sweetgrass tom or hen about 7 months old

[jimmythechicken]

we have a sweetgrass we thought was a hen looks much lighter an smaller then the tom we had that hatched with her at the beging of july.but today she was puffed up an fanning would not gobble with the other 2 toms so i dont know.here are the pics an we will see what you all think.

 

[KrisH]

I lean toward hen. small caruncles and not too far down her neck. Our hens will do that sometimes when they get annoyed, or chasing off toms, or the dogs. just an outward display of attitude.

Not an expert, just my 2 cents

RobertH

 

[jimmythechicken]

thanks she or he wont gobble we get the 2 toms to go nuts but not a peep out of this one

 

[KrisH]

thanks she or he wont gobble we get the 2 toms to go nuts but not a peep out of this one

not a peep, or not a gobble? our hens are quite noisy barking at us all the time. our toms are quieter and don't make as much noise other than gobble and puff. Our hens are quite vocal.

RobertH

 

[little blue]

I am jimmythechickens daughter but I have not really heard her make a noise much but tonight I will go and see if I could make her make a noise and figure out what she does

 

[wolfie115]

Looks like a tom to me, his snood is long than the two hens in that last picture and he reminds me of our Narrie toms when they were about that age. Hens also have feathers that grow up the back of the head, usually all the way to the snood. On toms the feathers stop at the top of the neck just like on this guy. I had a BR tom that we thought was a hen for a long time, seems like (to us anyhow) depending on the time of year they are hatched depends on how fast they mature. My BR was hatched in the summer, the Narries in the spring. Seemed like we could tell the Narries were boys a lot sooner. But this guys I can say 99% sure is a tom, he probably just hasn't gotten the guts to gobble with the other boys, my BR tom was late on that too.

One of our Narries at about 5 months old:



6 months old:

 

[KrisH]

Looks like a tom to me, his snood is long than the two hens in that last picture and he reminds me of our Narrie toms when they were about that age. Hens also have feathers that grow up the back of the head, usually all the way to the snood. On toms the feathers stop at the top of the neck just like on this guy. I had a BR tom that we thought was a hen for a long time, seems like (to us anyhow) depending on the time of year they are hatched depends on how fast they mature. My BR was hatched in the summer, the Narries in the spring. Seemed like we could tell the Narries were boys a lot sooner. But this guys I can say 99% sure is a tom, he probably just hasn't gotten the guts to gobble with the other boys, my BR tom was late on that too.

One of our Narries at about 5 months old:



6 months old:

No I do claim NOT to be an expert by any means, and we are only on our second year and soon to be third year and only have a total of 23 turkeys, so with very limited experience and only have our group to compare.

I agree with the feathers up the back of the neck, but..

lagerdogger says hens will typically have light colored tips on their chest feathers and toms dark (see https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/737806/this-is-frustrating-need-some-help#post_10308917 post number 2) and i posted 2 pictures after his post with the info.

at 7 months old our toms seem to have a very broad foreheads behind their snoods


7 month old tom

long dangly snood, or short thick snood

Lots of neck caruncles and the head goes from red to white to blue. Much more so than the hens.

The beard by that old should be very obvious and thick. the hen we have with a beard is much finer than the toms are, still there, but smaller. and i THINK the hens with beards have a slightly puffier snood kind of like what I saw in the original pictures. and our oldest hen, when she gets mad, her snood swells up some while she kicks some frisky rooster butt.

now with all of that said

would someone with more experience than me please chime in! At least tell me if i'm Full of it. I won't take it personally.

Either way we will found out in a few months

RobertH

 

[Lagerdogger]

You seem to have one of those dificult cases. I agree that the snood looks larger than most hens. The fesathering on the neck may or may not indicate hen. I noticed the snow on teh ground so you live someplace relatively cool. In Minnesota, which could also be characterized as relatively cool, my toms seem to get a little extra feathering around the base of the neck in the winter. I don't really know if they grow more feathers, thicker feathers, or just hold them differently to conserve warmth, but a lot more neck is exposed in the sumer. Caruncles are also less pronounced until breeding starts in about a month. The lighter tipped feathers strongly suggest hen if it is really 7 months old and there are no dark borders that are difficult to see in the photo. The pictures from Porters show a tom and some hens http://www.porterturkeys.com/sweetgrass.htm. The dark margin is thin but present. Look closely at the feathers and see if there isn't a small dark band.

 

[honda150]

I would say def tom.Looks just like narri toms at 5 months old.

 

[retlaw]

How do they feed?
I find hens care more about feed then toms do.