[Connor]

Looking to get into turkeys small scale and want to know a bit more about raising them from day old to killing time!

How should turkeys be housed?
Feed requirements?
What age should they be ready for killing?
AND the big question Will they make money for me?

Thanks

[Clansman]

I've got 12 for Christmas and the freezer but I have worked in commercial turkey breeding/rearing/processing.

They cost me roughly £6 each at around 6 weeks old

I reckon I'll spend approx £150 on feed, I get a 25Kg bag of turkey feed for about £10

So around £250 in total for 12 turkeys = 20 ish each. (if you don't factor in your own time)

They like to free range and will forage well and are great grazers eating a lot of grass, leaves, fruit, bugs and pretty much anything they can find.

The more they can do this the less feed you will need to give them.

they can fly a bit when young/lighter and will roost high up if they can.

A dry shelter with as much room as you can give them is ideal.

Plenty food and water and a bale or straw for roosting on and they're like pigs in S***

I feed mine on commercial turkey feed, crumb, rearer, grower etc as per manufacturers instructions, then just finish them off on grain, wheat, barley, maize etc before killing.

Depends on breed but I find my bronze are best left till around 23 weeks so the feathers have all grown back in after the moult and they start to put a bit of fat on, so early July hatch for Christmas kill.

I don't sell mine, the family get them but they kill out around 12-14lb dressed for the hens and around 20lb for the stags.

A fresh bronze turkey from a commercial producer this year will set you back anything from £60-£120 depending on weight

Great characters, they love human company and are very friendly, they follow me around the garden!

[Marches Farmer]

I breed Narragansetts to conserve them, and sell hatching eggs, growers and breeding stock.  They drink a lot when growing so need access to water at all times and eat a lot of grit once growth slows.  They are much calmer than chickens and don't have the nasty habits (feather pecking and so on).  In the summer we house ours in adapted garden sheds built on skids, with a large game panel run and netted top.  We move these onto new ground every week - they trash the grass pretty quickly.  In the Winter they move into an old stable and an adapted weaner house.  Half-round paddock fence poles about 40 cm from the ground are a good perch once they're well grown.  They will happily fly when fully grown, so you need to be calm around them or you get a 15kg missile launching itself at you!

[shygirl]

I used to buy mine at 6 weeks too in early September time. white hybrids, grew like the clappers to be ready by xmas, some we kept on like jan/feb but the bigger they get, the harder their necks are to pull.
id definitely try the 6 week hybrids before day olds. we never lost one out of the 30 odd we have bought over the years.
they were about £6-7 each. off-heat.
we have kept them inside for a while then free range. other times we have kept them in the barn.
feed turkey growers, then finishers if you can get it. layers doesn't make them grow as fast.

beware of transporting them in your car as they STINK to high heaven 

[Beewyched]

We've incubated & reared rare breeds & bronze over the past few years - for us, family & close friends as prezzies    & would agree with the previous posts.  We did try the white hybrids once - ok while they were indoors, but lost a couple when old enough to free-range - just died overnight 

I'm guessing that you are looking into selling, so you will need to factor-in purchasing the resources now legally required  for cull & preparation - set-up & on-going costs, or the costs of transportation and charges for your local abattoir (if they do them).

[MKay]

I breed Narragansetts to conserve them, and sell hatching eggs, growers and breeding stock.  They drink a lot when growing so need access to water at all times and eat a lot of grit once growth slows.  They are much calmer than chickens and don't have the nasty habits (feather pecking and so on).  In the summer we house ours in adapted garden sheds built on skids, with a large game panel run and netted top.  We move these onto new ground every week - they trash the grass pretty quickly.  In the Winter they move into an old stable and an adapted weaner house.  Half-round paddock fence poles about 40 cm from the ground are a good perch once they're well grown.  They will happily fly when fully grown, so you need to be calm around them or you get a 15kg missile launching itself at you!

Would love a breeding trio of Narragansett,  would you be able to set me up with some?

[Marches Farmer]

I'll have trios available late next Spring.  I prefer to have a successful hatch before selling them as breeding birds so I could contact you once I'm sure they're OK. 

[fiestyredhead331]

raising ours was the easy bit........it was the killing, plucking, hanging and gutting that was the most labour intensive!
They are great birds to have around, very comical. Went down to check on them one night to find 4 perched on top of the fence posts, one after the other but because it was near dark they just sat there so just gave them all a wee shove back onto their own side of the fence much to their annoyance..lol