Free Range Turkey Farm

If you are considering becoming a turkey farmer, then there are a couple of things that you need to know before setting up your own free-range turkey farm. Similar to any other agricultural business enterprise, there are a couple of things that you will need to know about raising turkeys. 

Even though, the amount of energy that goes into this kind of farming is not as much as when you have the turkeys cooked up in a coop. some of the important facts that you should know about raising free range turkey include; how much food is necessary on average for the turkey. This is because the amount of food they are able to scavenge outside varies from day to day. The best way to learn how to set up your own free range turkey farm, would be by getting the experience as an experienced farmer’s apprentice.

One of the most important considerations that you will have to make in setting up your farm, will be the location. To help you come to an appropriate decision, you should keep in mind the breed of turkey you plan on farming and what you expect to get back as revenue. There are various types of turkey with each having its own unique raising condition.

Some turkeys will provide you with a huge number of eggs than others, while some breeds of turkey are known to be more heat tolerant than others. Before finally settling on a site for your free range turkey farm, you may want to find out, whether any animal epidemics, broke out in the past. If so, you might have to opt for another location. Other factors that will play a factor in helping you decide the location of your farm will be availability of water, is there sufficient foliage for the turkey to feed on or should you consider planting some more et cetera. You need to note that an acre of land is sufficient for raising about 250 turkeys.

Finances

To avoid having to pull out of your enterprise, you need to decide on the budget that you are working with. In addition to including the conventional budgetary costs such as food and the cost of building a coop, you need to make an adequate allowance for miscellaneous expenses such as medical care or the expenses that might be incurred in planting vegetation on the free range turkey farm.

Facts about Free Range Turkey

There are many benefits that stand to be enjoyed by having free range turkey. One of the major benefits is that if you don’t have enough space to raise free range turkey on a large scale, you could always start out small on your backyard. This is because free range turkey can survive by foraging plants that are readily available in their immediate outdoor environment such as grass. In addition, free range turkeys are not picky and can survive on insects and seeds that provide a healthy diet for the birds raised outdoor. As a result of getting raised outdoors, free range turkey, produce healthy eggs that have essential Omega-3 fats that non-free range birds do not have.

Getting A Chick

The first step to farming turkey, is that you need to purchase your chick. This can be done from your local feed store. Before proceeding with a purchase you need to find out which breed of turkey is best suited for your climate area. Once that is determined, you can go ahead and buy yourself the number of chicks you need. Once you get them home, you should keep them indoors until their down transforms into feathers. They should be staying in a brooder during this period, however, once they have developed feathers, you may want to move the young turkey into their coop.

A turkey coop can either be bought as a whole, or can be built from scratch really the choice is yours. Some of the factors that might be helpful in getting you to decide the size of the coop might be for instance, the number of turkeys you plan on pasturing.

Since the birds will be spending most of their time outside, it is recommended that you fence the area in which the turkeys will be pasturing on. This is to protect them from predators, and to make sure that they don’t wander off and get lost. In addition, you should make sure that the coop has a lock (since they will be spending their nights within) to enhance your free range turkeys security. If the nights are chilly, you should lock the turkeys in at night using a heat lamp to keep them warm. You should also make sure that the coop has a sufficient supply of water for the turkeys in addition to having enough turkey feed.