hens like that are a serious liability not only to you but also to their own babies. You need, for their sakes, to be able to handle them if necessary. Last thing you need is to be savaged by another turkey while you're handling one that needs treatment, or rescuing from being tangled in something, or whatever.

Hope things go well for you. Best wishes.

 

[CharterChick]

She is going to be eaten here soonly I just used her to keep these babies safe but thank you for the input! They can be nasty birds!

 

[chooks4life]

Shame when they're otherwise good but their attitude is bad, aye? But good to hear you won't breed her on. My hen initially seemed ok but since she came from very human-aggressive stock I should have known better... Ah, well. Done with now, finally.

Best wishes.