Sex of this Bronze breasted?

[louiseschwieker]

This poult hatched about 2 months ago. March 21st or around there. I'm worried that it could be a tom because of the way her/his neck looks. Sometimes she (we hope she) will strut but I baby heard that some girls will do that. I haven't heard any gobbling but she does make some "beeping" sounds. Thanks in advance.

 

[R2elk]

There is no such thing as a Bronze Breasted turkey. There are Broad Breasted Bronze and heritage Bronze turkeys. Your turkey does not appear to be either one of those varieties but it does not have its mature feathers at this time.

Your turkey does appear to be developing signs of a tom but is still too young to be sexed from a picture.

 

[louiseschwieker]

There is no such thing as a Bronze Breasted turkey. There are Broad Breasted Bronze and heritage Bronze turkeys. Your turkey does not appear to be either one of those varieties but it does not have its mature feathers at this time.

Your turkey does appear to be developing signs of a tom but is still too young to be sexed from a picture.

What kind of turkey do you think it Is?

 

[R2elk]

What kind of turkey do you think it Is?

I would wait to see it with its adult feathers before making a guess. You could try posting on the Turkey Color Genetics site to see if any of them are willing to guess.

 

[Indyshent]

Sex: Could go either way, but I'm leaning on tom because it's pretty young. Young girls do sometimes strut. I've even seen hens strut, but most hens don't.

BB vs Heritage: could go either way. BB don't develop bigger chests til they're older. At this age, they're pretty much identical to heritage bronze. It's probably BB because they're more numerous. Where did you get it?

Color: still looks like a juvenile bronze. There's a fair amount of play in juvenile bronze patterns. This one has clearer markings than lots of ones I've seen, and that seems to be a trait that follows the bird into adulthood. It might have a stray dose of red, but I doubt it because that tends to wash out wing feathers. Your bird is still a bitty though.

Regarding color as an indicator of sex in bronze: wait for more adult feathers to come in on the chest. White tips= girl. If chest has only black tipped feathers = boy. Girls can grow beards, so that's not a failsafe, though their beards don't seem to get as long or grow as fast (if my bearded hen is any indication).

 

[louiseschwieker]

I

Sex: Could go either way, but I'm leaning on tom because it's pretty young. Young girls do sometimes strut. I've even seen hens strut, but most hens don't.

BB vs Heritage: could go either way. BB don't develop bigger chests til they're older. At this age, they're pretty much identical to heritage bronze. It's probably BB because they're more numerous. Where did you get it?

Color: still looks like a juvenile bronze. There's a fair amount of play in juvenile bronze patterns. This one has clearer markings than lots of ones I've seen, and that seems to be a trait that follows the bird into adulthood. It might have a stray dose of red, but I doubt it because that tends to wash out wing feathers. Your bird is still a bitty though.

Regarding color as an indicator of sex in bronze: wait for more adult feathers to come in on the chest. White tips= girl. If chest has only black tipped feathers = boy. Girls can grow beards, so that's not a failsafe, though their beards don't seem to get as long or grow as fast (if my bearded hen is any indication).

got it from our local feed store. I'll wait for the feathers to grow out

 

[Indyshent]

Almost certainly BB Bronze then. Heritage are much more expensive and not likely to be found in feed stores. I've seen BB turkeys at many feed stores for about $7 each, and assorted heritage turkey breeds for about $14 each, but only at one feed store (manager really likes turkeys there) in the whole state of Indiana (and I've never seen them out of Indiana either, but I'm hardly an expert out of state).

Why are you hoping for female? BB do lay a lot of eggs but they eat like horses and are very, very prone to numerous health woes that pretty much always kill them early or necessitate you putting them out of their misery. I've kept quite a few of them, and they're about the sweetest, most charming breed (partially due to intensive breeding for temperament for so many decades--they get so huge that vicious specimens are a huge risk to workers), but they die young compared to heritage breeds.

Regarding temperament, I've never had a mean BB. I'm sure bad enough treatment could yield one, but maybe I've just been blessed. While toms and hens are different, they're both excellent pets and pretty trustworthy with families. Mean heritage birds are far more common.

Hens are processed around 4 months, and toms around 5. Younger age reduces risk of later heart attacks (and not being able to eat it). No matter how well you care for it, it won't live long and will be miserable eventually. If heart attacks don't get them, leg problems will. With lots of exercise and less feed, they can last a couple years or more, but it's very rare and you shouldn't get your hopes up. They're prone to all manner of leg problems--spiraling bone growth, gout, swollen feet, bumblefoot, arthritis, if you can name it then I've probably seen it at this point. They also get respiratory problems and can basically die of broken hearts if flockmates die, though other breeds do this too. There's no shortage of things that kill turkeys.

 

[louiseschwieker]

Almost certainly BB Bronze then. Heritage are much more expensive and not likely to be found in feed stores. I've seen BB turkeys at many feed stores for about $7 each, and assorted heritage turkey breeds for about $14 each, but only at one feed store (manager really likes turkeys there) in the whole state of Indiana (and I've never seen them out of Indiana either, but I'm hardly an expert out of state).

Why are you hoping for female? BB do lay a lot of eggs but they eat like horses and are very, very prone to numerous health woes that pretty much always kill them early or necessitate you putting them out of their misery. I've kept quite a few of them, and they're about the sweetest, most charming breed (partially due to intensive breeding for temperament for so many decades--they get so huge that vicious specimens are a huge risk to workers), but they die young compared to heritage breeds.

Regarding temperament, I've never had a mean BB. I'm sure bad enough treatment could yield one, but maybe I've just been blessed. While toms and hens are different, they're both excellent pets and pretty trustworthy with families. Mean heritage birds are far more common.

Hens are processed around 4 months, and toms around 5. Younger age reduces risk of later heart attacks (and not being able to eat it). No matter how well you care for it, it won't live long and will be miserable eventually. If heart attacks don't get them, leg problems will. With lots of exercise and less feed, they can last a couple years or more, but it's very rare and you shouldn't get your hopes up. They're prone to all manner of leg problems--spiraling bone growth, gout, swollen feet, bumblefoot, arthritis, if you can name it then I've probably seen it at this point. They also get respiratory problems and can basically die of broken hearts if flockmates die, though other breeds do this too. There's no shortage of things that kill turkeys.

I just wanted a female because we have chickens and I don't want a male to try to mate with them and hurt them

 

[Indyshent]

I haven't had a great deal of problems with that, but I've heard of it happening with other people. Girls get comically obnoxious about wanting good loving too. Some toms have more libido (and confusion) than others. If human imprinted, they're more likely to violate your shoes or masturbate on pretty much anything in the yard, including absolutely nothing at all. I've never had one mate a chicken, though I have a tom who was very fond of showing off for a certain buff Orp hen.

 

[louiseschwieker]

Well yesterday I heard her make a hen call.