How to determine sex of turkeys?

[Sunny Side Up]

Please excuse me if this topic has already been discussed at length. We're new to turkeys and want to know. I recently was given a lovely young Blue Slate tom (we named Squidward) and 2 eggs that a bantam hen hatched 6 weeks ago. We're hoping that at least one of the poults is a hen for Squiddy's sake.

They're mixed-breed poults. One is larger than the other. The larger one will respond when we make the "ook-ook-ook-ook" call, making a similar sound. The smaller one never makes that sound, but will sometimes make the pinging noise, somewhat like the sound a drip of water makes. I've heard our adult tom make that noise too, but my son says he's heard turkey hens make that sound too. He's no expert so he could be mistaken.

What other sights or sounds should we watch & listen for? At what age can you start to make a good guess what their sexes are?

Thank you for your advice on this matter!

 

[ColbyNTX]

You can be sure of sex at 12-14 weeks. Both sexes can make all sorts of noises when they are young and even the hens can strut.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Thank you for this information. So what should be be looking/listening for at 12-14 weeks? It's so interesting to us, having kept many other types of poultry for so long, to finally get to know turkeys in such an up-close & personal way.

 

[Lagerdogger]

Thank you for this information. So what should be be looking/listening for at 12-14 weeks?

Tom's snood will be elongating, and larger when contracted than hens.
Tom will have larger caruncles
Tom will have larger feet and thicker legs
Tom will be darker, if the same breed. Hens of most colors have lighter breast feather margins than toms.
Toms will gobble
Toms will be larger overall
Toms will display for longer periods. Hen displays are usually brief. Tails are often not completely raised.
Toms neck will be bare of feathers, hens usually have a line of small feathers up the back of their neck.

I'm sure there's more, but this is what comes to mind...

 

[Sunny Side Up]

That's extremely helpful, thank you! My two poults are 7 weeks old, mixed breeds, we're really hoping for at least 1 hen to keep with our tom.

 

[PekinBantam]

The larger one will respond when we make the "ook-ook-ook-ook" call, making a similar sound. The smaller one never makes that sound, but will sometimes make the pinging noise, somewhat like the sound a drip of water makes. I've heard our adult tom make that noise too, but my son says he's heard turkey hens make that sound too. He's no expert so he could be mistaken.

My hen does that noise when she is separated from our tom, as for sings to look for...
1-Toms strut and gobble
2-The snood and carucles are longer/larger

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Well, the poults are 18 weeks old now. One is still much larger than the other. But they are mixed-breed turkeys, one looks like a Royal Palm and the other is a pretty light brown. (The white & black one is the larger one). Both still have very tiny snoods, like the end of a Q-tip. The larger one has a bigger & redder wattle. Could they both be hens?

 

[PekinBantam]

Could you post pics?

 

[Cottage Rose]

When do they start to gobble?
Mine are around 6 months old just do the ook, ook and chirps.
Do females gobble?

 

[aoxa]

When do they start to gobble? Mine are around 6 months old just do the ook, ook and chirps. Do females gobble?

My females don't gobble, but they did strut (sort of) and started going so very young. My male started to strut at about 4-5 months old. He is gobbling. If you have a few of them, a tom will really stand out at 6 months. They all make the same calls that I've noticed. Except that the tom gobbles.

You can easily see the difference in size here. They are all the exact same age. Born early June. This picture was taken early October. They were 4 months old.