The sex of young turkeys can be distinguished by the appearance of a tuft of hairs on the breast of males between 3 and 4 months old. The tuft usually does not appear on the breasts of the females until they are much older, and the hairs of the tuft are shorter and finer than those on males. The hock joints on the males are much broader and heavier than on the females. The sex of well-grown Bronze turkey poults can be distinguished by examining the mature breast feathers which appear at 12 to 14 weeks. Those of the males are bronze black with no white, whereas the tip of those of the females have a narrow white edge. Day-old poults may be sexed as is done with baby chicks by examining that part of the sex organs that can be seen at the vent. MARKING When large numbers of turkeys are raised it is advisable to adopt some system of marking the poults that enables the grower to keep a record of the age and breeding of the different broods, as this is of assistance in selecting early hatched birds for breeding and slaughter purposes. Such a system also makes it possible to separate the poults out of special matings from the rest of the flock or from neighboring flocks. The poults may be marked by punching holes in the webs between the toes or slitting these webs. Different webs may be punched or slit for different broods, and thus provide a record of all turkeys raised. Heavy, aluminum, clinch pigeon-wing bands are well adapted for marking young turkeys. The bands can be applied in two ways: According to the first, the band is first made round and clinched, then slipped over the baby poult's toes and flattened so that it will not come off but at the same time will allow for some growth of the leg. When the poult is about 4 weeks old the band is transferred to the wing by unclinching and inserting it in a hole made in the middle of the web between the first and second joints of the wing and about one-fourth inch from the edge. The band is again clinched and made round so that it is not easily flattened and its lettering can be read easily. According to the second method of application the band is put directly into the wing at hatching time, a thin knife blade being used to make the hole for the band, near the edge of the web and midway between the joints of the wing. Turkey poults, when good sized, may be tattooed on the wing for identification. When the breeding turkeys are selected as they approach maturity, heavy wing bands or heavy permanent leg bands may be used if the birds were not marked at an earlier age. FEEDING GROWING TURKEYS