Turkeys usually are divided into two group, Heritage and non-Heritage.
Non-Heritage are usually called Big Breasted Bronze and Great White They have double the breast meat and mature about twice as fast as a Heritage breed turkey. But they can have "Leg Problems" so sever that they can walk. Usually these will not make it to maturity. You can avoid the "Leg problem" by using a a combination water soluble vitamin /electrolytic in there water and using wild game starter. non-Heritage can not usually breed naturally and must be artificially inseminated.
Heritage usually are ready to process in about 25 to 30 weeks , non-Heritage usually are ready in about 18 to 22 weeks. This depends on how the were fed and how large of a bird you want. Heritage will dress out at 10 to 18 lbs, depending on the breed and sex. It is possible for a non-Heritage male to grow to over 50 Lbs live weight.
When compared to a chicken they eat and poop more, and can smell offensive. It takes more cleaning then with a chicken. They also grow larger faster, so you need to have appropriate housing ready much sooner then with a Chicken.
Getting a turkey started is also more difficult. They have very poor eye site at first. So you need to place something like paper towels down or an old blanket the first weeks or so. The spread the feed on the covering so they can find it easily. You also need to dig there beak into the water so they can find that also. After the first week or so you should be able to use regular litter.
Heritage breeds can and do fly higher and further then a chicken, so you have to keep this in mind.
When selecting a breed that you are going to raise to sale you kind of need to know the market you will be shooting for. Like finished weight, organic, free ranged and who is going to process the birds.
Many States will not allow you to sale processed birds any place but where they were raised and processed, unless they were processed in an inspected meat processor. So you need to check what local laws govern this. Most states allow the person raising the bird to sale from there location and if they did there own processing without the inspection as long as they are labeled correctly. But that all depends on where you live.
Search this forum for turkeys and you will get a lot of additional information you will need
Tom
