prancing turkeys

[bibliophile birds]

so, my little turkey babies are growing up! tonight, two of them started gobbling!! it was the cutest thing i've ever heard- so very pathetic and yet they were trying so hard. they've also started to display: spreading and dropping their wing feathers and spreading what little tail feathers they have. i had read that the hens will display just like the toms, but do the toms start this earlier? is it any indication of what sex my little poults are? i've got 2 Bourbon Reds that are 5-6 weeks and 2 Royal Palms that are 6-7 weeks.

 

[thaiturkey]

In the case of our first five we determined gender by comparison. The general size, the snood length and shape of the face in particular. The hens are a little more dainty in appearance than the stags (toms). I didn't even attempt the bottom-probing technique and I understand that, with young birds, it takes an expert to distinguish from that examination.

 

[ivan3]

The jennies will display, occasionally, but they don't spend serious time practicing like the jakes. For some reason the jakes always tried to gobble when I'd walk out whistling some silliness or other, the jennies never did. I pretty much saw what thaiturkey described as the shape of the face (jake's skulls seem slightly more `square', the jennie's more oval - if that makes sense).

 

[kuntrygirl]

My babies are 2 months old and they are displaying the same behaviors. The 2 month old males are stomping their feet around what I assume are the females and they are also "trying" to mount the females with no luck. They keep falling off of them.