Sex that turkey!

User avatar
windwalkingwolf
Poultry Guru - pullet level
Posts: 3567
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:31 pm
Answers: 3
Location: Frankville, Ontario
x 4899

Sex that turkey!

Post by windwalkingwolf » Tue Apr 03, 2018 5:04 pm

This one is really confusing me. Bit of backstory: ,She' hatched early last summer, and was the only survivor of a group of 9, thanks to my first bout with coccidia. She grew very slowly after that, and was still quite tiny when I put her in with the rest of the turkeys for winter. When she saw the toms, she immediately prostrated herself, and otherwise made every attempt to have them notice her. @Killerbunny , this is the "little jenny" that came to look for goodies on processing day. In the cold of January, she started looking unwell to my eyes: a bit droopy and had lost weight, so I separated her to see if she was getting enough to eat (she wasn't) or if there was something more sinister going on (nope).Well, she hit a growth spurt, and is now taller and heavier than any other turkey hen here. When I reintroduced her to turkey gen pop, something had changed...the boys didn't just ignore her, they ran her off. She has NEVER gobbled or strutted, ever. She hates roosters as the other hens do (toms ignore them). She has no beard starting, but even if she did, it's common in these Beltsvilles so would not be a reliable indicator of gender.
But, watching her--the size, the way she walks, how her little snood drops when she's angry (not anywhere near the size of the jakes, and skinny at the base like a jens', but longer than any girls I've seen) I'm really starting to think I have either an underdeveloped jake, or a masculinized jenny.
Thoughts, guesses, opinions?
20180403_162528.jpg
20180403_162641.jpg
1522789163277.jpg
1522789196192.jpg
Sorry for the crappy pictures, turkey is quite miffed at me, and wouldn't you know it, low battery and so flash quit working. I'll try to get better ones later.
0

User avatar
kenya
Henny Penny
Posts: 4446
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 5:14 pm
Answers: 1
Location: Stratford,ontario
x 4319

Re: Sex that turkey!

Post by kenya » Tue Apr 03, 2018 5:51 pm

Boy
1

User avatar
thejonesboy
Turkey Wrangler
Posts: 348
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2015 6:38 am
Location: Kingston Ontario
x 394
Contact:

Re: Sex that turkey!

Post by thejonesboy » Tue Apr 03, 2018 6:04 pm

I'm going to guess the first transgender turkey in Canada.
3
Andy :egg:

User avatar
WLLady
Stringy Old Soup Pot Hen of a Moderator
Posts: 5613
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:55 pm
Answers: 5
Location: Rural near West Lorne and Glencoe
x 8527

Re: Sex that turkey!

Post by WLLady » Tue Apr 03, 2018 6:44 pm

It is likely a feminized male/masculanized female lol. I know bear with me. In wild turkeys the subordinate males - ie the ones that are not strutting and breeding are technically male (zz) but the genes that drive male characteristics are feminized while the characteristic for femaleness are masculinized....so its a male turkey expressing some girly traits and toning down the boyish traits. However it is male by genotype. Just the protein expression is not as "manly" (or as tom-like) as a dominant male. The give away was the growth spurt during or just after being separated. He was no longer subordinant because he was removed from the others. So testosterone switches on and growth and snood development. Boy....but will be smaller than a full tom and likely will never be as tom-like unless totally isolated from other males for a long period of time.
6
:giraffe: Pet quality wheaten/blue wheaten ameraucanas, welsummers, barred rocks, light brown leghorns; Projects on the go: rhodebars, welbars

User avatar
thejonesboy
Turkey Wrangler
Posts: 348
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2015 6:38 am
Location: Kingston Ontario
x 394
Contact:

Re: Sex that turkey!

Post by thejonesboy » Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:00 pm

So I was right :yay:
3
Andy :egg:

User avatar
Killerbunny
Poultry Guru - total zen level
Posts: 7869
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 12:04 pm
Answers: 4
Location: Brockville
x 10155

Re: Sex that turkey!

Post by Killerbunny » Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:09 pm

OK so I wonder if she developed from an unfertilised egg? Parthenogenesis has been recorded in Beltsvilles at MD and this work was continued at Guelph U. I wonder if he/she is a mule?
Just thinking but my first year breeding them I had a very subordinate male who was never quite right or mature (not sure if you met him Jan, Captain Stupid). He was very sweet but "off". On processing him the testes were very underdeveloped compared to others in the same hatch.
4
:iheartpto:
Beltsville Small White turkeys.
Mutt chickens for eggs
RIP Stephen the BSW Tom and my coffee companion.
RIP Lucky the Very Brave Splash Wyandotte rooster.
RIP little Muppet the rescue cat.
:turkey:

:bat:

User avatar
windwalkingwolf
Poultry Guru - pullet level
Posts: 3567
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:31 pm
Answers: 3
Location: Frankville, Ontario
x 4899

Re: Sex that turkey!

Post by windwalkingwolf » Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:38 pm

:sighke1:
Poop.
That's what I was afraid of. He/she was probably going to become :turkeycook: anyway, but she was such a petite, adorable 'girl' that I clung to hope she'd eventually be good enough to breed. Being the only one to survive a parasite that knocked the rest down in under a week, I was interested in passing on those genes....but I've got two BSW Jake's that are 10 times better than Bruce Jen (haha, get it?) will likely ever be. I'm still holding a sliver of hope though that it's just a big girl :xfingers:
3

User avatar
Happy
Poultry Guru - pullet level
Posts: 3883
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:46 am
Location: Wasaga Beach
x 10914

Re: Sex that turkey!

Post by Happy » Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:53 pm

Lol love the name!
1

User avatar
WLLady
Stringy Old Soup Pot Hen of a Moderator
Posts: 5613
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:55 pm
Answers: 5
Location: Rural near West Lorne and Glencoe
x 8527

Re: Sex that turkey!

Post by WLLady » Tue Apr 03, 2018 9:59 pm

He probably would never breed anyways....but would likely taste quite good
2
:giraffe: Pet quality wheaten/blue wheaten ameraucanas, welsummers, barred rocks, light brown leghorns; Projects on the go: rhodebars, welbars

User avatar
windwalkingwolf
Poultry Guru - pullet level
Posts: 3567
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:31 pm
Answers: 3
Location: Frankville, Ontario
x 4899

Re: Sex that turkey!

Post by windwalkingwolf » Wed Apr 04, 2018 2:01 am

More and more this evening, Bruce makes me think of a ten week old BOY, except for his obviously adult size. The snood isn't wedge shaped, but is bigger than I would expect to see on a girl, even one p.o.'d at a rooster.
@killerbunny (hmm mentions aren't working tonight) it's funny you say that about the parthenogenesis, because when Bruce started to finally grow, I tagged Bruce so I would be able to tell Bruce from the one hen I have that was, at the time, absolutely identical, even to a single black-tipped feather in the exact same spot. As if clones of each other. Now I'm thinking you may very well be right, and Bruce is a clone. Only way to find out for sure what's going on inside, is to process. I'll let Bruce have a good summer getting fat(ter) on grass and bugs first though.
1

Post Reply

Return to “Gamebird Discussion”