Turkey's age
06-30-2004, 10:02 AM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Calif
Posts: 1,894
RE: Turkey's age
Loulou welcome to the board here..
Congratulations on harvesting one heck of a gobbler!!
I would say your gobbler is better than 4 years of age..heres a good article dealing with aging wild turkeys....
HOW DO YOU TELL THE AGE OF TURKEYS?
Turkeys are most easily grouped into 2 age categories-- juveniles (juvenals), which are less than 1 year old, and adults, which are 1 year or older. "Poults" (sometime erroneously called "chicks") are newly-hatched baby turkeys. They are often called "poults" throughout the first few months of life. Juvenile male turkeys are colloquially called "jakes" and juvenile females, "jennies". Adult males are often called "toms" or "gobblers" and adult females are referred to as "hens".
Aging Methods:
(1) Tail Feathers: Young turkeys, from about 4-5 months of age until their second autumn, can be determined from older turkeys by the molting pattern of the large tail feathers. These feathers are called "retrices" (singular, "retrix"). These feathers are molted from the outside inward from both sides at once. In the bird's first fall and until spring, the center 4-6 feathers will be longer than the outside ones because of a partial molting pattern. By the second fall, the molt has caught up and the retrices will be all the same length. That is, in the first fall and the spring thereafter, these juvenile birds will show an uneven tail pattern when the retrices are spread out. The center feathers will protrude a few inches beyond the outside ones.
(2) Wing Feathers: The outer wing feathers (9th and 10th "primary" feathers, counting from the outside of the wing inward) show a distinct pattern in juvenile birds as compared to adults. In the first fall, these 2 primary feathers are not replaced in the molt. They are pointed, dark near the tip, and show little or no white barring. In adults, in which these feathers are molted along with the others, the 9th and 10th primaries are rounded near the tip (or worn down, if from a strutting male) and have white barring all the way to the tip.
(3) Spur: For adult males, spur length is somewhat useful in determining age, but it is not an absolute character. Generally, a spur less than 1/2-inch represents a juvenile bird, with those 1/2 to 7/8 inch from 1-year-old birds, and those 7/8 inch and larger are from birds 2 years or older.
(4) Beard: Beards may also show a differentiation by age, with 3 to 5 inch ones from 1-year-old birds ("jakes"), 6 to 9" from 2-year-olds, and 10" or larger from gobblers aged 3 years or more. The reliability of this aging method is also somewhat suspect, though, as beards often wear off or break.
(5) Leg Color: The color of the lower leg (metatarsus) can provide a rough indication of age. Young birds have a considerable amount of dark pigment in the leg and foot scales, producing a brownish or gray color. As the birds age, this pigmentation is lost and the leg color turns more pinkish or reddish.
(6) Other: Young birds up to 7 months old may be aged in the hand using specialized data on leg length, the molting of the primary feathers, and body weight. Aside from that, the only way to age a turkey with certainty (beyond differentiating juveniles from adults) is if the turkey is banded..
Congratulations on harvesting one heck of a gobbler!!I would say your gobbler is better than 4 years of age..heres a good article dealing with aging wild turkeys....HOW DO YOU TELL THE AGE OF TURKEYS?
Turkeys are most easily grouped into 2 age categories-- juveniles (juvenals), which are less than 1 year old, and adults, which are 1 year or older. "Poults" (sometime erroneously called "chicks") are newly-hatched baby turkeys. They are often called "poults" throughout the first few months of life. Juvenile male turkeys are colloquially called "jakes" and juvenile females, "jennies". Adult males are often called "toms" or "gobblers" and adult females are referred to as "hens".
Aging Methods:
(1) Tail Feathers: Young turkeys, from about 4-5 months of age until their second autumn, can be determined from older turkeys by the molting pattern of the large tail feathers. These feathers are called "retrices" (singular, "retrix"). These feathers are molted from the outside inward from both sides at once. In the bird's first fall and until spring, the center 4-6 feathers will be longer than the outside ones because of a partial molting pattern. By the second fall, the molt has caught up and the retrices will be all the same length. That is, in the first fall and the spring thereafter, these juvenile birds will show an uneven tail pattern when the retrices are spread out. The center feathers will protrude a few inches beyond the outside ones.
(2) Wing Feathers: The outer wing feathers (9th and 10th "primary" feathers, counting from the outside of the wing inward) show a distinct pattern in juvenile birds as compared to adults. In the first fall, these 2 primary feathers are not replaced in the molt. They are pointed, dark near the tip, and show little or no white barring. In adults, in which these feathers are molted along with the others, the 9th and 10th primaries are rounded near the tip (or worn down, if from a strutting male) and have white barring all the way to the tip.
(3) Spur: For adult males, spur length is somewhat useful in determining age, but it is not an absolute character. Generally, a spur less than 1/2-inch represents a juvenile bird, with those 1/2 to 7/8 inch from 1-year-old birds, and those 7/8 inch and larger are from birds 2 years or older.
(4) Beard: Beards may also show a differentiation by age, with 3 to 5 inch ones from 1-year-old birds ("jakes"), 6 to 9" from 2-year-olds, and 10" or larger from gobblers aged 3 years or more. The reliability of this aging method is also somewhat suspect, though, as beards often wear off or break.
(5) Leg Color: The color of the lower leg (metatarsus) can provide a rough indication of age. Young birds have a considerable amount of dark pigment in the leg and foot scales, producing a brownish or gray color. As the birds age, this pigmentation is lost and the leg color turns more pinkish or reddish.
(6) Other: Young birds up to 7 months old may be aged in the hand using specialized data on leg length, the molting of the primary feathers, and body weight. Aside from that, the only way to age a turkey with certainty (beyond differentiating juveniles from adults) is if the turkey is banded..
