I have never seen a hen turkey with a beard. Got 2 in one flock on my cousins farm.

Next super bowl half time show....the alphabet turkeys

It’s pretty common anymore.

Those two have pretty good beards

That reminds me of an old girlfriend.

No stories, please!

IME around 20-30% of hens have the ability to grow a beard, but they grow slow. The hens pictured may be 5-6 years old.

Did you rub beards???

From my experience in VA, it’s a genetics thing. I have multiple on the farm. I’ve got buddies a few counties over and they’ve never seen one. I believe it’s the same thing with multi-bearded gobblers. I’ve never killed one and I’ve limited most every year for the last 35 years. Friends of mine several counties away kill them yearly.

***simply a Redneck’s opinion… I make no scientific claims nor factual findings***

I killed a hen many years ago with one spur. Never seen that before or since……

Not a thing up here probably not as much inbreeding going on. LOL

I’ve shot several over the years

Legal to shoot in NC.

I see some every year walking thru my place picking grass hoppers. Not as uncommon as was once thought obviously.

Easy to tell a bearded hen Loud squawk and blue feathers

I know a spot up here, and a spot in Iowa that have a fair number of bearded hens. The spot in Iowa I would say that more than half of the hens have beards on that farm.

If it’s got a beard it’s legal in many states. Any states its not allowed that would be interesting to hear about.