I believe the Toms are supposed to have the bigger breast and that is usually what I get.

Alexa

Thanks, Alexa!

I was brought up to believe that the hens had the bigger breast and the toms bigger legs! We had an egg man that raised his own turkeys, he would deliver them for Thanksgiving and Christmas. My Nana would always order the hens because they had the bigger breasts, which meant more white meat for us!

I like dark meat so the size of the breast doesn't enter into the equation for me, LOL.

Actually, I usually buy the hens for a couple of reasons. They are usually smaller, when I buy turkeys from the Amish those big Toms can weigh 40 pounds. 25 pounds is a "small" turkey. The other reason is that Grandma always told me the hens were more tender, and I never argued with Grandma, LOL.

Annie

I buy a hen too....unless I need a huge bird. Around here all the birds over 20 pounds are Toms.
But I really think you can't beat a 15 or 16 pound hen for good....and if you need to, buy 2!
Linda C

Never thought of it..I buy whatever..this year I pre ordered a free range in the 12-16 lb range...we'll see what "it" is when I pick it up next week....
Does it even say on packaging??

Interesting. I always get what the Amish farmer here at the market calls a "young Tom" and they are usually 12 - 14 lbs. Maybe he is pulling my leg on this?

Alexa

Alexa, probably not. It's common for bigger poultry raising facilities to sell the males for meat while keeping the hens for production stock.

I just happen to have one of those really small farmers that sells both, he only has space to keep a certain number and so he sells either and keeps only enough hens to be certain he has turkeys next year.

Annie

I bought turkeys from a local Amish farmer when we lived in NY state and was told by farmer that it didn't matter whether it was a Tom or a Hen, that the breast was basically the same size for the same size bird. Regardless of gender. So a 15 pound Tom's breast was the same size as a 15 pound Hen's.

Ann

Found this...

Tom vs Hen: In days past hens gave you more white meat to dark meat. With recent selective breeding Hens (female) and Toms (males) have about the same ratio of white to dark meat (mostly white meat). The difference these days is the size. Hens typically weigh in between 8 to 16 pounds and Toms are generally 10 to 32 pounds. What this means is that the weight will determine whether you buy a Hen or a Tom

Thansk foas - that was gerat info!

Alexa

Thanks everyone...I'll find out Sunday what we are having!

I won't be able to tell. Ordered a free-range turkey breast 10-12 lb. One honking big turkey by my own standards!