Do heritage breed turkeys sell well?

[DanIndiana]

Just wondering if anyone sells a significant number of these type, as opposed to the commercial breeds. It sure sounds like a better way to go if possible. I tasted one last Thanksgiving that was very good. My brother said he paid a small fortune for it. I didn't get to check the smaller breast issue, but the flavor was noticeably better. The difference seemed alot like the heritage chickens compared to the cornish cross. Deeper, richer.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I can give you a definite MAYBE to your question.

My experience with turkeys is that producing them is the easy part. It's not rocket science after all. A little knowledge and some attention to detail and you can produce plenty of healthy birds for the market.

The hard part is in the marketing of them. Whether you sell them live or processed you have to find folks who understand the value of what you are offering and be willing to pay what they are worth. This is especially the case if you are going to be offering processed birds. Feed conversion of the heritage breeds relative to the broad-breasted hybrids is awful. This is going to make the per pound price of a processed bird pretty high. You'll have to carefully research your market for them and "sell the sizzle" so to speak. The folks who are accustomed to buying a dollar a pound holiday bird at the supermarket are not really the customers you are looking for.

 

[kangababy]

I have been raising the heritage breed for 3 years now. I think onceyou get fully established you can sell them but mainly as day old poults or a few months old.

Like A.T. Hagan said you have to find a market. People will hear you raise turkeys and think you have alot less over head and can sell them cheaper than they buy in the stores when the total opposite is true. we were figuring the other day and it takes about $60 a year to feed 1 turkey. The commercial turkey are breed to reach mature (slaughter age) in 2-3 months top. Where the heritge take 4-6 months.
however those people that understand how your birds are raised (no chemicals) and value their health will buy the turkeys at $40-50 a turkey depending on their age.

You also have to figure in how may breeders you want to keep around and how many babies you want to actually deal with.. Right now I have 10 hens and I am getting 3 dozen eggs a week. So with 25-30 babies hatchigna week we have lots of babies. You also need alot of space and can;t house them with chickens.

My personal opnions unless you want them to raise and sell you are better often buying poults in march/April time frame and raising them each year for Thanksgiving. don;t get me wrong I love my turkeys but they are more work than all of my chickens, pheasants and waterfowl put together.

The same goes with chicken eggs. We sell those as well for $2.50 a dozen and if you have a crate they are $2. Alot of people are like I can get them in the store for $1.50 a dozen.. well go right ahead I tell them.

feel free to email me with any questions

 

[DanIndiana]

Thanks for the help. Kangababy, nice website. That pond is quite impressive. I would love a pond on our 5 acres here, but I'm sure that cost alot.