How fast do they grow?

[AC HAMMER]

I'm seeing a lot of birds around my hunting property that have what I'm guessing to be 5-8 inch beards. I was wondering how much longer will their beards and spurs grow before season? I've read a lot of different things online so I was wondering if anyone on here has an answer?

[Blong]

My best guess would be 4.5"/year. So about 3/8" per month.

[Marc]

It is my understanding that turkey beards grow about 4-5 inches per year.  So best case scenario is a bit under 1/2" per month (about .42")...

Of course diet and habitat can play a role on beard growth as well, and I would suspect that there are times of year in which beard growth occurs at more or less rapid rates depending on food supplies and bird behavior.

First bird I killed was a jake with a 7-8" beard...  An unusual situation, and I would guess the bird was born early the previous spring (I identified the bird as a jake due to the uneven tail-fan)...  Jakes with longer beards were probably hatched early, and birds with shorter beards hatched later.

Last year we had some late sring/early summer storms and there was an obvious attempt of some birds to re-nest...  I would guess that if we had as good as a hatch as I suppose, I will see some jakes with varying beard lengths (I have not actually seen a jake at all in my area in the last 2 seasons).

[Blong]

I think you got some good info on the beards. The only thing I would add is in northern climates beards can get beat up quite a bit some years. The get wet and freeze to things or ice builds up on them and breaks them. Then there is disease or stress that leads to lack of melanin which weakens the beard and then it can break. But that can be seen by the light coloration on the tip of the beard if it broke.


Spurs are another matter. There is a lot of myths and "good ol' boy" knowledge about the growth of spurs. Not much real scientific data.

I can give you a small sample of some hard data though. I shot 2 banded birds one year. They were banded as part of a study. One was 6 years old and had 1 1/8 inch spurs and the other was 7 years old and had 1 3/8 inch spurs. My buddy shot a banded bird that was 3 years old and had 1 5/16 inch spurs. All these birds were from the same area and habitat. The 3 year old and 6 year old were banded on the same day from the same wintering flock.

My take is spur growth is genetic. They grow at different rates and to different lengths. Once a bird hits 3 years old it is no longer possible to age it with any real accuracy.

Very interesting, I believe genetics also. ga and fla produce some really long spurs. I'm not understanding how the 3 &6 year old were banded the same day though, seems they would have had to guess the age of the older .

[Blong]

I'm not understanding how the 3 &6 year old were banded the same day though, seems they would have had to guess the age of the older .

They were both banded as jakes on the same winter day & trapping (considered 1 year old by the biologists for all intents and purposes). One was killed 2 years after banding by my buddy (I was with him BTW...a cool hunt) The other was killed by me 5 years after banding and actually only about 100 yards from were my bud killed his.

Now that is a great story! Thanks for sharing. I know I have killed some older birds that were 1.825.