Just curious... sexing turkeys

[kelidei]

I am a brand new mom to 5 Royal Palms... I also have a large flock of chickens... I am pretty darn good at figuring out the cockerels from the pullets... turkeys... not so much. They are only 1 1/2 weeks old and the only thing I noticed is that two of them have one wing feather that is longer than the feathers on the other ones... does that mean anything... What should I start watching for as they grow? thanks!

 

[ColbyNTX]

A beard!

Just kidding, you will know before beards come in and even hens can get them. About 12-14 weeks you will be sure. Hens will strutt and fool you.

 

[Jocasta]

Someone on here was talking about their four week old gobbling so you may get an idea on one or two of them sooner than that, but so far as I knwo, 12-14 weeks is the earliest to be sure.

 

[jdopler]

my last years batch was hard as heck to figure out, then I realized at 4 mos they were all hens!

so this year I will be watching development of the "knob"(snood) on their beaks. Hopefully out of the 5 babies I will get one tom!

So far babies are only a week old.

 

[gobblygoo]

Some Males will start strutting really young, (it's the cutest darn thing). Last year I got about 17 turkeys, I kept them in a horse stall to grow after they got out of their brooder. All the male turkeys ( 5 to be exact) would gobble when they heard the metal stall door latch move! They were about 2 mos old when this happened! Just an idea to try...