Turkeys are one of the most adored birds in the pastured poultry community with a strong emotional tie to family Thanksgiving; however, they can often be challenging to raise because they require more time and attention than a chicken. Those challenges often see high mortality rates or farmers who opt out of turkeys all together.

There are at least two possible solutions to the turkey raising woes. The first is to get better at turkeys, but turkeys arrive on farm in one of the busiest times of the season, so it’s not always that easy. The second possibility is to purchase started turkeys from another grower. In addition to the opportunities, this podcast episode will focus on the math and marketing of 6 week old started turkeys.

How much does it cost to raise a turkey for 6 weeks?

As producers, we spend a lot of time focusing on cost of production, and with young turkeys those costs are evident from day one. The cost of day old turkey poults is all over the map and can range anywhere from $6 to nearly $9 for a day old poult. Badger’s Millside Farm resold day-old sexed old turkeys poults for $5.50 each.

The high poult cost from commercial hatcheries is made worse with mortality. The first calculation I share in the podcast episode is refactoring poult cost to account for the first week mortality. If I purchase 20 poults for $6.43 and have 10% mortality in the first several days, I’m left with 18 turkeys. The new cost per poult becomes $7.14.

I look at feed next. If you feed 8 pounds of certified organic feed at $0.42 / lb., you end up with $3.36 per turkey in feed cost for six weeks. The feed cost is not all that dramatic when placed in the context of poult cost and labor. If you source a non-organic feed at $0.25 / lb., the feed cost would become $2.00 per bird.

Next up is labor. I calculate an example of $15 / hr. for 15 minutes a day to arrive at a $8.75 per turkey in labor.

Put it all together, and the cost to raise 20 turkeys is $19.25 per turkey ($7.14 + $3.36 + $8.75).

This example doesn’t factor in bedding, grit, electricity, infrastructure costs, or mortality after the first five days.

The comparison is simple from this point. Badger’s Millside Farm sold 6 week old turkeys (fed organic feed) for $16 each.

There are a couple reasons why your cost would be higher than $16. I raise more than 20 in a batch. My flock mortality was 4% and I did not pay a retail cost for poults.

Marketing Started Turkeys

The best leads came through existing channels, either through exising customers or word of mouth. To sell some of the started turkeys I raised on spec, I tried Facebook Ads and Craigslist. Facebook has never been a good marketing channel for me to find pastured poultry growers, and that hypothesis continues to test true. I spent $30 in advertising to make one $64 sale. Definitely not worthwhile.

The Craigslist ad received less than 1/3 of the responses, but it reached my target audience – pastured poultry farmers, which is different than people who raise a few birds. My Craigslist ad generated $160 in sales. As you can see, we’re talking small numbers of birds in these channels.