Turkeys fetch triple the income from chicken

What you need to know:

If you intend to fatten your turkey to six kilogrammes in eight and half weeks, it will take 40 kilogrammes of feed. During this period, the turkey exceeds any other fowl in growth, writes Simon Peter Emwamu.

Rearing of turkeys is earning Ugandan farmers three to four times more income in six months, compared to chicken.
Nathan Odiit Akuttu, a farm manager at Joseph Onyait turkey pens in Soroti town is not quitting soon after seeing this opportunity, which has paid school fees for his sons and daughters.
“A turkey consumes about 40kg of feeds from day one to six months. It may consume more if it is confined to a poultry house. They are between four and five kilogramme. I sell each at Shs100,000,” says Akuttu.
The numbers at Akuttu’s farm are much bigger; they attract admiration instantly, in a poultry industry that has widely remained silent.
In fact out of every 100 farmers, it’s hard for one to find 10 turkey farmers, but the returns are very rewarding.

Prices
A visit to selected turkey farmers by Seeds of Gold in Soroti and Serere districts in the eastern part of Uganda, indicates that every average turkey bird sells three times more than what a farmer would on any day earn from chicken.
Turkey farming remains in the hands of a few because finding turkey chicks more is difficult than it is with chicken rearing which has many players. “Depending on the weight, an average male turkey brings in Shs60,000 to Shs100,000 at farm gate while the female birds fetch between Shs40,000 to Shs60,000,” Akuttu explains stating that prices of a turkey are way above those of local bird.
A mature local bird costs Shs30,000 (cock) while the hen goes for Shs20,000.

Earning from turkeys
Unlike chicken, Harriet Ojakol who has four years’ experience in managing a turkey farm, says its’ success depends on one’s ability to adhere to simple but at times costly basics for one to thrive undisturbed. “Any failure, is critical and can cause fatal loses both at infancy and maturity stage.”
Ojakol who lives in Kumi attests that starting a turkey project is not as costly as one would necessarily think. She says it is wise to start with three female and one male bird, if one wishes to start with already mature stock, but starting with young chicks of three month is much rewarding in terms of egg production than the exhausted mature birds.
Their reproduction behaviour is so intriguing than it is with chicken, she adds, “Unlike hens which rarely lay eggs outside their gazetted pens, female turkeys love laying eggs in bushy corners of the farm exposing the eggs to predators.”