Do Hens fan out their tails?

[jlgoinggreen]

We have two Bourbon Red Turkey hens (or at least we think they are hens). We were told the males will puff up and fan their tails, but the females wouldn't. The ones we think are females also look different. Their wattles are not as big as the rest and they don't have the long snood our males have. The rest of our turkeys we are positive are males because they have been puffing out and spreading their tails for some time now, plus they have the huge wattles and the long snood hanging down the side of their face. The ones we think are females have never opened their tail fans, but today they did. Is this normal for females?

 

[ivan3]

Hens fan their tails (parallel to the ground/0°) most often when there is an aerial pred. (look bigger/less tempting) about. They also display for brief periods when hassling with either other hens or toms. Ours can hold their rectrices unfurled and at about 45° for a bit longer (attacking the cat, etc.). Have never seen ours extend rectrices at 90° (perpendicular to ground like a displaying tom) for any more than a minute - opossum was circling their temp. chain link dog run digs (all jennies and jakes were at 90°, don't know how long they could have kept it up because I shot the opossum).

Female poult hassling mother:

ed:clarity

 

[mamawolf544]

My Midget White hens do all the time. It is so funny.

 

[jlgoinggreen]

Thank you for your replies. We were starting to worry if they were actually late blooming males although their head and face look entirely different than our males and although they are all the same age they are much smaller. We were told that females didn't fan their tails at all. Glad to know they do and our hens are actually hens.

 

[SED]

The best way to tell the BR hens are by the color of their feathers. The males will have a thin black edging in their feathers and the hens will have a thin white edging on theirs. To me, it was most evident on their chest feathers.

 

[geepy]

I have a hen that will strut (fan her tail), and also gobble. The hens won't hold the strut as long as the toms. If yours looks different and is smaller it sounds like it's a hen.

 

[Diane00]

I know these are old posts,but thanks for the info.I just had my hen corner the dog in his house with her tail fanned out.I was beginning to question her gender,lol

 

[Allyssa13522]

the hens are usually smaller than toms. They do not fan their trails out.

 

[Sparrow]

Yes they do, my hen Wimpy fans her tail out and struts when she wants to get at my duck, who annoys her from afar. lol