We believe in keeping our turkeys happy. All the birds reared for Waitrose live in ventilated houses that benefit from natural light in the day and restful darkness at night. Our birds have bales and perches to climb over with plenty of room to move around in their natural environment, which helps them grow strong and build healthier legs. We source all our turkeys from farms in England and Ireland. 

About our Christmas turkeys

All our fresh turkeys are British and free range this Christmas – we’re the first and only retailer to achieve this. And, because we believe in improving welfare standards where we can, we’ve also won more Compassion in World Farming awards than any other supermarket.

Order your Christmas turkey now for delivery or collection from 20-24 December 

“I feel like the Pied Piper sometimes, as our turkeys like to follow me around, curious to know what I’m up to,” says Mike Hammond of Traditional Norfolk Poultry, who rears turkeys for Waitrose Duchy Organic and Free Range Bronze.

“They like to interact with you, which makes them fun to work with, and it’s great to watch them out on the range, exploring the woodland and growing to maturity as healthy birds. 

Our birds have constant access to the outdoors but they know what they like, and if it’s too hot or windy, they stay indoors and play with their toys. They are active creatures and enjoy pulling around the bits of coloured rope we give them.

Bronze turkeys are naturally slow-growing – it’s the time they take to mature that gives their meat such a good flavour.

I’ve been farming poultry for more than 30 years now and there’s a lot of satisfaction in knowing that I’ve given our turkeys a good life. And when families sit down to one for their Christmas dinner, I know they are going to enjoy it.”