Is this a Jake? What Breed?

[shelpitt]

I need help sexing this turkey and any advice on what breed of turkey this is would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[chicken pickin]

Looks like a Tom. Im new to turkeys so I dont know breeds well.

 

[BarneyChick97]

I've only had 2 different types of turkeys, so to me, but it looks like a Bronze turkey. Can you see green and red/orange reflections in the black feathers when the sun hits it? Bronzes have that, along with the white feather tips on their wings and tail feathers too. Does it have a spur on the back of its leg? I have only had hens too, but I've had a lot of friends assume that they were toms just because of the red head "factor"

 

[DeannaOR]

How old is it?

 

[BarneyChick97]

Our bronzes looked that big around 3-31/2 months of age.

 

[shelpitt]

This is a turkey I was wanting to trade some bantams for. My daughter wants a turkey hen for a pet. We don't want a tom at all. Several people on Facebook (where I found the post for it in my area) have said it was a hen then several have said it looks like a Jake. It is about 4 moths old.

 

[BarneyChick97]

Look for an extra "toe" or spur higher up on the leg. That's the only certain way to tell I suppose. Everyone thinks we have Toms because of the way they "present". They say that Toms have brightly colored heads and no feathers on them. My hens look pretty bare too, but have a few straggler feathers, and really hairy ears. The hens head can be very bright blue/red too when they feel threatened. Although, the only thing my turkeys ever wanted to be fierce towards was each other, or a dog. Maybe Toms are nastier as well? (but it might take some time for that to show, waiting for them to reach sexual maturity?) They show their feathers similar to a Tom display, puff up, and fan out their tail, with the wing tips to the ground, so...don't go by that to assume its a Tom.

 

[Frosty]

If it grew in it's adult plumage, bronze hens will have white tips on the breast feathers.

Editing to add that if I were to guess, I would say tom. The size of the legs makes me wonder if it's a Broad Breasted. If it is, I wouldn't want the kids to keep it as a pet. If it were to develop leg or heart problems (which is common with BB turkeys), the kids would be in for a lot of heartache.