I think bearded hens are similar to multiple bearded gobblers in that they seem to be area specific. Some areas have more than others.
I do believe I see more bearded hens in areas that have multi bearded gobblers and vice versa.
Gman
I've always heard that multi bearded gobblers come from bearded hens. I have a lot of each so it makes sense to me.
I called in a group of turkeys several years ago that had 3 gobblers and 11 hens. 7 of the 11 hens were bearded.
I currently have a group of 9 gobblers on game cam. 2 are double bearded and 2 are triple bearded. I actually killed
a gobbler about 10 years ago that had 7 beards.