How do you determine the gender of your turkeys?

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Trying to determine the gender of your newly-hatched turkey poults can be difficult, but when they are around 3 weeks of age the males (jakes) may begin to strut. You will see them fan their tail feathers, drop their wings and hold out all of their contour feathers to make their bodies appear larger. They also will hold their heads upright and close to their body. If you see this posing, you can be assured that you have a male turkey. When the males get a few weeks older, you will see the caruncles and head turn a bright red with blues and possibly even purples when they strut. Female turkeys do not strut.

Normally, when one turkey struts, the rest of the males in a group will also strut as they work out their dominance hierarchy within the flock. It is possible, however, that the weaker males will not strut in the presence of the stronger male for fear of aggression. Try separating them from the group one by one, separate but still within view of the other males. You may find that the smaller males will then strut.  Once they know they are separate, if they are male, they will feel more comfortable expressing themselves and will start showing off.  They will start strutting, fanning the feathers and the head coloring will change.