Which is more economical...raising chickens for meat or turkeys?

[razvanM]

I raise crossbredd light geese,something like a cotton patch cross that can survive only on grass.But I am planing to get some large toulouse crosses to cross with mine and get a meduim productive goose.In fact a heavy goose x light goose hybrid produces 80 % edible parts.And even my crosses wont be 14 kilos like their toulouse x embden cross ancestor they should still have around 8-10 kilos.
So geese are very economical and I would recomand them rather than a turkey.

 

[mudvstheory]

You know, the more I read, the more I like muscovies and geese over turkeys. You guys are right. I might go with the buff geese (purely from internet reading - any real experience out there?)

The defining factor is the separation for blackhead disease. I can build a single large run with fenced sections for chickens, ducks and geese, and maybe a pair of alpaca, but the turkeys need a separate pen, which would have to be in the middle of the pasture. There's enough confusion about the breeding and hatching and isolation areas, without planning a whole separate pen, with water, drainage, compost, feed storage, etc.

 

[SillyChicken]

I've never raised meat chickens. but I can say I made more money at the holidays on heritage turkeys, than I have on anything else I've raised.