Pricing turkey poults?

[Rambar Ranch]

I have some extra turkey poults from an order from Porter Turkeys. Their 8 weeks old and I want to sell some of the varieties that I don't like/want/need for breeding. What would be a good starting price to ask for them? If the price is different for breeds this is what I have: 1 Silver dapple hen, several narrengansetts, 1 golden narragansett tom, some calicos and a few extra blue slate toms.
I forgot to add I'm located in south central texas if that changes prices any.

thanks,
ray

 

[Omniskies]

I've heard mixed things about Porter's turkeys so I'm not sure if you'll be able to get more, less or the same from having them. Here is a quote from one turkey breeder I spoke with:

He sells turkey feathers and must cross all types of turkeys together to get all kinds of colors. He develops names for all of them to make people think he has pure breeds. He even tried to stop me from calling my turkeys from the BWB, Sweetgrass. He was told that I had the recognized Sweetgrass and they didn't know what he had, but it looked like a Sweetgrass with a lot or orange on it.

Either way, you should be able to get anywhere from $5-15 for young poults. I normally sell my poults for $15ish until they hit a few weeks old. By the time they're a month they're $20 each. It may take a few weeks, but I always have my poults sold - practically always before they are three months old.​

 

[Rambar Ranch]

Thanks, I was leaning on the $20 mark since their already 2 months. Do you charge the same for a hen as a tom or the same no matter the sex?

 

[Omniskies]

Once I can sex them then I charge more for the hens. So far it's impossible for me to sex a turkey at two months old.

 

[Frosty]

The Porters do come up with some beautiful colors... I believe most of them breed true, so what is wrong with naming his varieties? Even varieties like the Narrigansett and Bourbon Red started as wild turkeys. If you look at the American Poultry Association, Jersey Buff and Sweetgrass aren't even listed. The recognized varieties of turkeys are: Bronze, Narragansett, White Holland, Black, Slate, Bourbon Red, Beltsville Small White, Royal Palm. But if anyone could get their hands on some Nebraskans (pretty much believed to be extinct), you could make a lot of money off of the poults since there is a pretty high interest in them.

All that being said, I live in a rural area and am lucky if folks will pay $25 for an adult turkey. I had adult ducks listed for $5 each to thin down the flock once, and someone called thinking that for $5 they could get a dressed and delivered duck. Not likely!

My advice is to factor in the cost of the poults and how much you put into raising them and decide what you think is a fair price (and what you would be willing to pay). If they don't sell fast enough, you can always come down. I usually pad the price a little so that I can be 'talked down' a bit... everyone likes to get a bargain and some folks just pay the asking price and you get a little extra.