Raising turkeys entails food — and fun. Learn how to raise turkeys in your backyard and how to raise turkeys for meat and eggs.
There’s so much to enjoy about raising turkeys. In addition to providing a source of meat and eggs, they’re entertaining, and there are a variety of beautiful heritage breeds to choose from. The day-to-day experience of raising turkeys is rewarding, and many people form a special bond with their birds.
Turkeys as a Source of Eggs
A beautifully speckled turkey egg is lovely to behold! The shell color varies from light cream to light tan, with variation in the size and pattern of light-brown speckles on the eggshells. Turkey eggs can vary in shape from the familiar oval of chicken eggs to more pointed on one end or even almost round.
Turkeys have a shorter laying cycle than chickens because they haven’t been bred to maximize egg production like chickens have. Turkeys generally lay eggs for approximately six months of the year. In western Oregon, my turkey hens start laying in late March or early April and continue into early October. The egg-laying cycle is triggered by the lengthening hours of daylight. Turkeys may start laying in late February or early March in other parts of the country, where longer spring days arrive earlier, or when spring weather is especially favorable.
Hens typically start laying eggs in the spring following the year in which they were hatched, although I’ve heard of hens beginning to lay in the fall. Just as with chickens, younger turkeys lay more eggs, with production gradually decreasing with age. You can expect most turkey hens to lay about 100 eggs in their first year, or up to 120 eggs for a good layer. Hens that go broody (sitting on eggs to hatch them) will lay fewer eggs in a season, but you can still expect several dozen eggs in spring before broodiness begins, with another several dozen in late summer after the broody cycle has ended. Some hens have a stronger instinct to be mothers than others. On average, you can expect about half of your heritage turkeys to go broody in spring or summer each year.
Provide Nesting Places
Before my first turkey hens started laying, I spent a lot of time deciding what sort of nest boxes we should build for them. After they started laying, I realized I could’ve saved myself the trouble because they ignored pretty much everything we constructed. Wild turkeys make their nests on the ground, often under a dense canopy of brush, but sometimes in tall, herbaceous vegetation. It’s pretty common for domestic turkeys to follow that instinct and ignore the safe nesting places you provide for them. Nesting in the wild is a dangerous proposition, as turkeys are an easy meal for any passing predator. Broody turkeys, especially, are at high risk of predation. It’s much safer for them to nest closer to home, so I recommend giving them a few options to encourage them to lay their eggs where you can keep an eye on them.
Our turkeys and chickens live in a yard surrounded by electric poultry netting. A combination of us mowing and the birds grazing keeps most vegetation low. However, we leave a patch in the outskirts of the turkey yard where grass and weeds grow tall. This is a favorite egg-laying location for the turkey hens that make hidden nests that multiple hens use.
It’s comical to observe turkeys going through many of the same silly nest-box antics seen in chickens. Even with multiple suitable nesting locations, turkeys tend to lay in the same communal nest. Another favorite laying spot for our hens is a stainless-steel dishwasher tub – dubbed “the spaceship” – set near the outskirts of the pasture. I’ve seen three turkeys sharing the spaceship at the same time, in various stages of being broody and laying eggs. Our turkeys also regularly lay in a couple of small coops that were formerly rooster bachelor pads.
Before you go to the trouble of building any sort of laying structure, try cultivating an overgrown, secluded spot in your poultry yard and looking for items around your yard or scrap area that could be repurposed into potential nesting sites.
Cook with Turkey Eggs
Turkey eggs are wonderful for cooking. The higher yolk-to-white ratio lends a rich flavor and gives a little extra rise to baked dishes. The flavor is similar to that of chicken eggs, but turkey eggs have a higher fat and protein content, making for a hearty breakfast. Scrambled turkey eggs, omelets, and eggs over easy on toast appear regularly on our breakfast table.
When substituting turkey eggs for chicken eggs, dishes that are less fussy, such as quiches or frittatas, are more forgiving, and turkey eggs can be easily substituted for chicken eggs in pancakes with no adjustment to the recipe. For most baked goods, you’ll need to weigh the turkey eggs on a kitchen scale to make sure you use the correct equivalent of turkey eggs for the number of chicken eggs called for in a recipe. Having too much or too little liquid can affect the texture and consistency of cakes, quick breads, custards, and so on.
Most recipes assume you’ll use large chicken eggs, which weigh 2 ounces or more. Heritage turkey eggs generally weigh in the range of 3 to 3.5 ounces, with the occasional whoppers being close to 4 ounces. They also have thick shells that can be difficult to crack, so be prepared to give them a good whack! When substituting turkey eggs for chicken eggs, weigh the turkey eggs in the shell to get the equivalent ounces for the number of large chicken eggs called for in the recipe. If you have trouble getting the correct weight equivalent, use bantam chicken eggs, the smaller eggs of newly laying chickens, or a partial amount of a turkey egg.
Sell Eggs
Regulations for selling eggs to the public vary from state to state. If you plan to sell your eggs, check with your local department of agriculture regarding the rules where you live.
How to Raise Turkeys for Meat
Broad-breasted tom turkeys can weigh as much as 50 pounds at maturity, while heritage toms typically reach a mature size of 20 to 25 pounds. After a turkey is dressed (plucked and eviscerated and ready for cooking), you can expect it to weigh approximately 70 percent of its live weight. Harvesting turkeys on the homestead requires the same preparation, equipment, and process as harvesting meat chickens. Find someone who has experience harvesting turkeys to assist you the first time. Expect the process of setting up your workstation, doing the deed, and cleaning up afterward to take half the day for a few birds, at least until you become more efficient with the process. If you’re planning to raise turkeys to sell to the public, check with your local department of agriculture regarding the rules in your state.
Heritage turkeys have earned a well-deserved place on the Ark of Taste list by Slow Food USA, but for those accustomed to seeing a gigantic broad-breasted turkey on the table, a heritage turkey may take a little getting used to. A cooked heritage turkey has a leaner appearance, with narrower breasts and longer, more slender drumsticks. That said, heritage turkey breasts still provide a decent amount of white meat.
When we raised our own Thanksgiving turkeys, the dressed birds were in the 12-1/2-to-14-pound range after seven months of growth. Heritage turkeys make a delicious addition to a holiday feast, and everyone who has had the pleasure of tasting one of our turkeys appreciated the time, effort, and care that went into providing this special meal.
Turkeys Are Fun to Have Around
I love turkeys because they’re so engaging, not because they taste good! Despite their main claim to fame, turkeys are much more than a meal, even a holiday one. No matter what breed you decide on, your reasons for keeping them, and whether you raise a few or too many to count, I guarantee that you’ll become enamored with these charismatic birds.
Observing their interactions within the flock, with other animals on the homestead, and with their human caretakers is a daily source of entertainment. I know several vegetarians who keep turkeys purely for the joy of having these delightful animals in their lives.
The inquisitive nature of turkeys means they’re always coming to investigate whatever activity is happening near them. Farm chores or improvement projects will almost always draw their attention, and soon you’ll have a turkey supervisor watching your every move. Turkeys also show great affection toward the people with whom they’ve bonded. You really can’t ask for better companions than that.
This lightly edited excerpt is from An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Raising Backyard Turkeys (Storey Publishing) by Stacy Benjamin.
Originally published in the April/May 2025 issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS and regularly vetted for accuracy.
