royal palms

[birdbrain5]

hi im looking into getting a breeding pair of royal palms. id like to hatch some babies and sell them. im looking to make a little bit of profit, but im not expecting to make a killing. if anything im just looking to cover my birds feed costs. is this worth while to do? will this breed sell good, and how much would i get for a chick? i see they are about $10 from a hatchery, but just wondering how much a back yard breeder would be able to sell them for. im basically just seeing if this is all worth getting into before putting forth the money to start initially. also- what breed of turkey would sell good if not the palms?
thanks!!

 

[greenriver]

 

[farmerlor]

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Really kinda depends on your area. Start looking around, do a search on Craigslist for turkeys and see what kinds they're selling and what they're charging. Is the area rural, lots of 4-H'ers? Lots of interest in the county fair? Lots of yuppies interested in organic, free-range...blah, blah? I'm in an area with all of the above so I've got over 200 orders in already for my turkey poults and I haven't even put the first egg in the incubator for the season. I charge 7 dollars per day old poult. This is 2 dollars less than the local feedstore charges but we're kind of out in the middle of nowhere. People buy my birds for breeding, showing and eating. I sell my adolescent birds for 25 dollars per bird.

 

[featherbaby]

Quote:
Really kinda depends on your area. Start looking around, do a search on Craigslist for turkeys and see what kinds they're selling and what they're charging. Is the area rural, lots of 4-H'ers? Lots of interest in the county fair? Lots of yuppies interested in organic, free-range...blah, blah? I'm in an area with all of the above so I've got over 200 orders in already for my turkey poults and I haven't even put the first egg in the incubator for the season. I charge 7 dollars per day old poult. This is 2 dollars less than the local feedstore charges but we're kind of out in the middle of nowhere. People buy my birds for breeding, showing and eating. I sell my adolescent birds for 25 dollars per bird.

WOW, I wish I was closer to you! I've been looking for Royal Palms in my area (Jacksonville, FL) and can't find them. I don't have an incubator so I have to have poults or adolescents.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Our area is kind of saturated with RP's. There's been a guy on CL for 2 weeks now trying to sell some really nice looking 1 year olds for 25.00 @ so really like someone said before it all depends, do your research.

 

[birdbrain5]

thanks for the replies. im kind of in the middle of no where too. any local feed stores close only have baby chicks and ducks, no poults. i dont see much in the area for sale on craigslist but anything i have seen and inquired about is always sold very fast. im wondering if i could look at this as a good thing where there wont be a ton of competition in the area?

im going to do more research but i do have a few questions, do turkeys lay an egg everyday like a chicken? if not, how often? how old does a hen need to get before she starts to lay. am i better off with a different breed?

 

[farmerlor]

Depending on where you live turkeys have an actual breeding season or seasons. If the weather is mild all bets are off but here where there's an actual winter breeding season starts NOW and the hens will start laying now or very soon depending on breed. Turkeys lay an average of 3- 4 eggs per week again depending on breed. The breeding season ends (here) in about June or July with a brief resurgence of egg laying in the fall if it gets nice and cool.
When I started breeding turkeys I checked around the area and there really isn't anyone else in my area who raises heritage turkeys so I started and found that there was a HUGE call for them so if you're seeing turkeys moving that fast it sounds like you have a pretty good demand there. Do you see any particular breed being offered and scooped up more than others? Check that out too. Personally, and this is just my own personal opinion y'undertan', I'm not a Royal Palm fan. They are pretty and people buy them for that reason and I even have a few customers who've requested them for showing but they were bred to be ornamental so they really don't have that meaty look that I like in a bird and I really, really wanted to help conserve the heritage breeds AND the fact that the breeds I sell come out top on the taste tests seems to be a big draw for this area where I get the "gotta have organic, free-range bird for Turkey day" crowd. I was worried that if I started selling Palms and the customers weren't happy with the amount of breast meat they got after living off Butterballs all these years that they wouldn't be return customers and that's what I want more than anything is a small select clientele that I can count on year after year. So for me and my customers we have Midgets for a small bird for small families, Bourbons for the medium bird and soon we hope to have Bronzes for LARGE birds (these were customer requested). All heritage, all endangered to some degree or another and all perfect for showing, breeding or eating. And again, this is just what's working for us you could get Palms and be a millionaire in five years while I've ignored my customers requests and am just barely breaking even. LOL!

 

[featherbaby]

Do you know how to make a SMALL FORTUNE in turkey raising?????


Start with a VERY LARGE FORTUNE.

 

[farmerlor]

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[birdbrain5]

farmerlor, thats real good advice, i didnt know that palms werent a real meaty bird. that may possibly be a disadvantage for selling to people who may want to eat them. a dual purpose bird is probably best. i guess the reason i singled out palms was i thought they were real pretty and thought that may attract people to them for ornamental purpose. but maybe a breed like the bourbon would be better, as you say they are a good meat bird, i think they are very pretty too, so it would attract a wider range of people. i have seen some bronze and bourbons online in my area, again not many. i did see one pair of black spanish they moved fast. the bronze pair is still for sale for $100 for some time now. should i assume they arent in great demand and not consider them?