Turken chickens.

[TheSillyDingo]

I've got these 2 young turkens, and my gut feeling is that they are BOTH males... The dark one has green shine to it's feathers, which I've only ever seen in roos. Also it seems like the backside has saddle feathers but then again I think I see that on the red one. They are about 3 months old.... Also they've spent their entire lives with Cheeseburger (the silkie hen), should they both be rooster...what are the chances they all live happy together?

 

[Sneebsey]

The mostly-black bird is female as she has gender-specific plumage colouring in her breast and wing. I believe the red is also female due to the small pale comb.

I would not keep two cockerels with only one hen. Generally 8-12 is a good number of hens for one cockerel, and in a flock with multiple cockerels, hens can become over-bred or injured.

 

[TheSillyDingo]

The mostly-black bird is female as she has gender-specific plumage colouring in her breast and wing. I believe the red is also female due to the small pale comb.

I would not keep two cockerels with only one hen. Generally 8-12 is a good number of hens for one cockerel, and in a flock with multiple cockerels, hens can become over-bred or injured.

So the green sheen color to the dark one isn't a sign of a rooster? I've not ever met a hen that had it. I was actually hoping for one rooster hahahaha.

 

[Sneebsey]

I have seen it in a lot of extended black and birchen based hens, but I agree that it is more usually seen in cockerels, most likely due to the gender-specific black areas found in cockerels of e-series such as wildtype and partridge.

Not the best picture, but you can just about see it in the hackles of the mixed hen on the right.

 

[drumstick diva]

agree - turkens make it harder because they won't show pointed hackle feathers.

 

[TheSillyDingo]

So the gender specific plumage on the dark one... what am I looking for

 

[Gray Farms]

They both look like pullets to me. And if they are 3 months old, they about have to be pullets. 3 month old cockerels would have much more comb and wattle development. And would have much redder combs and wattles. If they are cockerels "I don't think they are" then they are very slow developing.

 

[Sneebsey]

So the gender specific plumage on the dark one... what am I looking for

Were she male, I would expect a red bar across the upper wing and red tones descending down the back. I would also expect a black breast in a male, whilst hers is golden. Most notable is the wing and back, where you see the pale feather shafts; I would hazard that this is a result of her having e+ wildtype (duckwing), hiding behind probably birchen, possibly extended black; in a duckwing male, this trait is not present due to the distribution of groundcolour along the back.

 

[Mimi13]

I also say both are pullets. Here are pictures of both my Naked Neck cockerels at 5 weeks and another picture of my black Naked Neck at 3 months old. In the last picture you can see my little NN pullet at 4 months in the middle of all the action. The boys show quite a bit of difference to yours, wouldn’t you say?

Pretty Boy Floyd at 5 weeks

Boris at 5 weeks

Boris at 3 months

Miss Biggles at 4 months

 

[TheSillyDingo]

Thanks everyone. I knew you'd all know