It's driving me crazy! Is turkey a hen or tom?!

[fancyfowl4ever]

Looks like both are girls to me, got a trio of merriams that are a bit younger then yours and the male is very obvious. One good thing to go by is, if the warts at the base of the neck at the front where the feather start are as big as your thumb, you got yourself a tom. Once they hit this age they should be there quite prominent.

 

[aoxa]

Looks like both are girls to me, got a trio of merriams that are a bit younger then yours and the male is very obvious. One good thing to go by is, if the warts at the base of the neck at the front where the feather start are as big as your thumb, you got yourself a tom. Once they hit this age they should be there quite prominent.

Is there anyway you can post images?

I'm not sure what you mean base of the neck.. On the back, or the front?

Ha. I was the only one actually hoping for a tom when I got them. I took the one with the biggest snood. That was Bruce. The other one I just picked up because she had the biggest cutest eyes. I couldn't just have one turkey. I'll have to get them a tom sometime then.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

if the warts at the base of the neck at the front where the feather start are as big as your thumb

Hens have these warts too that are just a bit more prominent at that edge but a toms will be a whole lot bigger.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Here is a pic of my trio(regular and smokey phase). You can see the warts at the toms neck(center) are far more pronounced then the ones of the hen behind him.

These guys are a bit younger then yours.

 

[aoxa]

Hens have these warts too that are just a bit more prominent at that edge but a toms will be a whole lot bigger.

I totally missed that

Sorry!

Brain bubble

 

[aoxa]

Here is a pic of my trio(regular and smokey phase). You can see the warts at the toms neck(center) are far more pronounced then the ones of the hen behind him. These guys are a bit younger then yours.

I notice your male is a lot more colourful than my two. Is that also a good indicator of gender? How old exactly is your group?

These photos are when they are 12 weeks old. Not sure if that helps at all, but thought I'd share.

@ 13 weeks - butterfly chasing

13 weeks again

15 weeks. I have to take a picture today for their 16th week. I usually do it every week.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Mine are around the 13 week mark. My tom is just starting to grow in the nice coloured feathers(and hopefully some tail feathers too soon, he just looks silly).

 

[aoxa]

Mine are around the 13 week mark. My tom is just starting to grow in the nice coloured feathers(and hopefully some tail feathers too soon, he just looks silly).

I checked today, and BOTH have brown tipped chest feathers. Is it a for sure thing? I have pictures.

Full body shot today

This is Betty. I always thought Bruce was a boy - never even considered him to be a girl. But he also has brown tipped chest feathers.

 

[aoxa]

Mine are around the 13 week mark. My tom is just starting to grow in the nice coloured feathers(and hopefully some tail feathers too soon, he just looks silly).

Don't you just love the turkeys?

I really want a male. I am going to have to keep my eyes open. I will wait until I know for sure, and then either get them some hens, or get them a tom

 

[erinszoo]

They both look like hens to me too but I'm not an expert in wild turkeys. I have white hollands and the males are very easy to tell from the females. One of our males has been doing a full strut since he was 9 days old. Very comical in baby turkeys. By 16 weeks the males were both bigger than the females in every respect and at this point, 22 weeks there is absolutely no doubt. The male's snoods grow longer as they strut and their heads color up red and blue and their carbuncles (or whatever those things on their neck are) get really bright red. The girls are pretty drab by comparison and have almost no carbuncles.

Here's one of our boys close up head shot.


You can see one of our girls behind him and compare the necks on them. Hers is nowhere near as big nor does it cover as much of the neck as his does. That snood of his grow down almost as long as his neck and spreads out to cover his whole beak. We just love our turkeys. They have so much personality.