Turkey Identification

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Turkey Identification

• Original by Derek Newham
• Modified by Georgia Agriculture Education
  Curriculum Office- July 2004

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Male or Female?

• Hens are usually smaller
• They are duller in color
• Hens droppings are in a mound shape.
• Toms droppings are J-shaped.

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The Hens Egg

• The female turkeys egg is white with plashes of
  brown, unlike that of a chickens egg which is a
  solid color.
• Incubation period is about 28 days.
• Lots of animals love to feast on turkey eggs.

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Whos Your Daddy?!

• You can distinguish between Toms and Jakes by
  their beards.
• Mature Toms beard will usually exceed 6 inches.
• A Toms spur length is about 1 in.
• Jakes usually have nubs.

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Cont.
Tom

• A mature Tom can also be determined by the length
  of the tail feathers when in strut.
• A Jakes tail feathers are uneven as shown.

Jake
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Exceptions to the Rules.

• Some abnormalities that have been discovered.
• Hens have been known to grow beards.
• Hens have also been known to gobble.
• Toms are capable of growing multi-beards. These
  toms are known as non-typical.

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More info

• To find out more about the sounds of turkeys or
  anything else, a good website is NWTF.org.