Benefits of Raising Turkeys
Inside: There are great benefits of raising turkeys. From delicious meat that you can find in the store to sweet, friendly pets, and more.
Raising turkeys on your own property can be an incredibly rewarding experience. Not only can it save you money on grocery bills, but it can be a great way to connect with your local environment and become more self-sustaining, and these are just a start to the benefits of raising turkeys.
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Benefits of Raising Turkeys
Research has shown that raising birds in general can be beneficial for your mental health and even promote healthy behaviors. I definitely feel better after hanging out in our runs with my birds.
Turkeys are gentle and incredibly loyal, which can make processing them an emotional task.
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Reduce Your Environmental Footprint
Raising turkeys can help you to reduce your environmental footprint, as raising them on your own property means you know exactly where your food has come from, and you are going to reduce your compost or garbage because turkeys love to eat food scrapes just like chickens!
Financial Savings
There definitely can be some financial savings to raising turkeys if you are going to sell them. Turkeys eat a lot of feed. More than you would spend on a turkey in the store.
If you are raising white broad-breasted for meat you are going to raise them through the spring from chicks to butch by Thanksgiving. Now you have the choice to sell them alive, or after they have been butchered. Most people are more interested in the after-butchered turkey for their own Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
Sell by the pound.
They Taste AMAZING!
There is nothing like a homegrown turkey. You can buy your butterball, or whatever it is you like from the store, but the meat flavor you get from a homegrown turkey is unbelievable!
The meat is tender and falls apart on your fork. I highly recommend having a homegrown turkey even if you are buying it from someone else.
Reproduce Naturally
Heritage turkeys do not grow as large as broad-breasted turkeys and can reproduce naturally, allowing you to hatch your own poults each year using a broody hen or incubator. Heritage toms remain fertile for 3-5 years and hens will produce eggs for up to 5 years.
Cleaner Coop
Our turkey coop is always cleaner than our chicken coop, and I believe this has to do with the fact that turkeys don’t have that constant instinct to scratch. When you feed turkeys, their food stays where you put it, the water stays bedding free and the droppings are not scattered like they are in our chicken coops.
Yes, turkeys are bigger, which means bigger poop, but they aren't really spreading it around which makes everything easier to clean.
Everything is bigger with turkeys. If you are not free ranging, then you will need a large enough run to give them room to move around, to not get bored. Things can go sideways fast when birds are bored.
We really enjoyed raising turkeys and I'm thinking I want to get some more this spring… maybe just not 8 this time.
