when can you tell if a turkey is a girl or boy?

[TammyP]

At what age can you tell the sex of the bird?

Currently I have one BB Bronze and one Bourbon red...both almost two weeks old. The bronze one is supposed to be our thanksgiving dinner and the bourbon red is going to be our pet. I'd have gotten more of them but that's all that was left at the farmstore. In about 4 weeks they are supposed to get in another batch and I'm going to try and get a few more Bourbons to maybe start my own flock someday.

The Bronze wings are close to the body just like my chicks wings, however, the bourbon red one almost seems like it has two sets of wings...lol.... one outer pair that sticks out away from the body and the inner one is close to the body. Perhaps the bronze is the gal and the bourbon is the boy?

Any suggestions? Anyone have pics of their youngins and know what sex they turned out to be later on?

My camera is not working or I'd take a pic.....

Thanks for the replies.
~Tammy

 

[bluegoose]

The Kids reply, the male has a beard growing out of its chest and the male fluffs up the female just stay kinda normal i guess
The op said the turkeys were two weeks old.the roo is not old enough to have a BEARD maybe sideburns but not a beard.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Funny how everyone wants to know the sex of their birds, thing is it isn't going to change, and the bird knows what it is, wait long enough and you'll know too, and I've had hens with beards, just like I've had grandma's with mustaches

 

[Chiko]

That's exactly what I want to know also

Quote:

 

[angidee]

I read a turkey raising book that said you can tell by looking at their eyes. The hens look nice and toms look mean-compared to one another. They have to be a few days old to notice a difference. It says if you don't see a difference you may be holding two of the same gender.
I got 3 bourbon reds with the hopes of 1 tom and 2 hens....we'll see how selections turn out!

 

[jason.jorcy]

im always ashamed to look at the sex of the bird.. hehe

 

[Stacyr]

I have a hens that is 1 year old, and has a beard growing out of her chest. I know she is a hen becaues she is now laying eggs.

 

[Hounds51]

We have been doing this with chickens and it seems to work.


If you can hold the bird on your lap, laying on it's back, at any age, if it holds it's feet up close to it's back, it is probably a hen. If it extends it's legs or even just one leg, you probably have a tom. This, I find works with day old chicks and poults and seams to be based of their natural defensive posture of male vs female responses in these birds.

 

[R2elk]

We have been doing this with chickens and it seems to work.


If you can hold the bird on your lap, laying on it's back, at any age, if it holds it's feet up close to it's back, it is probably a hen. If it extends it's legs or even just one leg, you probably have a tom. This, I find works with day old chicks and poults and seams to be based of their natural defensive posture of male vs female responses in these birds.

I tried it on some 3 week old cross breed chicks that I was already positive were females. When placed on their backs their legs immediately snapped into place alongside their bodies.

 

[gunslinger922]

Anxious to check the accuracy of the " leg" method of sexing! "She" definitely held her legs tucked in close to her body. We are excited and hopeful as we really want a turkey hen for the eggs!