Sunday, March 18, 2012

Spring is in the air!

Turkey hens like snappy male accessories such as wattles and combs. These toms are sure showing their beauty!

A few fun facts:
*Only toms (male turkeys) gobble, the hens make a cluck sound. Our toms tend to follow the leader tom, if he gobbles, they all do!
*When the toms strut, they are showing off, or posturing, for the hens. They puff up their feathers and fan their tails out while shaking their body feathers.
*The toms have a large skin flap down its neck called a wattle, below that are small, wart-like structures called the caruncle. These will turn a bright red to attract females and a pale blue to cream when he's not in the mood. The flap of skin attached to the top of the beak is called a snood. This is used to attract females during strutting (mating ritual). It will become elongated and distend when the tom is aroused and will contract at other times.



Blue Slate hen, Bourbon Red toms


1 comment:

  1. Very cool, I didn't know most of that (though I know that when one gobbles they ALL do! We've got a turkey farm up the road from us and they get LOUD!) I hope we get turkeys of our own some day, I think they'd be fascinating to watch!

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