sexing young adult turkeys

This is our first year with turkeys. We got them as poults back in June, so they are about 8 months old. Trouble is, they're still young, so we don't know which are male and which are female. We kinda thought they would be changing enough by this time to distinguish their sexes, but they all look the same. Maybe they are all the same? So far, no eggs and no gobbling (but it's still winter, so maybe that's why).

Most articles on turkeys talk about sexing them as poults, which we didn't do. But trying to find information on sexing grown turkeys hasn't been easy. Searching "sex adult turkeys" returns results that have nothing to do with poultry.

Any turkey experts out there with some guidance?

All I know is not going to be much help!

Decades ago in wildlife management coursework, they talked about sexing turkeys. It has to do with the shape of the poop.  In the male he terminal bit either twisted right or left, clockwise or counterclockwise, one or the other, I can’t remember which.  

Supposedly it’s because of a structure inside the cloaca.  Supposedly you could also figure it out using a feather as a probe to explore the cloaca.

This was early 70s.  It wasn’t against the law or rules or even common decency men to harrass young women for any reason, let alone a woman entering formerly exclusively male disciplines.  There’s a big chance this was just more hazing, or guys wanting to talk about penises…

But a little research on anatomy of male turkey might head you the right direction, though no guarantees!  Some of those turkeys I went to school with are probably still out there!🤣

(turkey is USA slang for a foolish tiresome asinine person). (uuuh, might be archaic slang!)

I have turkeys and the best way would be by behavior at this stage. The males tend to do what I call square dancing around another turkey - especially another male. They will put their wing out and circle around another. That’s really the only way until their snood starts growing more than the females.

I agree with the previous poster.  Ours would always exhibit male behavior, sometimes at a very early age.  The males love to show their dominance by strutting and spreading their wings.  Come spring, your girls will "squat" on the ground when a male comes near them or even when you go to pet them.  This is her getting in a breeding position.  Eventually the males will go through puberty and their voice will change, the head will change, and they will actually begin to fight with the other males.  Once the beards start growing out, you'll know for sure.  However, I did have a blood line that produced the stray female every now and then with a beard so not 100%.    

Leigh Tate wrote:This is our first year with turkeys. We got them as poults back in June, so they are about 8 months old. Trouble is, they're still young, so we don't know which are male and which are female. We kinda thought they would be changing enough by this time to distinguish their sexes, but they all look the same. Maybe they are all the same? So far, no eggs and no gobbling (but it's still winter, so maybe that's why).

Most articles on turkeys talk about sexing them as poults, which we didn't do. But trying to find information on sexing grown turkeys hasn't been easy. Searching "sex adult turkeys" returns results that have nothing to do with poultry.

Any turkey experts out there with some guidance?

The three in your picture look like hens.
At that age, you should be able to tell the gender by behavior.  The fact that you're not getting gobbling and masculine behavior indicates probably all hens.  I can guess my blossoming boys while they are still in the brooder.   My spring 2022 narragansetts have been basically sexually mature for months.  There is NO QUESTION as to my tom/hen status.
Any more photos?  Again, those three are all likely hens.

Thank you to everyone for responding. It's been very helpful. Based on what you all are describing, I have to guess that we have three hens. I think what's made it challenging (besides our inexperience), is that they are all the same so there is no contrast of behavior to compare one to the others. They're about 9 months old, so I think we'd be able to tell by now!

Thomas Dean wrote:Any more photos?  Again, those three are all likely hens.

Yes! And a 40-second video clip.

Our Jersey Buff

One of our Spanish Blacks

The two Blacks together

One of the Blacks is more talkative, but the vocalizations are the same as the other two. Behavior-wise, all three stick with the chickens and come running whenever Mr. Rooster announces treats.

Those are some nice looking turkey hens  I've raised turkeys for decades so can give a few tips for sexing older poults/adults. Females have feathers farther up their neck and just the head is bare, while males' necks are basically bare (a few stray feathers) before adulthood. Males necks, heads and wattles turn brighter colours than females, and their snood (the little dangly bit above the beak) elongates when they're excited. Some breeds of turkey females grow beards frequently. I've had a couple with longer beards than the toms. Males always grow spurs, but it's rare for a female to.  Females make different sounds, sort of like "yulp yulp".  Young birds, both male and female will display and dance, and even the odd adult female will but their tails aren't as wide and are usually longer and narrower at the base than males'.

An interesting fact if you're considering breeding them; a turkey hen can hold onto sperm for up to a year before fertilizing their eggs, in case no males are around. Great species survival tool!

If similarly aged turkey pics will help I've got a couple turkeys about yours age. Tom hatched end of May and the hen beginning of July.  My little tom just started strutting and gobbling last month. My hen started laying two weeks ago, but I think I'm a little ways south of you. All of yours look like hens to me.

With the help of community consensus, we looked around for a male for our three hens. Here is the newest member of our flock.



The ladies were immediately interested, so hopefully, everybody will settle in nicely.

He's a beautiful Bourbon Red tom. I'm sure he and the girls will be very happy and should produce some colourful poults.