During the spring mating season, the head of the sexually aroused adult gobbler develops a combination of red, white, and blue colors in varying degrees. The sex of a wild turkey or a flock can be determined by signs. Hen droppings are spiral shaped, but gobblers typically leave an elongated J-shaped dropping. Jakes, or yearling gobblers, normally weigh nine to thirteen pounds and have short, rounded spurs and a beard less than five inches long. Older toms generally weigh between sixteen and twenty-one pounds and have spurs longer than half an inch and a beard more than seven inches long.
Wild turkeys segregate into flocks on the basis of sex and, to some extent, age.
One or more successful hens often form multiple hen-brood flocks in late summer and fall. Adult males form flocks that rarely associate with hens outside of the breeding period. In late fall, young males separate from the brood and form jake flocks. Occasionally, juvenile gobblers will associate with adult gobblers. Within a flock there is a hierarchy or pecking order in which a rank of dominance is established.