Wild Turkeys are enormous, fat birds with long legs, broad, rounded tails, and a small head on a narrow neck.
Turkeys are dark entirely with a bronze-green iridescence to the most maximum of their plumage. Their wings are dark, strongly barred with white color.
Their tail and rump feathers are significantly tipped with white or rusty. The bare skin of the neck and head differs from blue to red to grey.
At the start of spring, males gather in fields to perform courtship displays. They blow up their body feathers, widen their tails into an erect fan, and strut slowly while offering a special gobbling call. At night, these birds fly up into trees to roost in flocks.
How Many Feathers Does a Full Grown Turkey Have? You May Be Surprised
Turkeys are remarkable birds with intricate plumage composed of thousands of feathers But have you ever wondered exactly how many feathers a full grown turkey has? The answer may surprise you!
An adult turkey has between 5,000 to 6,000 feathers covering their body. That’s right – five to six thousand! This impressive feather count allows turkeys to stay warm, dry, attract mates, and fly short distances.
In this article, we’ll explore turkey feather basics, look at the different types of feathers, and learn why turkeys need so many plumes.
Turkey Feather Facts
Turkeys don’t grow feathers all over their bodies randomly. Instead, feathers emerge and grow from specific feather tracts or pterylae. Within each pteryla, the feathers are arranged in rows that overlap to provide full coverage across the turkey’s body regions.
Adult turkeys have around 10 pterylae with between 400 to 1500 feathers in each tract. The largest tract runs down the midline of the breast from the neck to the tail. The wing and tail also have multiple tracts to cover these important body parts with layered feathers.
Turkeys molt or replace their feathers each year. They lose and regrow all their feathers over a few months. During this process, adjacent feathers within a tract are lost and grow back sequentially. This ensures the turkey’s skin is never completely bare.
Once turkey reach maturity around 2 years old, they follow an annual molt cycle. In late spring through summer, turkeys shed their old worn plumage to make way for pristine new feathers in time for fall mating season.
Types of Turkey Feathers
What do all those thousands of turkey feathers do? Turkey feathers can be categorized into 8 main types, each with specialized structures and purposes:
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Contour Feathers – These smooth, flexible body feathers provide insulation and water resistance. The interlocking barbicels on contour feathers create a closed, impermeable surface.
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Down Feathers – These are soft, fluffy feathers closest to the skin that trap air for insulation. They lack barbicels so the feather strands don’t interlock.
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Filoplumes – Hair-like feathers with sensory receptors at their tips. They detect feather movement and position.
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Bristle Feathers – Stiff, hair-like feathers around the turkey’s head and neck. They protect the skin.
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Semiplumes – Small downy feathers with a few barbicels partway up the shaft. Provide insulation.
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Scapulars – Large curved contour feathers over the shoulder joints that help cover the wings.
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Tail Feathers – The long, stiff rectrices that make up the fan-shaped turkey tail. Used in displays.
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Flight Feathers – The stiff asymmetrical wing feathers needed to generate lift and thrust to fly. Include primaries, secondaries and coverts.
Why So Many Feathers?
Clearly turkeys rely on their 5,000+ feathers for a variety of critical functions:
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Insulation – Body contour feathers and down trap air close to the skin to retain body heat. Turkey feathers provide better insulation than fur or hair.
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Water resistance – Interlocking barbicels create a water-tight barrier. Feathers shed rain and snow to keep the skin dry.
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Cushioning – Soft down feathers cushion the skin and allow hard quills to flex without discomfort.
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Flight – Specialized flight feathers on the wings and tail provide enough surface area for take off, gliding and controlled landing.
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Displays – Tail feathers are spread to attract mates and warn competitors. Thousands of feathers maximize display size.
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Camouflage – Patterned feathers help turkeys blend into their surroundings to avoid predators and surprise prey.
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Sensory reception – Filoplumes sense feather movement and provide position feedback.
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Protection – Bristle feathers shield the bare skin on the turkey’s head and neck.
Next time you see a wild turkey, take a moment to appreciate the engineering marvel of its feathered form! From head ruffs to tail fans, thousands of specialized feathers allow these birds to make the most of their habitats.
Studying Turkey Feather Structure
Turkey feathers are one of the most incredible things in Turkeys to study because of their size. You can notice the structures of the feathers more efficiently on a turkey than a small sparrow that you might spot in your backyard.
The central shaft holding the feather to the bird’s body gives the feather its structure. The portion of the shaft that spreads beneath the body is called the calamus.
The portion of the shaft that is detected outside of the bird’s body is known as rachis. The vane of the feather is formed up of barbs that spread out from the rachis.
These barbs have small barbules with hooklets that tie feathers together and offer a smooth surface and shape. Using a hand-held magnifier, you can quickly investigate the small details of feathers that provide them with their unique characteristics.
Today, turkeys have achieved global fame because of their meat’s nutritional value and good taste. However, here we want to share the turkey feathers colors of both wild and domesticated turkeys.
You may have noticed only brown and white-colored turkeys, but you might be amazed at the various colors you’ll find of wild and domesticated turkeys. Each of the breeds has particular characteristics and unique feathers type.
Males are banded with multicolored feathers that shine in bronze, gold, green, copper, and red colors. Some wild classes also have different color phases, for example, gray, black, brown, reddish, and even albino.
You can witness domestic turkeys with a wide variety of colorful feathers. The shades of their feathers are also a great indicator of their production.
Both small and giant turkey species have white-colored feathers. Both Broad Breasted Bronze and Bourbon Red species possess dark coloration that glows with russet, copper, and chestnut colors.
Additional shades colored with bright blue and green color are seen in Gray Narragansett, Blue Slate, and Black Spanish turkeys. Turkeys with white-colored feathers are most well-known and broadly raised for meat production.
Are Turkey feathers waterproof?
Yes, the reason is the uropygial gland located at the base of the tail. It secretes an oily, slippery substance formed of mainly fatty acids that help maintain feathers waterproof and flexible. Birds use their bill to spread the oil to each feather.
How many feathers does a baby turkey have?
FAQ
How many feathers does a full turkey have?
Does a turkey have 3500 feathers?
What does it mean when a turkey spreads its feathers?
How many feathers does a Turkey have?
According to the National Turkey Federation, it’s estimated that turkeys have 3,500 feathers at maturity. How many bones does a turkey have? How many times can I reheat foods? How long do you cook a turkey in an oven cooking bag?
How do you know if a Turkey is a domestic turkey?
You can witness domestic turkeys with a wide variety of colorful feathers. The shades of their feathers are also a great indicator of their production. Both small and giant turkey species have white-colored feathers. Both Broad Breasted Bronze and Bourbon Red species possess dark coloration that glows with russet, copper, and chestnut colors.
Why do turkey feathers have different colors?
Colors in feathers are formed from pigments or from light refraction caused by the structure of the feather, or a combination of both. Pigments such as melanin are the colored substances found in turkey feathers. Melanin can produce colors from the darkest black to reddish browns and pale yellows.
Why do turkeys have bristle feathers?
Attached muscles allow the feathers to be held tightly against the body in warm temperatures or fluffed in cold weather to trap air for warmth. Bristle feathers are hair like feathers that function as sensory tools and grow on the turkey’s head and neck. They’re well developed on hens as shown.