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

[R2elk]

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

Celie did her own study and claims that turkey poults can be sexed at any age with 94% accuracy by using her method.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/725829/turkeys-for-2013/2750

Some varieties of turkeys can be feather sexed but that is only valid when they are 1 - 3 days old. I have a now week old poult that I believe is a hen based are feather sexing at the age of 2 days and Celie's method of holding the poult resting on its back would seem to confirm that her sex is indeed female.

 

[farm n louisana]

I think I have 1 tom n 3 hens my tom is bigger then my 3 hens n his bumps on his head is a lot bigger my 3 hens r the same size n shape there all look the same I guess I got lucky when I picked them at a week old I just picked the 4 browns one the man had instead of all the whites ones he had

 

[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!

 

[Erin Crawford]

Male turkeys leave droppings in the shape of an "L" or "J".... Females leave a spiral pile.

 

[retlaw]

Interesting observation.

 

[Erin Crawford]

I thought it was a "load of crap" (sorry, had to be done) when I first heard it, but then I realized it was a valid observation...

 

[Dahli]

I have owned turkeys for about 5 years but we have always bought them fully grown. Now, I have three chicks. I am stumped as to whether they are males or females. When they are older, it's so simple. I have researched also and it is like a 30% chance that a female will have a beard, so now, even that isn't fool-proofed. Also, I have two out of the three that are battling...almost like play acting for the pecking order and I feared they might be males but I read that even females will do this on occasion. Any suggestions are appreciated. Otherwise, I guess we will wait it out.

 

[WalnutHill]

I have owned turkeys for about 5 years but we have always bought them fully grown. Now, I have three chicks. I am stumped as to whether they are males or females. When they are older, it's so simple. I have researched also and it is like a 30% chance that a female will have a beard, so now, even that isn't fool-proofed. Also, I have two out of the three that are battling...almost like play acting for the pecking order and I feared they might be males but I read that even females will do this on occasion. Any suggestions are appreciated. Otherwise, I guess we will wait it out.

A few crosses are color sex-linked, like Narragansett/Bronze.

A few can be feather sexed.

Toms can start displaying the day after they hatch. The wing drapes and full upright tail are tom indicators, hens spread horizontally.

If you have a large enough population for comparison, toms have a more prominent rear tendon on the shank, giving the appearance of a thicker leg. The spur bud is also more noticeable, and the foot is larger. Hens have dainty legs, the spur bud is just a scale, and the rear tendon is ribbon like.

Hen snood bumps are smaller.

Hen heads are more tapered, tom heads are more boxy.

As they grow, the feathers up the back of the neck are the first thing to go on a jake.