Purring Turkeys

[kertneybrand]

I am fairly new to owning turkeys. I have two and have had them for about a year now. I still can't tell whether or not they are toms or hens. Here lately, when you walk by them one will start to lay down and start "purring". Every now and then, the other one will start doing it. I was just wondering if anyone knew what that meant. Thank you!

 

[doop]

Sounds like you have a couple hens. By now you would have heard them gobble and display and a male snood would be much bigger than a hens. Im fairly new with turkeys too and its pretty easy to tell by now if you had a Tom. It's a lot easier to tell the difference when you see one of each sex grow up.And if they are laying down for you they are submitting for breeding, one of my hens just started doing that last week. It was kinda funny watching my Tom fumble around figuring it out.

 

[FarmerGilland]

Absolutely 100% hens!!!!

 

[Marengoite]

Agreed that you have hens. What variety do you have? There's a couple things to check for:
Behavior - Toms will strut, fan their tales out and puff out their feathers. They will also do a little dance, and shake all over.
Anatomy - Toms have beards (although some hens do as well) but they also have caruncles that are more pronounced and change color when sexually aroused. Also their snoods will grow much longer and their heads will flush with color during display.
Calls - Hens putt, purr, chuckle, chirp, cackle. Toms will do most all of that too, but they will also gobble when you honk the car horn, hoot like an owl, or clap your hands suddenly. Hens never do.

 

[jackietheturkeylover]

it sounds weird but i think they want to mate...

 

[SonnyGirl]

I know this is sort of an old thread, but I see noone responded. I just wanted to say that that doesn't sound weird at all! Your hens want to mate!! I know in a lot of species, the females reject males attempts to mate or are feisty about it. Not so with turkeys! When the hens are ready, they WANT to lay eggs, mate, have babies. I was worried about my Tom "pushing himself" on my hen when they got old enough. Then I saw her flirting with him, laying down before he even had time to figure out an "offer" was made, and assuming the position like "hey... I'm over here!!" lol. When the hens want to mate, you can most assuredly tell. You better get them a tom before they get a crush on people lol