Profit with Turkeys for Thanksgiving?

[Parront]

I am wondering. There are different kinds of chicken that you could raise for meat (ex. red ranger/ red broilers, forgot what they’re called). But CX are very easy to get, as lots of TS and farm stores just openly sell them. Hoping they may have some. But we’d need a place for meat birds nonetheless. My CX: (10 weeks old) She’s almost as big of my biggest hen.
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But for turkeys, I’d want a heritage breed like Bourbon Reds or Blue Slate. I’d probably get one of those 2 if I could. Sell some babies, and raise some for meat, eat some, and sell some. It may not be profit, but hopefully we could get some for free. Then work our ways up. But we are in a ‘farm area’ sorta. NW Florida (South Alabama) has an area with lots of land. But 20 mins away, a road with all the stores, restaurants, and everything in that city, is all on that road. Head in a different direction, another ‘city’ city. I think we could do good finding at least a few people who’d want chicken and maybe, in the future, turkeys.

Have you read the slow food site? Good things there for heritage bird raisers. You want health-conscious, aware customers. Even your Cornish-X birds are raised healthier than the store birds. Do you use antibiotics? Industrial chickens can not survive with out them. Your girl in the photo has already lived twice as long as a store bird, eaten grass & bugs & scratched in the dirt. Seen the sun. Just that photo is all you need to sell your Cornish-X at a farmer's market. For feed conversion to meat, nothing can beat those Cornish-X. Read some of Joel Salatin's books, if you have not. For a toe in the water, the birds you have are a good place to start. Making money with them is more about selling them, than raising them, as others here have mentioned. Word of mouth is the best way to sell them, in my opinion. I had neighbors for years asking me when I was getting more geese!

 

[Birdie2019]

Have you read the slow food site? Good things there for heritage bird raisers. You want health-conscious, aware customers.
Do you use antibiotics? Industrial chickens can not survive with out them.
Read some of Joel Salatin's books, if you have not.

What do you mean, slow food site? Is it an article on this website, or somewhere else?
What kind of antibiotics? For when they were sick, yes. My CX has Coccidiosis and we treated her.
I have not, what are they about?

 

[R2elk]

Do you use antibiotics? Industrial chickens can not survive with out them.

Obviously you haven't seen Tyson chicken ads. Check your "facts".

 

[Parront]

Here is the slow food site. Slow food is what you are doing. https://slowfoodusa.org/
Coccidia are a protozooan, you did not give your birds an anti-bionic if you gave them the medication for that.

 

[Parront]

Obviously you haven't seen Tyson chicken ads. Check your "facts".

Let's just say, us home raisers have a very difficult time getting any antibiotics. Big poultry farms have a vet on payroll, to prescribe them as needed. Tetracycline is no longer much use for humans due to the Ag industry.

 

[Parront]

I have not, what are they about?

He wrote "Pastured Poultry Profits" about 20 years ago. It is on Amazon. It is a book about your question.

 

[R2elk]

Let's just say, us home raisers have a very difficult time getting any antibiotics. Big poultry farms have a vet on payroll, to prescribe them as needed. Tetracycline is no longer much use for humans due to the Ag industry.

I have no problem raising any of my poultry without the use of any antibiotics. I do not use medicated feeds either.

 

[Birdie2019]

I have no problem raising any of my poultry without the use of any antibiotics. I do not use medicated feeds either.

Agreed. Well I don’t use medicated feed, and I haven’t used any antibiotics except for treatments for illnesses that they have.

 

[Parront]

I have no problem raising any of my poultry without the use of any antibiotics. I do not use medicated feeds either.

According to the industry's own web site, somewhere around 50% of industrial chicken is raised using antibiotics. I believe turkey is very dependent on antibiotics.
https://www.nationalchickencouncil.org/questions-answers-antibiotics-chicken-production/

 

[Parront]

Agreed. Well I don’t use medicated feed, and I haven’t used any antibiotics except for treatments for illnesses that they have.

That makes your chickens a lot more valuable to customers who are aware of this issue.