How do you tell the sex of a poult?

[maineute]

So I just moved to a new house, it had been vacant for a while ad is located in a great location for turkeys. I was excited to see turkeys on a regular basis for the first couple of weeks since I have been here. I have seen several different groups of birds, One flock had 29 or 30 birds.
This has made me have a few questions,
1 how do you tell the sex of a poult? I would guess these poults are 2-3 months old and are approximately 3-4 pounds.
2 I saw another hen this morning and she had poults with her that were the size of an adult robin, I would guess they are a week old, isn't it a little late for birds to be hatching eggs?
3 In the group of 30 there are 3 adult hens and the rest are poults there are some poults that are definately bigger than the rest, are they the males or are they from an earlier hatch? I will try to post one of my trail camera pics later.

[maineute]

[eggshell]

At that age I imagine it is hard to tell. I would bet size is as good a guess as any for that age bird. By fall you can see a little more of the gobbler features in older poults, but I still find it hard to tell in some flocks. Now by late fall you can tell fairly easily, but younger birds are tough.

[retranger]

Nice pics Looks like you are in for an exciting spring, or even fall if you hunt then. If I remember right you're from Maine, what part? I have a nephew in the Bath area. Have spent quite a bit of time in the Acadia Nat. Park

[maineute]

Oh, I hunt them, I have to use bow to hunt them here, too many houses. I live in the southen most tip of Maine, Bath is about 2.5 hours from here.
I had my binoculars out studying them from the window for quite a while and could not tell a difference in them at all, their heads are all the same color. No beards or nubs(spurs) yet. I was trying to figure out the male to female ratio. I just love turkeys.

[onpoint]

I just love turkeys.

Don't we all. I especially like 'em in the fryin' pan Nice pics. I know it's nice to look forward to a crop of new birds

[Mossberg835]

I do know that after a while the jakes will have a darker tint to them than their counterpart jennies. It is hard man right now like you have stated. Might just have to wait till a little later in the summer or fall

[WillowRidgeCalls]

If the birds are in an area where you can watch them feed, and there are more than one family bunch there, watch when they first come in. Pecking order starts at day one for young birds. You'll see the young birds start to square off and the jakes will start to push each other around, until they get the pecking order figured out. the jennies will stay out of their way, but the jakes need to see who is the top bird. As more families bunch up the more they get going. It's a good way to tell which ones are the jakes in the family groups, until they start to get their feathers. That carries all through their life cycle, to be a dominant bird, and it starts right out of the egg. As they get older they will start to bunch up in groups jakes and jennies as they feed, and as they continue to get old the jakes will start to break away and go off on their own to keep trying to get more dominance as they chase the gobblers around in the spring. It takes a lot of watching but you can almost watch a jake go from an egg to a dominant bird in his area. The jennies do the same but not until later on in their life span to become a boss hen, in their group.

[charlie elk]

The WDNR has this pdf you can download to help determine sex of a poult http://dnr.wi.gov/files/pdf/pubs/wm/WM0253.pdf
Great backyard you got there.

[Jellyhead]

Oh, I hunt them, I have to use bow to hunt them here, too many houses.

Those are great photos, makes my heart skip a beat just to see them. I live in a suburban part of Connecticut, and we've got three hens running around with nine poults along a busy road adjoining a greenbelt area. What's the habitat attraction for these birds in your area?