turkeys

EastTyrone

considering buying a handful of turkeys next year, what would prices for feed, wormers, all that jazz, and what way would selling them for christmas go, would i have to kill the birds myself? how do i charge for birds?

johngalway

That's something that's been on my own mind lately as well

jap gt

EastTyrone wrote: »

considering buying a handful of turkeys next year, what would prices for feed, wormers, all that jazz, and what way would selling them for christmas go, would i have to kill the birds myself? how do i charge for birds?

it depends what you want to do with the birds, are you keeping them for yourself/few friends or selling them to a butcher.

redzerologhlen

EastTyrone wrote: »

considering buying a handful of turkeys next year, what would prices for feed, wormers, all that jazz, and what way would selling them for christmas go, would i have to kill the birds myself? how do i charge for birds?

I dont know the figures exactly but the girlfriends parents keep them every year. They have tried both the white and the bronze and they reckon there is nothing to be made out of them. They only got 10 this year for themselves and family. I think the gave €7 a piece for them as poults and they said its unreal what they eat. The bronze ones are very slow to put on weight compared to the white ones but they are meant to be way nicer. Those 10 have been eating 2 bags of turkey finisher a week for the last few weeks mixed with grain aswell and it aint cheap stuff. Theres always a risk the fox will wipe you out aswell. You wont get more than €60 around here for a turkey because too many people have them, it might be different in your area. Im sure if you were buying in bigger bulk they could be bought a good bit cheaper and so could the feed. They are trying their hand at broilers now. Was 35 euro for 50 day olds so its a lot cheaper to start out. They are fit to kill in 12 weeks and they have sold free range chickens for 20 euro before. They reckon there is a lot more out of them. You would probably do better if you could buy day old poults in bulk off a hatchery and keep them on till the have their feathers and sell on again. They wont eat much at that age and should leave a nice bit of money and you could keep a few for yourself out of it. Thats my 2 cents on it anyway. The best thing you could do is to try it out yourself next year. You might not make much but shouldnt lose anything either and it will give you a better idea of the figures involved. Im sure they could be reared cheaper than the way they are doing it but I cant see the margin being enough to leave a fortune. Tis a handy way of gathering a bit of money before the christmas though.

cloudroost

I keep a few (10) white turkeys myself for myself and family members and find them easy to keep and quite economical. Last year, they costed me 30euro each (which included 10euro for 6 weeks old poults and 20 euro for feed). Obviously if I was buying in larger numbers, I would opt for day olds and I'm sure my feed bill would also be a lot cheaper.
If you were in a position to kill and pluck them yourself, you would be in a good position to make money based on these numbers (assuming a sale price of 60 euro) - This is what happened in the past (my mother always kept 100 turkeys and it was a good way to have a few pounds for xmas).
The problem is that you can no longer kill them yourself (bar for your own use) as far as I am aware, and you will need to load them up and ship them off for processing - I would assume that this would significantly add to the cost....
This was mentioned on RTE in the last few weeks - I can't remember the program, but they had a larger turkey farmer on who basically said that : "If we could process the birds ourselves as we used to do, we would be able to make money from them - as it is currently, a lot of our profit is going on transport to and from the processing pland and the cost of the processing itself..."

fodda

I know people who have been in turkey farming most of their lives and i also know people who have farmed between 20 -70 and they dont do it any more.

This may tell you something before you try. The turkey farmers i know farm in their 1000's so i think as with other poultry it is a numbers game.

I would go and see people who are trying on a small scale and see how many if any they have left unsold after xmas because you couldnt give em away after xmas and any you have left over takes the profit from the ones you have sold.

lar203

i got five turkeys on the 17 september that were 6 weeks old (four white one bronze)
its coming near time to do the business can anyone tell me how long i should hang them for and do i leave in the guts or take them out

lakill Farm

Im killing mine monday, leave them hanging by the feet till you clean them out and clean them out on 23rd.

Just before you kill, remember to flap each bird out so that the blood circulates throught thte winds and causes alot less damage

lar203 wrote: »

i got five turkeys on the 17 september that were 6 weeks old (four white one bronze)
its coming near time to do the business can anyone tell me how long i should hang them for and do i leave in the guts or take them out

lar203

thanks will do

lar203

thanks will do

glaswegian

hi. has anyone any tips/ advice on feeding turkeys oats,barley etc as price of growers,finishers etc has gone mad(been quoted 17.50 for 25kg bag).

lar203

You can feed them rolled oats at ten euro a 40kg bag out side ardee its not bad

glaswegian

thanks lar203. at what age should i put them on oats? they are around 7/8 weeks at the moment and are on starters.
cheers.