For those who breed turkeys..

[SED]

How big is the pen that you keep them in? Not those who free range, just those that keep their turkeys penned in full time. Do you have them seperated in trios, pairs, quads? What are the dimensions of your pens? WxLxH? I know that the more room, the better- but I am curious to know what breeders really have. Thanks!

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Ours aren't layed out square but they are about 100 to 150 feet per side if you averaged them out and 6 feet high. Depending on the season there is 20 -25 ish per pen with a 4 hen to 1 tom ratio. We have more Bourbon Reds and Midget Whites than any other and the Bronze pen has the least with 10 birds.

Steve

 

[SED]

Steve,

Would that be 20-25 turkeys per 150 sf pen?

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

100 to 150 feet per side

That would average to a square 150 x 150 feet. That would come out to 22,500 square feet

Steve​

 

[SED]

Ahhh, I see.

 

[Lagerdogger]

Steve,

do you try to do any selective breeding or just let them breed with whomever they chose?

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Each variety has there own pen and all the breeder birds are numbered and tagged. Our breeders are all line bred and rotated every 3 years. We have seperate breeding pens that we use for linebreeding. Unless the buyer requests specific lines what we sell is pen bred. This year we are growing out Midget White and Beltsville White. I would guess around a 100 of each, I haven't really counted them they are everywhere. lol Out of that we will keep about 20 -ish Midgets and 15 or so Beltsvilles.

Steve

 

[SED]

Steve,

Is this a full time income/job for you guys? Sounds like you have got the process down pretty good!

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

LOL I wish I could do it full time. They pay for their feed and turn a small profit and keep our freezer filled year round. My wife and I both have day jobs, with that and the birds it's pretty much a sun up to sun down operation but we enjoy it. You would have to go to a more commercial type operation to make any money at it and even then I don't know if it would work on a small scale.

Now a couple years down the road our house will be payed off and I would love to switch to a part time job at age 50. Maybe

Steve

 

[Tunastopper]

I think many people think there is big money in raising turkeys. Some even get into it with the idea of making money. There is no money in turkeys. If anything it will cost you. I enjoy it. Thats my pay.