Coop Turkey Information 2022

General Turkey FAQs

Q: What turkey is Free-range & Cage Free?

A: All our turkeys are cage free and have access to the outdoors. They are also all hormone & antibiotic free. Lancaster Farm Fresh, and Snowdance Farm keep their turkeys out on pasture with access to shelter for most of their lives. Wise Kosher Organic, Koch, and D’artagnan Organic and Green Circle are raised indoors with access to pasture and cage-free.

Q: Do we have organic turkey?

A: Yes, we do.  D’artagnan and Wise Kosher are Organic (Wise will be frozen and available from the freezer.)

Q: Why is organic so expensive?

A: Organic turkey will cost more per pound due to feed & organic certification expenses.

Q: Why is pastured so expensive?

A: Pastured turkeys are labor intensive and typically come from small family farms that do not raise the same volume of turkeys as larger producers so they must charge a higher price to cover their costs.

Q: What turkey is locally raised?

A: All our turkeys are raised either in New York State, or Pennsylvania, except for D’artagnan Organic which come from farms in MN.

Q: Do we carry a Heritage Breed Turkey?

A: Yes, a White Holland bird from Worthwind Farms.

Q: Do we buy turkeys from small farmers?

A: Yes!  This season we purchased about 300 turkeys from small farmers, including Snowdance Farm, Lancaster Farm Fresh, Worthwind Farms, and D’artagnan Green Circle.

Q: How do I store my turkey correctly? And will it last until the big day?

A: Keep it cold, baby.  Get a thermometer for your refrigerator. Ideally, turn your fridge down to its coldest temp the day before you buy your turkey. If you can get it to 35 degrees or below, that will help to keep the turkey fresh if you are storing it for more than 48 hours.

You can also put your turkey in the freezer overnight to give it a hard chill (it won’t freeze all the way through), and then move it to your fridge.

If you do these things, that should keep your turkey fresh all the way to Thanksgiving.

Q: If I wait to buy my turkey until the week of Thanksgiving, it’s fresher, right?

A: Nope. All the turkeys from any given supplier were slaughtered at the same time, we just stagger our deliveries to manage our limited cold storage space. Depending on the size of the farm and proximity, turkeys might have been slaughtered several weeks before Thanksgiving and deep-chilled, or up to the week before Thanksgiving.

Turkey Terms at the Coop

Pastured: The flock was provided shelter, food and water, and a good portion of its life was spent outdoors foraging for food to supplement its feed.

Organic: Production method meets USDA organic standards. No use of synthetics, hormones or antibiotics.  Must also be fed certified organic, non-gmo grain.

Cage-Free: Indicates the flock was able to roam freely in an enclosed area. In some cases, turkeys also had access to pasture.

ABF: Antibiotic Free

Any questions you can’t answer, page for a Coordinator to assist you.