The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: ann_of_loxley on July 07, 2019, 07:31:07 pm
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So we have turkeys...they come and go (from the yard into the freezer!)... So the amount of males/females we have does constantly change depending on what time of year it is! We currently have a lot of babies (unknown sex as of yet!) but among the adults we have the head male (VERY much a male!...always has been! haha) and three females! I know they are females, they lay eggs... and have currently supplied us with the 16 babies we have...Including a lovely (my favourite) female turkey that has actually sat on and hatched her own! Wow! ... But two weeks ago we recently got rid of the second male we had (which leaves us with just the one current full grown male we have) and two of the females have... taken on very male characteristics! They do the tail feather thing the male does. They puff up the way the male does. Even their little long nose thing has grown much longer the way the males is! The only male thing they don't do is gobble like he does! So do turkeys change sex? (I know that may sound silly but I do know that some animals can do this! so....?) Or is it a kind of posturing thing? Are they doing this to prevent being mated with? I don't know... why has this happened because i find it super interesting and perplexing! They all live together by the way in a very large pen and free range during the day together and we have had no issues at all so we are very happy with this arrangement.
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No they don't change sex but females "dance" and compete like males sometimes.