— THEIR CARE
By “oMANAGEMENT
~ XB FoR EXHIBITION
OR FoR MARKET

ed

T

(fl.

ALL VARIETIES

Their Care and Management

Mating, Rearing, Exhibiting and Judging
Turkeys # Explanation of Score-Card
Judging, with Complete Instructions

A Collection of the Experiences of Best Known Successful
Turkey Breeders, Exhibitors and
Judges

FULLY ILLUSTRATED

PUBLISHED JOINTLY B

RELIABLE Pouttry JourNAL PugsLisHinc Company, Quincy, ILLinors
AND
AMERICAN PouLttry PuBLIsSHING Company, Burrato, NEw York

909

“A turkey boiled —
Isa turkey spoiled,

fe Ts a nation’s boast, iy oars
ut for turkey bratzed

— ©clazsiag3

INTRODUCTORY

F THE American people have one fowl of which
they are especially proud, it is the turkey.

One of our correspondents writes: “A
Christmas without a Christmas tree, a Fourth
of July without firecrackers, would be on a par
with a Thanksgiving without a turkey.’

On November 21, 1620, the Mayflower with
one hundred and two Pilgrims cast anchor off
Cape Cod. The first six months of their first year which
was spent on the ocean edge of the wilderness, were full
of hardships and dangers, many deaths occurred and the
small company was greatly reduced. Luckily the Indians
proved to be friendly and taught them how to plant
maize, which they planted well, and in spite of the hard-
ships of the first six months they considered the year
comparatively successful. William Bradford, their second
Governor, on account of this success proclaimed a season
of ‘Thanksgiving. It is supposed that this idea was taken
from the old English custom of observing the harvest
festival. The records show that the Governor sent four
men out fowling and they brought in wild turkeys and
partridges in abundance. From that day to the present
time this holiday has been observed each autumn and the
turkey has been the bird that graced the feast.

Although the turkey is classed with the domesticated
fowls, it retains to a certain extent, the instincts of its
wild ancestors and persons who are going to raise tur-
keys should bear this in mind.

EXver since their discovery in this country they seem
to have been kept in a sort of a domesticated state. The
Cortez expedition into Mexico in 1518 or 1519, found them
in a state of domestication. The Pilgrims reported that
some of the Indians had them partly domesticated, yet
after all these years the bronze variety especially, retains
to a certain extent its wild instincts and will do much
better if allowed to roam. ‘They may be kept enclosed
during a certain period, say during the breeding season,
but they will not do as well if kept continually confined.

The farm is the natural home for the turkey, and
one that has a woodland on it is all the better, as it gives
the turkeys a chance to indulge in some of their wild
traits; it forms a natural breeding spot and furnishes
food that is particularly palatable to their taste.

BREEDING TURKEYS

Turkey breeders, as a class, have not given the study
to turkey culture that breeders have to other branches
of poultry culture, but they will almost without excep-
tion, tell you, “Do not in-breed.” In-breeding or line-
breeding should not be undertaken except by the
breeders who have the time and inclination to do a lot of
hard work, for the love of it.

Turkeys in their wild state generally mated in pairs
and during the breeding season it was a case of the “sur-
vival of the fittest.” The survivor had his choice of the
flock and proudly walked away with his mate. Cases
have been recorded where a large, wild tom would fight
and kill another tom and take unto him the new mate,
while his first mate was sitting. It is owing to this rule
that we have such a fine bird today. When man tries to
eonfine and in-breed this great bird of the forest, nature
steps in and says, “no.”

Breeders have had this pretty well drilled into their
minds, many of them to their sorrow, consequently it is
by continual outcrossing or the adding of new blood, that

the vigor, health and size of the flock are preserved.
Many prominent breeders line-breed to a certain extent;
that is, they keep within one particular strain as much
as possible, but they have to introduce outside blood
every few years.

In mating domestic flocks one male can be given as
many as eighteen or twenty females, but generally eight
to twelve is the limit. Many breeders are glad to introduce
wild blood into their flock in order to get increased size
and vigor. The bronze turkeys especially, have been bred
so long and are so similar to the wild, that they breed
very true to type and color, consequently do not need to
be in-bred or line-bred as do some of our manufactured or
artificial breeds of poultry. They were already made
when we first got them and man has been unable to im-
prove upon nature; they are in fact the real descendants
of the wild turkey.

Wild turkeys are becoming very scarce and domestic
turkeys are becoming tamer and less inclined to roam,
because of the fact that wild turkey blood is harder to
get and is not so generally introduced as it was a few
years ago. The wild spots in our country are becoming
smaller every year; even the cattle of the western ranges
have been deprived of their unlimited range which has
been cut up into farms.

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” still as the
wild turkey blood becomes extinct, the domesticated ones
will become more and more contented to stay within the
boundaries of the home farm, and with the progress that
is being made at the Agricultural Colleges in studying
turkey diseases, we shall no doubt in a few years be able
to raise turkeys in the little orchard back of the farm
house. The old tom whose ancestors used to roam for
miles and miles in search of conquest, will be content to
settle down with his flock and the old hen will be induced
to sit in the hen house or box as contented as any old
biddy.

THE CARE OF TURKEYS

As long as there is any wild instinct left in them we
believe that the turkey industry will be benefitted by
cultivating that trait as long as possible. It is natural
for turkeys to roost outside. Let them do it. At one
time we built a large turkey shed with good high roosts,
etc. We fed them inside at night and shut them in, but
the first time the door was open, up in the big oak tree
they would fly, face the storm, draw their heads in like
turtles and sleep all night, happy and contented no
matter how cold and stormy it was.

They tell us that young poults should be kept con-
fined until the dew is off the grass, and it is good advice.
They will not stand dampness and no doubt many young
poults were lost from this cause when in their wild state.
Timbered lands where there is not much underbrush,
make an ideal place for raising young poults. The turkey
hen has a good chance to keep them dry and there is no
wet grass to wet and chill them. Then, too, there is
plenty and a variety of nature’s food for them and they
are not as subject to bowel trouble as where they are
kept confined and liable to be over-fed. Lice will not
bother them as much, tor they have plenty of chance to
dust themselves in the cool earth of the woodlands, neither
will lice multiply as fast in the open as where the birds
are kept confined. ;

It seems to be the general opinion that turkeys are
hard to raise and perhaps they are, but if we will study

4 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND “MANAGEMENT.

nature and be benefitted by the lessons she teaches and
accept the advice of others who have learned their lesson
well, we ought to succeed. We used to think that arti-
ficial incubation was a failure and it was, to a certain
extent, until we studied the old hen and her methods and
profited by what we observed, so today we can hatch
and raise chickens just as well, if not better, by artificial
means as by nature’s methods.

Keep a hen and her brood in a coop for a week or
two and when released she seems to have accepted that
as her permanent abode and will not go far away. Not
so with the turkey. Confine her and then let her out
with her brood and she will try to see how far away she
can get.

Young poults seem very weak and it is well to keep
them confined at night and until the grass is dry in the
morning, as is advised in several of the following articles.
The place to raise them in preference to all others is a
woodland or some pasture where the grass is short and
insects are plenty.

The breeding turkeys should not be: too fat but
should be put in good condition by being given free
range all day and being fed their evening meal at home,
which will induee them to come in at night. Some
breeders at this time confine them in a large enclosure
and keep them there until the hens have laid the next
morning. These matters are all covered in the many
articles throughout this book so we need not go into
details. Turkey meat is the cheapest that can be raised
on the farm and every farm should have its flock of
turkeys.

In addition to being a cheap thing to raise, think of
the many insects they destroy and turn into cash. Many
a farmer’s wife buys her fall and winter outfits, from
bonnet to boots, with the money she gets for the small
flock of turkeys she gave a start and then let raise them-
selves.

THE BRONZE TURKEY —

The bronze variety is without doubt the most popu-
lar variety we have. They were recognized in our first
Standard, known as the “Lockwood” Standard, which
was published in 1871. The wording of the different
Standards as they were revised from time to time, has
been changed to keep the requirements abreast of the
improvements made in breeding them. As has been said
before, they are direct descendants from the wild birds
and are frequently crossed with the wild in order to get
more size and vigor. They are also the largest variety
we have. We have handled or rather tried to handle one
that weighed 62 pounds. He was the largest one we ever
saw, but it is no uncommon thing to see specimens in our
winter shows weighing 40 to 50 pounds.

In spite of the fact that exhibition specimens are
very large and fine to look at, they sometimes get so
large that they are useless as breeders and markets do
not want such a large bird. The weights prescribed by
the American Poultry Association in their Standard of
Perfection, are believed to be the best for all-round pur-
poses and it is well to stay pretty close to these weights
for best results.

STANDARD VARIETIES

There are seven varieties of turkeys, that is seven
varieties that are recognized by the American Poultry
Association, as follows:—The Bronze, Narragansett, Buff,
White Holland, Black, Slate and Bourbon Red.

The Bronze variety is described at length in the
article on “Judging and Mating.” Their principal defects

are explained, also how much they should be cut in
scoring. ’

The Blacks, Buffs, Slates and Narragansetts were
admitted to the Standard in 1874 and are described in
Mr. McClave’s article, “Turkeys and Their Management.”
The White Holland variety was admitted to the Standard
in 1878 and is also described in Mr. McClave’s article.

The Bourbon Leds, the new Standard variety just
admitted to the Standard, originated, according to the
most reliable authority, in Bourbon County, Kentucky,
and are brought up from what in the early days was
ealled the wild Yellow Turkey. We have heard tourists
of today, tell of seeing a yellow turkey in a wild state in
Yellowstone Park. Standard weights for the Bourbons
are as follows:—

Cock 30 lbs. Hen

dacaouaoro 22 Ibs. wil G Ghododooposes

The neck and back color should be brownish red; the
tail, white; the wingbows, deep, brownish red and the
primaries and secondaries should be white. The breast
and body should be deep, brownish red and the fluff,
brownish red. The thighs are the same as the fluff, and
the shanks and toes should be reddish pink.

THE WHITE HOLLANDS

Next to the Bronze, in popularity, come the White
Holland. For many yéars it was difficult to get the
Whites up to Standard weight, but of late years breeders
have been making some great improvements, and today
we see specimens in our show-rooms that will. weigh 40
pounds. There is some complaint heard these days about
getting the weight of this variety too high and it seems
to be well founded. The Whites have won public favor
by being a medium weight fowl and that is what the
marketmen demand. We should dislike very much to
see the Whites get too large and lose the prestige they
have been gaining.

THE NARRAGANSETTS

Probably the Narragansett closely follows the
White, as far as public favor is concerned. They have
made some rapid strides toward the front, during the
past few years, especially in parts of the New England
States.

CONCLUSION

Our export trade has grown to such proportions that
the home markets have felt it and the past two or three
years have caused breeders to notice that the turkey
crop was getting shorter each year.

Missouri, Kentucky and Texas are probably the
greatest turkey producing states. Eastern Canada also
raises many turkeys, but we need more of them.

Rhode Island and the adjacent territory used to be
one of the greatest turkey raising sections of this coun-
try. The dread disease known as blackhead, has practj-
cally wiped out the industry in that section, in spite of
the great efforts that have been made to stop the disease.
The State Agricultural College at Kingston, R. I., has
been making exhaustive experiments in combating black-
lead and other turkey diseases and their bulletins can
be had upon application.

We trust-as you read the following pages written by
well-known and successful breeders and study the charts
drawn by Mr. Franklane L. Sewell (the best thing of
their kind ever drawn) that you will gain confidence and
feel capable of making a success of raising the king of
fowls, the bird that is so near to nature, that is liked by
eve1ybody and whose destiny is a Thanksgiving feast.

HOW THE TURKEY GOT ITS NAME

Our Domestic Varieties of Turkeys are Descended from the Wild Turkey of North America—Three Varieties of Wild Turkeys—
Growth of the Word Turkey—The Introduction of Turkey into Europe—First Sent to the Old World by Cortez

D. E. HALE

UMEROUS writers in the past have endeay-
ored to trace the origin of our national
bird and to learn the derivation of its
name. They have agreed on many points
and differed on many.

For the historic information con-
tained in the following article, we are
pleased to give credit to the gentlemen

who have charge of the Reference Department in the

Buffalo, N. Y., Public Library, who very courteously

assisted the writer in his search for authentic informa-

tion in regard to turkeys.

There is little doubt that our domestic varieties of
turkeys are all descended from the wild turkey of North
America. How and when they were developed forms an
interesting study.

Lewis Wright,the great English writer and authority,
in his book “The New Book of Poultry,” says in speaking
of their originating in America: “This is no question
now; and the obstinate incredulity of some naturalists
respecting the fact is one of the most curious phenomena
in the history of Science.”

Americans generally believe our grand bronze turkey
is the lineal descendant of the northern wild turkey. Why

A reproduction of the male wild turkey as shown in ‘‘Burnham’s

New Poultry Book,’ published in 1877. This picture certainly re-
sembles the peacock to a great extent, and it is not surprising that
the Spaniards of the Cortez expedition called them peacocks.

northern? In order to make it clear let us explain that
there are, or were, three varieties of wild turkeys. Those
found in Tionduras and Central America were known as
“M. Ocellata,” and were distinguished by the absence of
the breast-tuft. They also had a different carunculation
and a much brighter plumage. Those found in the south-
ern states and Mexico were known to the naturalists as
“M. Mexicana,” while those of the northern states and

Canada were known as “Meleagris Americana.” These
latter were darker and more bronze in color.

Some naturalists think that the brighter plumage of
the southern birds was caused by the warmer climate
where a larger assortment of food was to be had, owing
to climatic conditions.

The northern wild turkey being more bronze in color

and also more robust, owing to climatic and food condi-

44. Me D

A reproduction of the female wild turkey as shown in
“Burnham's New Poultry Book,” published in 1877

tions, it is quite reasonable to presume that it is from
this variety that we have our elegant bronze turkey of
today.

It is hard to say when turkeys were first domesti-
eated. The first settlers who landed on our shores found
that some of the Indians had them in a sort of domesti-
eated condition. We will go back farther than that, al-
though these same domesticated turkeys may have been
the progenitors of our bronze turkey.

THEIR INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE

Let us see whence the name came and in doing so
we will be able to tell of their introduction into Europe.

Mr. Wright in his book mentioned above, says: “As
no one ever supposed that these birds came from Turkey,
or anywhere except North America, not one single old
writer can be quoted for any such mistake. The origin
of the name is a very curious question. Some have sug-
gested that it came from a supposed resemblance of the
red caruneulations to the old Turkish costume of a red
fez coming down to the ears, with a dark flowing robe
beneath. Another guess is that the word is corrupted
from turquoise, supposed to be applied to that bluish
earunculation about the Others point out that
the name of ‘A ‘Turk’ is often applied in popular language

head.

to any one remarkable for domineering and pompous
disposition or appearance and thus it became attached to
the turkey cock, and gradually modified.”

a

6 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

We personally are inclined to with Mr. E.
Richardson who in the book entitled, “Turkeys and How

to Grow Them” says that the name was derived from

agree

the Hebrew word ‘‘Tukki,” meaning peacock.

Prescott in his “Conquest of Mexico,” explains how
Cortez was sent on his voyage of discovery and conquest,
and that he was to send to his emperor one-fifth of all
the spoils taken, ete. We quote Mr. Richardson as fol-
lows:

“The introduction of the bird into Europe naturally
followed, and not long after, for in July, 1519, Cortez dis-

GH

Mammoth Bronze Turkey, reproduced from ‘“‘Burnham’s New Poultry
Book,” published in 1877. This shows the type of turkey that has been
crossed with the wild turkey, which cross has been very instrumental in
producing the splendid Bronze Turkey of today.

patched ‘his first letter’ to his emperor, Charles the
Fifth, with a collection of fabrics, minerals and other
products of the new world, and it is not to be supposed
that the turkey was omitted, especially as it was so
easily obtained. History tells us that the turkey was
first brought to England in 1524, five years after Cortez
sent specimens to Spain.

(Note:—This introduction into England is 17 years
earlier than is claimed by Mr. McGrew in “Bailey’s Cyclo-
pedia of Agriculture,” which gives 1541 as the date.—D.
BK. H.)

“At first it was only in the hands of the rich, as nat-
urally would be the case, but in course of time became
accessible to the poor as well. So much then as to the
origin of the bird itself, in which is shown how it is a
native of Mexico, and was introduced into Europe by the
expedition of Cortez to the new world, and called by his
followers the ‘American’ or ‘Mexican’ peacock from its
habit of strutting. :

“Strange, then, how the bird came to be called tur-
key, a word in no way similar to the Anglo-Saxon pawa,

the German pfau, the French paon or the Latin pavo, all
names similar to one another and derived from the
Latin, the bird (peacock) having been brought from the
east by the Romans. The mystery then is how, in view
of all these facts, the name ‘turkey’ came to be applied
to this bird. It is obvious that we must look to some
other language for a solution to the problem. Going to
the far off home of the peacock, we find in the Tamil lan-
guage of India, a word ‘toka’—peacock, the primitive
meaning of which refers to a train or trailing skirt. This
word adopted into the Hebrew language becomes ‘tukki’
and by a slight change of the genius of the English lan-
guage becomes what we are looking for, ‘turkey.’

“But it is asked, ‘How came it through the Hebrew?’
Let it be said, then, that at the time of the expedition of
Cortez to Mexico the despised and persecuted Jews were
very numerous in Spain and engaged, as they usually are,
by their natural adaptability for gain, in merchandising.
Their acuteness led them to deal in foreign birds, curiosi-
ties and rarities, by which they reaped large profits, as
these things were only purchased by the rich. Naturally,
then, they saw in this new importation an opportunity
for gain, which they seized, and as they used their own
language as much as possible, it was not long before the
Hebrew name for peacock became well known. Doubtless
they designated it as the ‘American’ peacock, for it was
well known whence it came.

“Thus it would be constantly heard in the market
places, while the more scientific name of ‘pavo’ would
only be heard among the educated few, and so by force

of numbers the name was used and anglicized into
5
turkey.
“Furthermore, the name was formerly spelled
‘turky,’ as when Corbet, Bishop of Oxford. writes to
3 ]
Buckingham:

““Like very poore or counterfeit poore man, who, to
preserve their turky or their hen, do offer up them-
selves.’

In tracing the word to the Hebrew, the rules govern-
ing etymologies have been complied with, since here we
have preserved the radicals T and K, which fact only
tends to prove the origin of the word, according to the
views herein set forth.”

After investigating the authorities available, we are
inelined to believe that Mr. Richardson is right in regard
to the origin of the word and also about the introduction
of the turkey into Europe.

It is quite reasonable to presume that the Mexican or
southern turkey was the first introduced throughout Eu-
rope. Later, when the pilgrims settled here and found
that the Indians were domesticating them and that they
were numerous in the woods, they were no doubt used as
a bird of feast, owing to their size and numbers.

“Holy Days and Holidays” by Deems, says in regard
to Thanksgiving:

“When after the ingathering of the first harvest in a
new world, Gov. Bradford sent four men out to shoot
wild fowl that the infant colony ‘might after a more
special manner rejoice together,’ he little dreamed to
what that pious act would grow.”

It was not until the Revolutionary War that the feast
became national and after 1784 it was only occasionally
observed, except in New England.

Henry Austin in “Holy, Days and Holidays” writes, in
speaking of the four hunters mentioned: “They killed
many wild turkeys which the women in dressing probably
stuffed with beechnuts, and they brought home wood-
pigeons and partridges in abundance.”

As the climatic conditions of the north gave the wild
turkeys of that section their bronzy color and hardy con-
stitution and as it is a fact that the Indians were do-
mesticating these turkeys when the country was discoy-
ered and that our ancestors were progressive, we believe
it is safe to conelude that our bronze turkey of today is
descended from the ‘Meleagris Americana.”

TURKEYS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT

Origin—Description of All Standard Varieties—Breeding—Feeding—When to Market—Turkeys Pay the Greatest Profit

CHAS. McCLAVE,

HE origin of the domestic turkey is in a
sense almost unknown. Turkeys have
been bred as a domestic fowl for hun-
dreds of years in the United States and
Europe. Turkeys as a fowl or bird may
be divided into four classes, as follows:
The Wild American turkey of the United

States and Canada; the Mexican turkey of Mexico, Cen-

tral America, and the northern portion of South Amer-

ica; the Ocellata variety of Honduras,
but not least, our Standard varieties of domestic tur-
keys.

STANDARD VARIETIES

The American Standard of Perfection recognizes seven
pure or Standard varieties as follows:—The Bronze, Black,
White Holland, Narragansett, Buff, Bourbon Red and Slate.
Bronze are the largest and most numerous of all our do-
mestic varieties and are purely American, having been
a cross of the American Wild and the common domestic
turkey brought from Europe.

THE BRONZE TURKEY

The cross has produced the largest and hardiest tur-
key known. The well bred Bronze of today rivals the
famous American Wild Turkey in brilliant color of
plumage and beauty. The Standard weights of Bronze
are as follows:—adult gobblers 36 pounds, adult hens 20
pounds, young’ gobblers 25 pounds, pullets 16 pounds;
however, these weights are far exceeded by some speci-
mens found in our large poultry shows. <

At the last New York show held in Madison Square
Garden last December the writer found several adult
males weighing over 40 pounds each, and hens as high as
30 pounds, making a single pair, weighing above 70

1909, AMERICA’S PREMIER TURKEY

and the last —

JUDGE

pounds. These are extra weights and are valuable for
show purposes, but as a rule do not make the best
breeders. For general purposes and in the breeding
flock I prefer a medium sized Bronze. A young gobbler
weighing in breeding condition 25 pounds and pullets 15
to 17 pounds, or hens 17 to 20 pounds, make the best
breeders.

It is desirable always to mate not akin if possible,
which insures a much stronger chick or poult. The gob-
bler whether old or young should be large in bone and
frame, deep in body, with deep, round, full breast, head
of good size, and eye alert, with bold expression.

The leg and shanx should be large and straight, with
outlines of all sections in perfect harmony. The hen
should in every way conform in outlines to that of the
male, except in size.

In color the entire plumage of the male should be
a rich, brilliant, golden bronze, for neck, back, breast
and surface of wings. Wing flights when spread are
black with white barring across each feather, the more
regular the better.

The tail is black, evenly marked, transversely, with
parallel lines of brown, and each feather ending with
wide edging of white. Red or rusty tips are very ob-
jectionable.

The color of the hen is similar to the male, except
an edging of white or gray on each feather of the
breast, body, wings and back.

As layers the Bronze surpasses all other varieties, and
if not allowed to sit, will lay from three to four clutches
of eggs of from 13 to 18 in a elutch.

THE BLACK TURKEY
One of the most promising varieties, the Blacks, are
being bred in large numbers in some sections at the

Bronze Turkeys on the Farm of Mr. Chas. McClave.

8 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

present time.
to the Bronze in size.

The modern Black turkey is nearly equal
The old style Blacks were not
however, by
careful breeding and handling and with an infusion of
new blood, they have been greatly improved in size and

only inferior in size, but poor in quality;

A Fine Specimen of the Mammoth Bronze Turkey

general make up. ‘To attain their present weights and
general characteristics there is no question whatever
but more or less Bronze blood has been judiciously used.

From a market standpoint there is no question but
the Blacks will dress yellower and even plumper than
any other Standard variety. The Standard weights of
Black turkeys are: Cocks, twenty-seven pounds; hens,
eighteen pounds; cockerels, eighteen pounds and pul-
lets, twelve pounds. At the present time these weights
are entirely too low except on hens. We have no trouble
at Christmas time in having pullets from fourteen to
fifteen pounds, cockerels twenty to twenty-four pounds
and cock birds thirty or over. The Standard requires
males and females to be lustrous black throughout, but
it is a difficult matter to secure young birds with solid
colored plumage, as more or less feathers in wings will
invariably be tipped with white. This will usually dis-

appear at maturity. Good strains of Blacks are strictly
hardy, their eggs hatch well, and they are fully as good
layers as the Bronze or White. They are very docile in
their habits and are not inclined to ramble as much as
other varieties. The young grow rapidly from the start,
and at selling time always command the top
of the market.

The head and beak should be long and
broad and of good shape; eyes bright hazel;
neck of medium length and well curved; back
broad, of good length and highest in the
center and curved the shape of an egg. The
breast should be broad, deep and full; body of
good length and round in outline; wings of
good length and snugly folded against the
sides; tail of medium length and when folded
comparatively small. Thighs, shanks and toes
should be of good length with strong bone
and perfectly straight.

The Black Turkeys are also an American
production; however, the Norfolk or Black
Turkey has been bred in England for more
than two centuries. Thirty years ago the
Blacks were, as a class, small in size but by
the judicious infusion of Bronze blood they
have greatly improved in size and nearly rival
the Bronze in this respect.

When the good qualities of the Black Tur-
key become better known we predict that they
will rival their Bronze and White cousins in
popularity.

WHITE HOLLAND TURKEYS

The White Holland is also a native
of America. They are a sport of the
Bronze or dark varieties.and were also
rated as a small turkey until within the
past twenty years.

By careful breeding and the intro-
duction of new blood from larger varie-
ties, they have been greatly improved in
size. They are the most domestic in
their habits of any variety and not in-
clined to roam; are the best of layers;

a fine table fowl, and in the past few years a
great demand has developed for their feath-
ers. Market turkey buyers and dressers ali
over the country are urging farmers and
growers to breed White Holland turkeys on
this account.

THE NARRAGANSETT TURKEY

The Narragansett turkeys are a large variety
nearly rivaling the Bronze in size, and are a native of
New England, having derived their name from the In-
dian tribe, also Narragansett Bay on the east coast of
Rhode Island.

They are bred largely throughout New England and
the Atlantic coast and are becoming more popular in the
west. As a market variety they rank well with the
other large kinds.

In color they are different than any other kind, the
ground color being black, each feather ending with steel
gray, edged with black, giving the entire plumage a
grayish effect. See illustration page 9. The male and
female are the same in color except the female is a
shade the lighter.

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 9

THE BUFFS
Buff turkeys are one of the older varieties; how-
ever, they have never been popular and in some localities
are practically unknown; are of medium size and rarely
ever attain Standard weights. Very few specimens have
ever been produced that are really puff in color, as they
usually are of a chestnut or reddish shade of color with
white flights. They are fairly good layers
and good specimens mature early.

THE SLATE VARIETY

Slate turkeys are a medium size turkey
and sports from other Standard varieties,
are slate or blue in color and many times will
produce black and white specimens from the
same flock. ‘They are only bred in small num-
bers, therefore have never. been popular. Some
very good ones were shown at the New York
show last December, especially the first old
cock bird. They are fairly good layers, and
should receive more attention from turkey
growers.

THE BREEDING STOCK
In selecting the breeding ‘stock, no matter
what variety, they should be well matured,
strong, vigorous, and healthy. Yearling and
two year old hens will lay larger eggs and pro-
duce stronger poults than eggs laid by pullets.
Always use a gobbler not akin to the hens,
which insures strong poults. Avoid large or
overgrown specimens as breeders. ‘It is not
necessary to have more than one male
to six to ten hens under ordinary condi-
tions. If more than one male is used
with the flock, keep one yarded, changing
them from two to five times a week.
During the laying season if two or
more males run with the flock they are
constantly fighting and destroying each
other’s work. Past experience has taught
that the breeding stock thrive better with
free range of the farm; however, if pro-
vided with a large yard or orchard, they
ean be kept confined during laying time.

In most localities this is almost a necessity
on account of crows robbing the turkey nest.

WHAT TO FEED

To insure good health, the breeding stock must be
provided with a yariety of grain, grit and charcoal. As
@ conditioner and health preserver, charcoal has no equal
for the turkey family. When turkeys have free access
‘to charcoal very few will become sick or ailing.

The writer has found oats to be the best all around
grain for turkeys, especially during breeding time. A
smali amount of corn and wheat can also be fed to good
advantage. Over-fat specimens are as a rule very poor
breeders. Turkeys require a considerable amount of
water and should always have a liberal supply.

Where the breeders have the range of the farm they
require very little grain food after they commence to
lay. Many farmers hatch the first laying of turkey eggs
under chicken hens and the turkeys sit and hatch the
second clutch.

While some make a success by this method, many
more make a failure, as young poults do not thrive with
chicken hens, for two principal reasons, namely, proper
food, and lice. In their natural state the young poults

live almost entirely on insect food, which is not and
cannot be provided where brooded with the chicken hen,
therefore we are feebly trying to make them thrive on
food entirely foreign to nature.

Oue of Chas. McClave’- Narragansett ‘Turkeys, winner of first prize at
the St. Louis Worla’s Fair.

Every chicken hen will transmit enough lice to the
young poults to injure them to a greater or less extent.
The writer strongly recommends the hatching of all
turkey eggs by the turkey hen, which is the only nat-
ural mother. If you must hatch with chicken hens, use
plenty of insect powder before the eggs hatch.

After the poults hatch, isolate-them from the flock
of chickens to a dry sunny place and after thirty hours
old give a ration of hard boiled eggs and bread crumbs.
When a few days old add cracked corn and wheat, cot-
tage cheese, and in fact a little of everything they will
eat.

Animal matter should be supplied for young poults,
which can be provided in the form of
scraps, beef liver cooked and chopped fine.
be fed at least every other day and in a small quantity
at a time. Keep a liberal supply of fresh water and
granulated charcoal before them at all times. Never
allow their coops or runs to become wet or filthy. If

ground meat
This must

possible move the run every two days to a fresh ground.

10 TURKEYS—THEIR

as in a natural state they rarely ever remain in the
same place more than one night.

After they are four weeks old, turn them loose to
range over the farm, and still supply them with wheat
and corn until grasshoppers become plentiful. I believe
a flock of 25 to 50 turkeys ranging over a farm are a
benefit to any farmer because of the thousands: of in-
sects and worms which they devour daily. All these in-
sects and worms destroy a large amount of grain and
grass every year, on every farm. On our own farm tur-
keys have been kept for near 30 years and in numbers
from seven to four hundred and fifty head, and during

Buff Turkey Cock

A specimen of this rare variety of the turkey family which won first prize at At

many State Fairs in the hands of its owner, Mr, A, J, Ziemer.

that time they have rarely ever destroyed wheat, oats
or corn when in the shock. This cannot be said of other
poultry, as chickens, geese and ducks will destroy grow-
ing and shocked grain should they have access to the

same.

WHEN TO MARKET

Past experience has taught that to keep your tur-
The
Always encourage
them to come near the buildings to roost, by a liberal
supply of grain at night.

keys healthy, keep them busy and on the move.
busy turkey is the healthy turkey.

During October increase their
grain rations and by November give them all they will
eat. Oats and corn equal parts are the best for this
purpose. Many farmers get excited and rush their tur-
keys off for the Thanksgiving market regardless of
flesh, and it is safe to say that fully 90 per cent of the
turkeys marketed for Thanksgiving are thin in flesh and
not fit to go, while on the other hand if fed until Christ-

CARE AND

MANAGEMENT.

mas they command the same price per pound and gain
in weight from 20 to 25 per cent.

I have heard farmers with a flock of 30 or 40 head
of turkeys say they could not afford to feed them longer
than November 15th or 20th, when they were offered 15
cents per pound, live weight, while at the same time
they were feeding a bunch of hogs at four cents per
pound and really making themselves believe the hogs
were making them money. After feeding both for many
years I firmly believe that a pound of turkey meat can
be made during October and November just as cheap as

a pound of pork, and there is a noticeable difference be-

one and fifteen
cents per pound for the other. In proof of this
statement I have not owned or fed a hog on
my home farm for three years, but have fed as
many as 400 turkeys at one time.

tween four cents a pound for

One day recently Cleveland market quoted
hogs at $6.50 per hundred and turkeys at $20
per hundred. These comparisons are made
simply to show the difference in value of the two
farm commodities; however they are not made
to discourage the grower of hogs on the farm.
that not more than one
farmer in ten the state over. grows any turkeys,
that fully five
times as many turkeys could be grown and mar-

keted as are produced at the present time.

I am safe in saving

therefore it can easily be seen

Fully 90 per cent of the farmers in Ohio who
do raise turkeys, sell too close and retaén too
few for breeders for the coming year. Many
will only reserve a gobbler and two small hens,
when four or eight would prove large money for

them.

TURKEYS THE BEST PROFIT PAYERS

As an illustration of what can be and has
been done with a few turkeys, will state, that
one of my neighbors a few years ago~ purchased
a trio of young Bronze Turkeys for $9.00, and
with the use of some chicken hens to hatch the
first eggs, he raised 63 head of young turkeys,
and in November he sold the entire lot to a
buyer at market rates for an even $100, and the
purchaser took them at the farm with no time
or expense Jost for the grower in delivering.
These same turkeys were later retailed out for
breeders for more than double the $100.00.

this date (March 4th) good breeding

turkeys can hardly be found at any price.

On February 25th to test this matter

I sent letters to thirteen Bronze turkey breeders
and all were advertisers at this writing in lead-

ing agricultural journals. When replies were received,
only six of the thirteen had a turkey left to sell, the
others were sold out. The six that had a few to sell,
which were mostly late hatched, were quoted from $5.00
to $20.00 each, with the positive injunction to order at

once, for they could not guarantee to hold even five
days. This shows conclusively that the demand far ex-
eeeds the supply in Bronze Turkeys, or in fact any

other variety for breeders.

I believe no branch of the poultry business on the
farm offers so much opportunity, considering the invest-
ment, to make a few dollars as the breeding of turkeys.
No housing in winter is necessary as they prefer to
roost in the trees about the place, or on the ridge of
some building on the farm.

STANDARD-BRED BRONZE TURKEYS

An Illustrated, Detailed Description of What The Standard of Perfection Requires in Bronze Turkeys, Male and
Female—lInstructions on Judging by Score Card

D. E. HALE, WITH SPECIAL CHARTS BY MR, FRANKLANE L. SEWELL

UR national experimental stations have
done some good work in investigating
several of the very troublesome and
fatal turkey diseases and many excellent
articles are written each season by our
most prominent breeders, on breeding,
care and management of turkeys, so
that turkey culture today is not such a hazardous under-
taking as it was a few years ago. The turkey is also be-
coming more popular as an exhibition fowl and many
fine exhibits are seen at our annual poultry shows
throughout the country. While there are presented in
this book many excellent articles relating to turkeys
and turkey culture, we realize that many of our readers
will wish to exhibit some of their choice specimens and
for that reason this article has been prepared. We shall
try to show how a turkey is scored and why the cuts are
made. By the word “cut” we mean the amount deducted
from the number of points allotted each perfect section.

For the benefit of those who are just starting to
raise turkeys and who perhaps have never exhibited
poultry of any kind, we will say that in scoring a turkey
we work on the basis that a perfect specimen is valued
at 100 points, a certain number being allowed to each
section, so many for shape and so many for color. The
judge examines each section, first for shape, then for
color, and deducts whatever amount he thinks is lacking
from perfection.

Pictures usually speak plainer than words, hence in
order to give a clearer idea of the correct markings of
each section, we have had the charts which appear in
connection with this article, prepared by Artist Sewell.
These charts showing the feathers as they appear in the
different sections of. the fowl, we believe will give the
amateur a clear understanding of the plumage and a
feeling of confidence in selecting his show specimens and
breeders that he could obtain in no other way unless he
visited shows and studied the living birds under the
directions of a competent judge or breeder, or visited a
successful breeder’s yards, either course being frequently
out of the question. We present a chart of a male and
female Bronze turkey which will be referred to as Figs.
1 and 3 in our deseription.

There is always something to be learned so we trust
that every reader, both the experienced turkey exhibitor
and the amateur, will derive some benefit from it.

Of course, we must take as our guide, the Standard
of Perfection. We shall try to give in a clear, concise
manner our interpretation of its meaning as applied to
Bronze turkeys.

SYMMETRY

Symmetry is the first section that appears under the
Serle of Points. There is probably no section that has
been so much abused, or so little understood as this one.
It is no wonder that it was reduced to four points when
it had heretofore been valued at eight points. Judges pay
too little attention to this important section and do not
study it enough to get a clear understanding of its true
meaning. The Standard defines it as, “Perfection of pro-

portion; the harmony of all the parts or sections of a
fowl, viewed as a whole, with regard to the standard type
of the breed it represents.”

The latter part of that definition is what should be
kept in mind at all times; i.e., ‘viewed as a whole, with
regard to the standard type of the breed it represents.”
It has been described as “Typical Carriage’ which
caused more or less disputing. The following illustration
may help our readers to an understanding of the term.
Notice a company of picked soldiers coming down the
street, they march in perfect time, with shoulders back,
chests out and heads erect, the symmetry of each one and
of the whole body is unquestioned. But notice the same
men in quarters. ‘They are the same men with the same
clothes but they are relaxed, they lounge about with
shoulders drooped—symmetry is lacking.

In order to present your turkeys to best advantage
to both the judge and the public, each one should be
cooped separately, and uhe coop should be large enough
so taat it can turn around and stand naturally without
having the tail broken and twisted and the head forced
into an unnatural, uncomfortable position. Insist that
your turkeys be cooped singly.

THE MALE TURKEY

Now let us study the symmetry of the male for a
moment. He should be large in frame and deep in body,
with a broad, full, well rounded breast, which varies in
prominence according to the variety and which gives the
fowl a stately, majestic appearance. The head should be
of good size, long, broad and carunculated, while the eye
should have an alert, bold expression; the legs and
shanks should be large, strong and straight and the dif-
ferent sections should harmonize one with the other.

We must remember that we are scoring these turkeys
according to the latest Standard of Perfection which
goes into effect July first, 1910.

Symmetry is now worth but four points; it was for-
merly worth eight. In looking at Fig. 1 we see a perfect
specimen or one as near perfect as can be depicted by
the greatest poultry artist. We find each part harmoniz-
ing with the other and each part or section perfect in it-
self. Were we judging a living specimen that showed the
perfection of every part or section and all parts harmon-
izing as they do in Fig. 1, we could not cut anything for
symmetry. But, were the tail too long and carried too
high, we should cut one-half point, if the breast were im-
mature or flat and the neck apparently too long, giving
the fowl a lanky, ungainly appearance, we should cut a
half point, if the bird were too narrow across the breast
and back when viewed from in front and above, we
should cut one-half point. An outline drawing does not
give the true idea of symmetry because breadth and
thickness are to be considered as much as the profile or
outline. In 1888 the American Poultry Association voted
to have the Standard of Perfection illustrated by profile
or outline drawings. An attempt was made at that time
to have these take the place of symmetry. The first
Standards of that year were illustrated with outline
drawings but were soon abolished as ui satisfactory.

12 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

Remember in judging symmetry that it is “the har-
mony of all the parts or sections of a fowl, viewed as a
whole.”

WEIGHT OF BRONZE TURKEYS

Weight is the next section under the scale of points
and it is valued at 15 points. This section is of a good
deal of importance whether the breeder intends to ex-
hibit his fowls or whether he is raising them merely for
commercial purposes. The Standard weights for Bronze
turkeys are:

Adult cock Cockerel
Yearling cock Hen
iil Goooopos ooudooouDOsTe 16 Ibs.

In seoring turkeys the Standard instructions are to
cut 2 points for every pound less than Standard weight,
using one-fourth pound as the minimum.

For example, if 4n adult cock weighs thirty-five and
one-fourth pounds it would be cut one and one-half points
(See Fig. A.). Any one can easily see that a turkey which
is not up to weight and is handicapped by a cut of one
and one-half, will stand a poor chance of winning in close
competition. ’

Though many of the Bronze turkey breeders are ex-
hibiting specimens weighing nearly fifty pounds and have
been trying to get the Standard weights raised, it was
not deemed advisable by the last revision committee.

The market demands a turkey even below Standard
weight and they sell at a higher price than the excep-
tionally large ones. While the large specimen makes a
fine exhibition bird, there is such a thing as getting them
so large as to be useless as breeders; there is little call
for them on the market except for use in large hotels,
and they use them merely as “soupers.”

CONDITION

This section is valued at four points, and refers not
alone to the health of the specimen, but also to the con-
dition of its plumage. Of course a bird should not be

_shown uniess it is in good health, and its plumage should

receive careful attention. Turkeys should be handled
with great care when getting them ready to send to a
show, as they are naturally of a wild disposition and
broken wing and tail feathers and mussed and crumpled
plumage due to rough handling and lack of room are
things that handicap
a specimen and it will
be cut for such defects.
A fowl showing signs of
disease such as roup,
cholera, ete., should be
debarred from competi-
tion. These diseases are
contagious and the
judge should see that
any such specimens are
removed from the show
room to save other birds
from being infected. If
a bird shows signs of a

Mi

Nap

Ideal or Standard Bronze Turkey Male

Fig. 1.

Chart drawn by Franklane L. Sewell, showing outline and markings of Ideal Standard Bronze Turkey Male.

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 13

cold or canker it should be cut at least one-
half point. It it is rough and dirty from careless
handling it should be cut one-half point; if the bird is
cut and bleeding from fighting or other injury the cut
should be from one-half to one. Specimens which are
dirty and show that no care has been given them should
be cut one-half to one point.

; HEAD

The head is valued at five points, just the same as in
the old Standard, and is usually good, both in shape and
color. The Standard says that in shape the head should
be: “Long, broad, carunculated,”’ and in color should be:
“Rich red, changeable to bluish white.” This section is
generally good and it is very seldom that we find a speci-
men that has to be cut and if we-do, it is usually for
being a little too short or having as it is commonly
ealled, a bullet head. If such a head is found it should
be cut one-half to one point. If the beak is too long or
straight or injured, a cut of one-half is generally suf-
ficient.

The eyes are included in the head section and should
be “broad, clear,” and dark brown in color. They were
formerly known as hazel eyes but the last revision com-
mittee seemed to think that “dark brown” was the better
description.

THROAT AND WATTLES

This section is valued at five points as of old, and is
usually passed without a cut or discount, especially as far
as color is concerned. ‘(he Standard calls for “Heavily
earunculated.”. Once in a great while we see a specimen
that is rather smooth in this section and it should be
eut one-half to one, but such cases are very few.

THE NECK

The neck section is valued at six points and is divided
three for color and three for shape. In shape it shculd
be long and curve backward toward the tail. In color it
should be “Light, rich, brilliant bronze.” Please note
that it must be brilliant and show a bronze sheen and
that the Standard says it must be “light.” The bronze
shading is not as deep on the neck as it is in some other
sections and so it has a lighter appearance. It is very
seldom that a neck has to be cut; perhaps once in. awhile
one will be found that is a little too long and straight,
but not often. The color occasionally shades off to a
brown on the back of the neck and if it does cut one-half
to one.

THE BACK

The back retains the same valuation as in the old
Standard, ten points, but is divided differently as shape is
now valued at four points and color at six points, while
formerly it was divided evenly, five for each. This sec-
tion in a turkey, as in any other variety of fowl is of
great importance, for without a well balanced back the
specimen is of little value as a breeder. In shape it
should be broad and somewhat curved, rising from the
neck and descending in a graceful curve to the tail. The
eolor “from neck to middle of back, should be a light,
rich, brilliant bronze, each feather terminating in a
nzrrow, black band extending across the end. From mid-
ae of back to.tail coverts, black, each feather having a
brilliant bronze band extending across it, near the end.”

We have heard some breeders object that the Stand-
ard does not give some definite length of back. This
would be a pretty hard thing to do. In order to come up
to Standard weight and still have a nicely proportioned
and well balanced body, without appearing too flat, the
back would have to be of good length and we might be

safe in describing it as “rather long.” We must remem-

ber that the shape value of this section has been reduced
one point and is now only valued at ‘five points. If the
back is too straight, failing to show the curve above re-
ferred to, the cut should be from one-half to one and
one-half. If the curve is too prominent, giving the bird

Fig. A

POULTRY ASSOCIATION

January 10,1910 Pate

Official Score Card American Poultry Association
Exhibitor Sarmuel Smith _

Breed __ Bronze Turkey ee Sex

No. Band /00_

Entry _ Z

Shape | Remarks

Symmetry

Weight It

Size

Condition

Comb

Head

Beak

Eyes

Lobes

Wattles

Neck

Flat—Dull

ne
ne

uae

Tail __ Brown edging :

NTN

| Poor barring v.

Wings

Breast

nie
=
g
|
i>
N
~N
| Aa
2
i)
8
oa)
\ >

Body and Fluff | |.

Legs

__Crest and Beard

_Sharpness of Feather

nie

Outs 2h 2 Score 95

Do oB., Halen: atndee

F. L. Bradford _ Secretary

Reproduction of Score Card, Showing Sample “‘Cuts”’ for Defects

the appearance of having a humped back, the cut should
be the same. If the back is deformed or crooked, the
specimen will be thrown out of competition.

In color, if the feathers lack the narrow black bands
across the ends, the cut should be one-half to one. In
the males especially a shading of brown will sometimes

14 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND

appear in this section. It generally is a narrow edging
just inside the black. When this is found it should be
cut from one to two points.

THE TAIL

The tail is another important section and one in
which the color defects are as prominent as in any sec-
tion of the bird. It is now valued at twelve points, di-
vided four for shape and eight for color, while formerly
it was worth but ten points, divided four for shape and
six for color. The valuations are the same as for wing
and both are important color sections. The Standard
merely says that tail should be “rather long.” It should
also be well spread, for a pinched tail on a turkey would
look as bad as on any other fowl. By studying Fig. 1 you

MANAGEMENT.

upon examining Tig. 1 that part of the tail is covered by
the covert feathers. In judging the specimen the judge
examines well down toward the roots of the feathers for
sometimes they are found to be solid black under the
coverts. Should this be the ease the section should be
cut one-half to one and one-half points. Sometimes broad
bands or bars of pure white will be found at the base of
these feathers. Some breeders claim that this is caused
by trying to breed too wide a band of white on the tail
coverts and on the ends of the tail feathers. Too much
“white blood” crops out at the base of the tail, and it
will sometimes show at the base of the wing primaries.
Where we find these white bars at the base of the
feathers, the cut should be one-half to one. Where the
barring is irregular on the tail proper the cut is one-half

The Pride of the Farm

will get a good idea of the markings which the Standard
describes as “Dull black, each feather evenly and dis-
tinetly marked transversely with parallel lines of brown,
each feather having a wide black band, extending across
it near the end (the more bronze on this band the bet-
ter) and terminating in a wide edging of white. Coverts,
dull black, each feather evenly and distinctly marked
transversely with parallel lines of brown, each feather
having a wide black and bronze band extending across it
near the end and terminating in a wide edging of white,
the fewer larger coverts extending well out on the tail
having a little bronze on them. The more distinct the
whole plumage throughout the better.

The black band near the end of the feather should
be a sharp distinct black having a shade of bronze, and
the white band at the tip should be a clean, distinct
white and not a gray. When these two bands are sharp
and distinct as they are on a well bred bronze turkey
male, no prettier contrast can be found on any bird.
Should the white band be more of a gray than a white,
it should be cut from one-half to one. The coverts should
be transversely marked or barred with brown, ending in
a wide black or bronze band,
feather, with an edging of white.

extending across the

While the ground color of the tail feathers is black,
they should be well barred the full length. You will note

to one and one-half. Where the white outside lacing is
mixed with gray or brown the cut is one-half to one and
three-fourths. Where the coverts fail to show a clear
edging, the cut is one-half to one and one-half; if mixed
with brown or dirty gray, the cut is one-half to one and
three-fourths. A tail that shows a decided edging of
brown or red should be severely discounted in the show
room and the bird should not be used at all in the breed-
ing pen, for it is indicative of an outcross with the wild
turkey, and is not, in color, a pure bronze. :

Fig. B on page 29 showing the outspread tail of a
bird owned and bred by Mr. W. J. Bell, shows what ex-
cellent white edging is being bred.

This half tone does not do justice to the bird’s pen-
ciling or barring, for it was much plainer and more
distinet than in this picture.

: THE WINGS

The wing section is another important one especially
as regards color. It, too, has been raised in valuation,
being now valued at twelve points divided, four for shape
and eight for color, while formerly it was valued at ten
points divided four for shape and six for color.

It is seldom that we see a perfect wing. We wish
again to call your attention to Fig. 1 and to ask you to
study the markings of the wings. The Standard saya;

TURKEYS—THEIR

“Bows, light, rich brilliant bronze, ending in a narrow
band of black;

tinctly barred straight across, with parallel bars of black

primaries each feather evenly and dis-
end white throughout the length of the feather; second-
aries, dull black, evenly and regularly barred across with
parallel bars of white, (the more distinct the better) the
eolor changing to a bronze brown as the middle of the
back is approached and the white bars become less dis-
brown in secondaries being

tinct; an edging of

coverts a beautiful rich bronze forming

very
objectionable;
a beautiful, broad, bronze band across the wings when
folded; feathers terminate in a wide black band, forming

CARE

AND MANAGEMENT. 15
irregular showing zig-zag tracings across the wing, the

cut is one-hali to one and one-half. If the barring ap-
pears only on one side of the quill, the other side showing:
black or a mixed up muddy color, the cut should be one-
half to two.

edging of white or brown, the cut should be one-half to

If the secondaries show a slight tracing or

one, but if this edging is prominent enough to mar the
beauty of the wing, the cut is one to two and one-half.
If the the
feather, causing what would be

ecoverts fail in black band at the end of

termed an unfinished
wing, the cut is one to two.

In order to illustrate what good wing barring is, we

Fig. 2.

a glossy, ribbon-like mark, which separates them from
primaries and secondaries. The Hight coverts are barred
similar to primaries.”

Note carefully the tracing of bronze on the wing
bow. Up near the top the feathers are solid black, but
as they approach the the bronze edging
deepens, giving the wing when viewed in the sunlight the
color It might be well to go a
little farther and say that the last bar on the primaries
and secondaries should end with black. We should also
remember that the barring should extend to the end of
the feathers.., We quite often find a specimen that is
unusually

wing bar

of burnished bronze.

good in eolor, especially and
secondaries, except that near the end of the feathers the
barring will stop and the last two inches will be solid
black. When the wing of the

except this black, mate with him females that show more

in primaries

male is perfect in color,

white than black in their flights, and should you have
one that
black, she will be all the more valuable as a breeder.

has a wing with the last bar white, instead of

In seoring the wing of either male or female, when
at the of the feather, the cut
one one-half. If

this black appears end

should be one to and the barring is

Reproduced from photograph, showing Standard Barring on Wing of Bronze Turkey Male.

call your attention to the half tone picture Fig. 2 on
this page.

Note the sharp, distinct barring, also that it extends
well back on the secondaries.

While the tips of the flight feathers show as being
black, we are reliably informed that this was the fault
of the photographer and not of the bird, for they were
well barred to the tips.

THE BREAST
The valuation of the breast section has been raised
point by the last now
valued at eleven points being divided, six for shape and

one revision committee and is

five for color, shape valuation been raised one

point.

having

From a commercial point of view this is as it should
be, for there is no part of the turkey that is more popu-
lar at our national Thanksgiving feast than this section,

“c

unless perhaps, it is the well-known “drum stick.”

This section is seldom passed without a cut as it is
very liable to be undeveloped or a little too flat, unless
the specimen happens to be an old tom and fully devel-

oped. In shape it should be “Broad, deep, full and well

iG TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

rounded.” In color it should be “Light, rich, brilliant
bronze; feathers on lower part of breast approaching the
body, terminate in a black band extending across the end.”

If the breast is too narrow or too flat the cut should
be one-haif to one and one-half. If it is too shallow or
not deep enough through from the shoulder to point of
breast bone, the cut should be one-half to two. If the
color fails in the narrow edge of the black, giving the
surface a dull, dead sort of color, the cut should be one-
half to one and one-half. Should any of the feathers on
the breast show an outside edging of white the cut is
one-half to one and one-half.

BODY AND FLUFF

This section, the same as breast, has been raised one
point and given a valuation of eleven points, being
divided, shape six, color five, shape getting the added
point. The Standard description for shape of body is
very clear, viz; “Long, deep through the middle, finely
rounded.” The color is given as ‘Body, black, beauti-
fully shaded with bronze, but not so decided or so rich
as breast. Fluff, black, each feather having a wide, bril-
liant, bronze band, extending across it near the end and
terminating in a narrow edging of white.” If the body is
too short or too narrow, the cut should be one-half to
two; if flat, failing to show a nicely rounded outline, the
cut should be one-half to one; if not deep enough from

!

WW

Wh)

baek to base, the cut should be one-half to one and one-
half. If the keel is crooked, the cut should be one-half to
one.

We should not advise the amateur to breed birds with
a crooked breast bone. While we read a great deal about
them being caused by the birds roosting too young and
by being kept on a board floor and several other things,
we are convinced that it is bred in them the same as
any other deformity and we certainly should not use one
for breeding if it could be avoided.

The color of the body is
usually pretty good; once
in awhile we find one that
loses its bronze and has a
dull brown look and these
should be cut one-half to
one. Sometimes gray tips
are found, which should be
eut from one-half to one and
one-half. See that the fowl
has plenty of length back of
the legs. If not well bal-
anced and the bird has the
appearance of having too
much weight in front of
the legs the cut should be
one-half to one.

Ideal or Standard Bronze Turkey Female

Fig, 3.

Chart, drawn by Franklane L. Sewell, showing outline and markings of Ideal or Standard Bronze Turkey Female.

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. ile

LEGS AND TOES

This section retains the same valuation that it had
in the old Standard, but is divided, three for shape and
two for color. They should be, “Thighs, long, stout;
shanks, large, long, strong. Toes straight, strong.”
Fig. 1 gives you an excellent idea of what a good turkey
leg should be. Here we have a thigh that is of good
length, and stout, the kind that carries lots of meat and
muscle. The thighs should be the same as the breast,
only less brilliant in shade. The shanks should be
pinkish, in old birds, and in young birds will be dark,
approaching black. They should stand well apart, giving
the specimen a broad, massive appearance when viewed
from in front.

The toes should be straight and well spread. The
legs should be as described by the Standard, of fair
length so as to hold the specimen well up, but not so
long as to make him look leggy or lanky.

If the legs are too fine in bone making the bird look
feminine, the cut should be one-haif to one; if too short
or too long, the cut should be one-half to one and one-
half; if too close together or knock-kneed, the cut should
be one to two. Crooked toes should be cut one-half each.
If the legs are faded, dirty or scaly they should be cut
one-half to one and one-half; if off-color they should be
eut one-half to one and one-half.

° THE BRONZE TURKEY FEMALE

In Fig 3 is shown one of the best turkey drawings
ever produced by any artist. Every breeder that has

inspected this chart conceded it to be the outline of an
ideal female. Although Mr. Sewell drew this picture sev-
eral years ago, we have never seen any that could take
its place. :

It is riot necessary to go into a detailed sectional
description of the female, for she is similar throughout
to the male, except being finer in bone and not so coarse
looking. In regard to color the Standard says; “Plumage
similar to that of the male, except edging of white on
feathers of back, wing-bows, breast and body, which
edging should be narrow in front, gradually widening as
it approaches the rear. Beak, eyes, throat, wattles and
shanks and toes same as male.”

A common defect in the female is a brown color that
shows on the outer edge of white lacing on the feathers
of the back and breast. When this is found it should be
cut from one-half to one and one-half. The back of the
neck is more apt to show this than any other section and
it occurs oftener in the female than in the male. We do
not, of course expect as brilliant or bright a bronze in
the female as in the male. Breeders by carefully
mating together each year the best of the flock are im-
proving the female to such an extent that it will not be
surprising in time to find the same brilliant bronze on
wings and tail coverts that we do on our best exhibition
males.

If the amateur will well the

study charts shown

herewith, also how each section is valued and how the
common defects are cut, he ought to be able to pick out
his best exhibition specimens and be better qualified to
select his breeders.

TURKEYS THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT

An American Wild Fowl that in Domestication has Been Brought to an Advanced Standard of Excellence and Serves

Highly Practical Purposes—Standard Requirements of Different Sections—Mating to Produce
Exhibition Specimens—General Advice on Care of Flock

S. B. JOHNSTON

HERE are a number of turkeys bred in this
part of the state, so that we are generally
well acquainted with the different varieties,
although our work has been confined to the
Bronze variety. There are six varieties
besides the Bronze in the Standard, namely
the Narragansett, Buff, Bourbon Red, Black,
Slate and White Holland. Then there is a

white sport from the Bronze that is nearly as large as
that variety and that has more desirable features than
the White Holland, which is the smallest variety in the
Standard. The White Holland is a good bird, but is too
small and will not bring the marketman as profitable
returns as the Bronze or Narragansett. I believe fewer
people raise the Black Turkey than any other variety, as
it is not liked by shippers on account of black pin feath-
ers. Bronze, White Holland or Buff Turkeys are easier
dressed and pin feathers are not evident.

The Bronze Turkey is the largest of all varieties. It
matures quickly and by the holiday season will attain its
full weight. It is docile and easily kept at home. It is
said by some that the Bronze Turkey is not easily kept at
home, but I have found that turkeys of any variety not
haying proper care will stray away. In hardiness and
vigor there is no variety that can surpass the Bronze
when properly bred. The wild turkey is so near in color
to the Bronze that by carefully introducing new blood

by wild hens the breeder can get hardiness and vigor un,

equaled. Turkeys that are hatched in April, May and
June will begin laying the latter part of March or the
first of April the next year. I believe that all varieties
of turkeys in the same latitude begin laying about the
same time. In this latitude they begin about the ‘first of
April more generally than in March. There seems to be
always a good demand for turkeys of all varieties. — It
takes the Bronze variety about three years to get its full
weight—in other words, to get its heaviest weight, while
most other varieties attain their full weight by the
second year. There are more Bronze Turkeys raised
than all other varieties combined, which fact is proof
enough that the Bronze has more good qualities than any
other variety.

RANGE AND HOUSING

Turkeys do not do well in small and crowded quar-
ters. They can be raised to some extent on a small range,
but such specimens generally are stunted in size and of
poor color, just as is any other stock that is ill-kept.
When the turkey was first found it ran wild in the forest,
hence the love of range is about its first instinct and it
will attain nearer perfection in size and color when it
has freedom. Some writers advocate the housing of tur-
keys, but in my experience I have not found this best. I
have learned that a turkey hen can take care of its young
better that either a domestic hen or myself, as the tur-
key mother seems to understand the little poults’
chirping and knows what they need. I have tried raising
turkeys in coops and pens, keeping them close to the

house, but with poor success. When the season is not too
severe, turkeys can be given the run of the place, and
if they have good quarters in which to roost at night,
under bushes or something of that kind, and are looked
after during the day for a few weeks, they will not need
much food, but will do better and grow faster than those
kept close to the house and fed from five to six times a
day. Turkeys raised in this way are less trouble, have
better plumage and are more vigorous, and in the fall
when the corn is being gathered they can be toled to the
house to roost. Turkeys kept close to the house and not
extra well fed will stray off, hence the advantage is all
with the one who raises his turkeys away from the
house.

I have found that a roost built close to the ground is
of great advantage to young birds that are growing fast,
as it often happens that promising youngsters ,are in-
jured in flying from high roosts. I believe that a shed
open to the south and closed to the north, east and west
is of great advantage in severe weather in keeping tur-
keys dry and free from drafts. Such a shed makes a
good feeding place when there is snow or mud, and would
make a good roosting place if the turkeys could be in-
duced to roost in it. The great trouble is to keep them
from roosting on top of the shed, but this can be pre-
vented by running a two-foot wire netting around the
top. I should not attempt to raise turkeys on one or two

acres of ground, but with proper care a forty-acre farm

will give ample forage for five hundred birds. In these
days it is a large flock that contains more than one hun-
dred turkeys: They do best when divided into flocks of
about fifty.

: MATING BRONZE TURKEYS FOR PRIZE WINNERS

lf L-were asked the most essential point for breeders,

“I should say first of all vigor, then size, then fine mark-

‘ings of plumage. The fancier must consider size, because
nine out of every ten want size first. It is not the rule,
however, that the biggest turkeys are the highest
scorers, no matter how well they may be bred. To im-
prove size, weight and markings, select the finest marked
tom of good big bone, with typical carriage, strong and
vigorous, and mate him with the largest hens possible,
no matter if they are not so well marked. Then the next
season reverse the order and if you are so fortunate as
to get well marked birds of both sexes, mate them in the
following manner: For the females, select tall, rangy
birds, with long, deep bodies, broad backs, and full
rounded breasts, with as big bones, feet and legs as pos-
sible. In color, the head and wattles should be a rich
red, but under different circumstances “the head is
changeable to bluish white. The plumage of the neck
and breast should be a rich, lustrous bronze, the breast
and back in front of wings showing a narrow lacing or
edging of gray. The back is somewhat darker in color,
as it shows a narrow black band across the feathers as
they near the lesser tail coverts, these ending in a white
or gray edging. The primaries and secondaries of the

- TURKEYS—-THEIR CARE AND

wing feathers must be as near Standard as possible.
I take it for granted that every breeder has the
Standard, for it is the book of authority, and sets forth
clearly the disqualifications. I would say, however, that
the white or gray bars should be about three-sixteenths
of an inch in width with the black or brown bars about
three-eighths of an inch. ‘They should be even and
straight across the feathers. The tail should be long and
black, with pencilings of light brown across the feathers,
the feathers ending in a broad, black band with an edging
of dull white coming right up to the black. The feet and
legs should be dark, approaching black. This is of less
importance in the females than in the male.

The tom has more influence on shape and color of
offspring than has the female. He should be as near
perfection in carriage and color of plumage as it is pos-
sible to get. He should be of medium size and of good
vigor. In my opinion, the Standard makes a mistake in
calling for larger birds,
as this detracts from their

MANAGEMENT. 19

the hen. In this way the eggs will all be the same dis-
tance from the hen’s body and receive the same amount
of heat. Sprinkle the eggs at sitting time and two or
three times during hatching time with Lambert’s Death
to Lice, or some other good insecticide. If your hen is
gentle you might take the poults out of the nest as they
hatch. This leaves more room for those that are to
hatch. If the hen is inclined to be irritable, it is best to
leave her alone, as she may get excited and trample on the
poults. I-have successfully used incubators for hatching
turkey eggs, but when it comes to putting the poults in
the brooders it is another matter. It is all right to
hateh then: in an incubator if one has hens to which he
can give the young poults to be raised. I never feed my
young turkeys until they are twenty-four to_ thirty-six
hours old., They are first given grit, then some oatmeal
or groats. 1 use very little soft food. When giving soft
food it is best to mix it with sweet milk and give only

what they will eat up at

profit as egg-producers.
A good vigorous tom
will mate with eighteen
or twenty hens. As to
the best age for breed-
ing fowls, I use a_ two-
year-old male and_ fe-
male one year old, or
vice versa. Yearling tur-

one meal, as turkeys
should never have sour
food. Give table scraps
and any green food you
may have. Cottage
cheese is a good food for
poults and is particu-
larly good with cut onion
tops, salted and _ pep-
pered to _ taste. Oat

key hens will lay more_
eggs than an older hen,
but the two-year-old hen’s
eggs will hatch stronger poults. Hens are profitable as a
general thing until they are four years old. I have kept
some good layers until they were six years old. Asa rule
turkeys are not profitable after they are four years old.
Three to four-year-old tom turkeys usually become cross
and irritable and are dangerous to have about where
there are children.

A Flock of Bronze Turkeys

I have the best success with pullets from sixteen to
twenty pounds, and old hens from eighteen to twenty-
three pounds. They lay more fertile eggs than larger
hens, are more active and healthy and make better
mothers. Turkey hens do not all commence laying at once,
and generally by the time the first layers want to sit the
last ones to lay are ready to begin. Turkey hens should
be carefully fed at the laying season if fed at all, as they
will pick up on the range nearly all the food they need.
If allowed to get too fat they will not lay until late. It is
a good plan to feed meat two or three times during the
month before you want them to lay, as it will have a
tendency to make the eggs more fertile. Turkey eggs as
a general thing are sure to hatch. I have had hens lay
as many as four clutches of eggs in a season. Turkey
eggs will hatch in twenty-eight days, but with medium
sized turkeys it usually requires twenty-nine days, and
eggs from very large hens frequently run over to thirty
days. I have an eight-foot fence around about two acres
on my home place that I use for the laying turkeys in
the spring. I use boxes and barrels turned on the side
for nests.

AT HATCHING TIME

One should be very careful in setting turkey hens, as
they are of a wild nature. It is best to try a hen, if one
has valuable eggs, by giving her a few nest eggs for a
day or so, then at night taking the nest eggs out and put-
ting the good eggs in. Be careful to have the bottom of
the nest firm and solid, so that the eggs will not roll
about. Have the nest so formed that it fits the shape of

on the Farm of S. B. Johnston

groats are highly recom-
mended as a dry food for
poults. Give millet seed,
kaffir corn, wheat and then cracked corn. Feed these
grains alternatingly. ;

AT MARKETING TIME

I have found that winter feeding differs from summer
feeding, as in cold weather poultry needs corn on account
of its heating and fat-producing qualities. Turkeys on
the range in warm weather do not require much corn.
If one has a large range the turkey crop is almost clear
profit. Turkeys intended for market should not be fed
heavily until within about two weeks of selling time,
when they should be given all the corn they will eat, with
a change of food as often as possible so that they will
not tire of the corn before they are fat. Make corn their
main food.

The average price for turkeys on the market is eight
cents per pound. When stockmen get five cents per
pound for hogs and cattle they make a good profit. It
does not take anything like the amount of food to pro-
duce turkey meat that it does to produce cattle or hogs,
and it is very seldom that the turkey grower gets less
than eight cents per pound. On the other hand, it is sel-
dom that the cattle grower gets more than four cents per
pound for his beef or pork. When turkeys are properly
raised they are a benefit to the crop instead of a waste,
as they destroy numerous insects. In California turkeys
are rented out to men who have vineyards, who turn the
turkeys loose among the vines to destroy insects. Tur-
keys do not require to be fed on a grain ration until
within a few weeks of marketing time, as they get their
living from the gleanings of the field. In this way they
get a large frame, which the grower can fatten when
selling time comes. Turkeys should be fed away from
other poultry. Sandy or gravelly land is the most suit-
able for turkey raising. Low, swampy land is not desir-
able, as it creates rheumatism, to say nothing of the
filth.

SUCCESSFUL TURKEY RAISING

With the Minimum of Labor—Laying House for Turkeys—Hatching the Poults—Housing Turkeys with Poults—Feeding
Young Turkeys—Roosts for the Young Birds—Shipping Crates for Pairs, Trios and Pens

MRS. M. L.

AM AWARE that no two breeders manage
their turkeys exactly alike, in fact, there
are no iron-clad rules in turkey raising.
Our surroundings differ so from those of
others, that it is useless to formulate rules
that would be impossible for them to fol-
low, but there is one safe rule for begin-

No matter what your environments may be, start
with the very best stock you are able to buy. If you have
money encugh to buy a good pair only, do not spend it
for a trio or pen. If you can spare the money for first-
class birds, of course a trio or pen is desirable. To the
thoroughly equipped breeders who have years of exper-
ience behind them, my methods will appear crude, doubt-
less. It is not for the breeder of experience that this
article is written, but for those whose advantages are
not great and who must struggle perhaps for years to
gain the knowledge that will make them successful tur-
key raisers.

I learned several years ago that I had neither the
time nor strength to follow the hens around and hunt
their eggs in fence corners and hedge rows, so I had a
laying house built for them. It is not a very elaborate
affair, but it accommodates them very comfortably. A
week or two before I think it time for them to hunt
nests, I have them driven every morning into this house.
In this way they become accustomed to going in and
usually by the time they begin to lay they will go with-
out being driven. When the turkeys lay from twenty-five
to thirty eggs, I set them under domestic hens, putting
nine or ten under each hen. We find that there will be
as many poults as one turkey hen ought to carry. Of
course you have to use a great many domestic hens where
there are many turkey eggs to hatch, but it pays, I think,
as they hatch so much better for me than do the turkeys.
I do not set the first turkeys that get broody, but break
them up and let them lay a second clutch. By the time
the first turkey eggs have been incubated two or three
weeks, the last hens will probably be getting broody.

ners.

SETTING THE TURKEY HEN

In the meantime, I arrange my turkey nests, which
are empty barrels, as I consider them among the very
best nests. I saw out two or three of the staves about
half the length of the barrel, that is, just below the
middle hoop. I stand the barrel in the corner of one of
my poultry houses with the open end up, because I think
setting the eggs on the ground causes bad results. By
making the nest on the closed end of the barrel the eggs
do not come in direct contact with the damp ground, and
they are yet near enough to obtain sufficient moisture
Tack an old piece of carpet or gunny sack on the barrel
over the opening and another over the top. Put in a lot
of new straw and shape it into a solid, but rather shallow
nest, and it is ready for the turkey. In the evening I
remove her from her old nest and putting her gently in
the barrel, drop the curtain over the opening. I have
previously put a few chicken eggs in the nest so if she
is restless and inclined to stand up at first, there will be
no harm done. The second day J raise the curtain and
put food and water near the barrel, but if she does not

SINGLETON

come off, 1 let her alone for a day longer, and if she still
refuses to come off, I lift her out. After she has eaten,
I see that she goes back on the nest. When she has
become accustomed to it, I lift the curtain up so that
she can come out into the poultry yard and dust and
pick around, always being careful to see that she goes
back on the nest. I arrange a number of these nests in
the different houses to accommodate the different broods
that come off. A day or two before the little ones are
due to hatch, I remove the eggs from one of the chicken
hens, putting them under the turkey hen. When the
little poults appear she is just as proud of them as
though she had done all the work of incubating. As the
little poults get dry and strong, I remove them to a
flannel lined basket in the house. When evening comes, if
the turkey is a very gentle mother, I carry them back
and let them remain with her, as the warmth from her
body streugthens them, but if she is a foolish old hen,
I wrap the basket warmly and keep them in the house.
When they are all dry and strong enough, I remove the
mother turkey and her little ones to their future home.
It is this home I wish to tell you about most particularly.

HOUSING THE TURKEYS AND POULTS

I do not remember to have read an article on turkey
raising in which the writer did not suggest that a nice,
shady orchard was a desirable place for turkey coops.
Now I admit an orchard is all right, provided it is located
where you can run out and look after the young turkeys
at all times, but when one has all the work of a large
house on one’s shoulders and cannot get any help that is
worthy the name, then I say most emphatically, don’t.
Here at Elmhurst is a large, shady yard at the west side
of a building which has a porch almost the full length of
the dining room and kitchen. A door opens out of each
of these rooms on the porch. At the end of the porch is
the pantry, which has a window in the west side, so if I
am in either the dining room or kitchen, I can step
out on the porch and see my turkeys, but if I am in the
pantry, I can look through the window and see them,
for it is in this side yard under the elm trees that my
turkey coops are placed. ‘Turkey coops in the yard!”
I hear some housekeeper exclaim. Yes, for my turkey
coops are very neat affairs and do not detract very much
from the beauty and neatness of our yard. The coops
are renewed each year, that is, I turn the last year’s tur-
key coops over to the chickens and get new ones, bécause
for some reason my turkeys always thrive better in new
coops. ‘These coops cost only twenty-five cents each and
a little work, for they are dry goods boxes sawed
slanting, so that they are only about half as high at the
back as they are in front. There are boards nailed on to.
extend over the front and rear. The lower boards are
taken off the front of the coop and battens nailed on
for the door, which slips back in place and is fastened
with a wooden button which is just above the door.
About six inches above the door another board is re-
moved and sereen wire nailed on to ventilate the coop.

FEEDING AND CARING FOR POULTS
Now we have the turkey hen and her brood in a nice
new coop under the elm trees where just enough sunlight

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND

fiiters through to keep the ground dry, and not enough
to hurt the tenderest poult. The next thing is to feed
them. For the first day or two 1 give them nothing but
light bread soaked in new milk, and pressed as dry as
possible, with plenty of black pepper sprinkled over it.
After that I feed them almost entirely on egg corn bread
soaked in sweet milk, in which is mixed raw egg. Right
here I want to say, there is nothing better for young tur-
keys than raw eggs. 1 learned several years ago that
they are far superior to boiled eggs. I know that curd
or clabber cheese
is highly recom-
mended by a great
many persons, but
I have found it a
very injurious food
for poults. I have
believed this for
several years, but
nevertheless, I com-
menced to _ feed
sparingly last
spring, and in less
than two weeks I
lost five or six
poults, and in every
ease but one I
found the curd
packed in the en-
trails. The other case was enlargement of the gall blad-
der, caused from indigestion.

Before putting the hen and her brood in the coop, I
cover the bottom with hay or straw, otherwise there is
danger of the hen injuring herself from slipping on the
boards. I once had a valuable turkey almost ruin herself
in this way. The young ones, however, get injured much
more easily on the straw. I keep the mother and turks
in the coop for a day or two, unless the weather is very
mild, and then I stake them out in an open place in front
of the coops. This is done by tying a stout twine, such
as fleece or wool is tied with at shearing time, to a short
stake and driving the stake even with the top of the
ground. I measure the twine so that it will not be long
enough to wrap around any tree or shrub, but near
enough to the coop so that she can go in, but not around
it. The string I tie on the leg, just above the foot. The
hen will work and pull at the string for awhile, but she
soon becomes accustomed to it, and when I take her out
to tie her each morning she seems perfectly satisfied.
This way has a great many advantages to me over the
old way of putting them in a pen in the orchard. In the
first place, the hen cannot kill the poults by jumping in
and out. Secondly, they are right in sight, where I can
give them my personal attention at all times. Third, if a
rain comes up, I run out, untie the hen and put her inside
the coop. The young ones rush up for the food I give
them and I put as many in with each hen as I think she
ought to have, because you see I have several of these
families in the yard and one mother is the same as
another to them. By the time the rain comes, the hens
with their broods are all safely housed, for it only takes
a few minutes to attend to all of them. Fourth, by the
time I give them their liberty, which is not till the poults
are three or four weeks old, they have become accus-
tomed to their roosting place, and the flocks are usually
running together. ‘The hens never separate, but all come
in at night, bringing the whole drove with them. It is
very seldom that they fail to come up, but if they do, I
go after them and drive them up, because if they form
the habit of staying out, it is almost impossible to break

Fig. 1. Coop for two turkeys, showing lath
at top, over which the cloth partition hangs,
and the lath at bottom to which it is tacked.

MANAGEMENT.

them. When they outgrow their coops and show signs of
wanting to fly up to roost, I drive them into the turkey
house, which is well ventilated, where I have roosts made
about two feet from the ground. I do this for fear of
sudden rains in the night, for I am not strong enough to
get up and carry turkeys in out of the wet. I used to do
such things in the past when my coops were kept under
a shady tree in the orchard, but I realized that it was
only a question of time when I should be compelled to
give up the business entirely, or keep the turkeys where
they could have my personal attention at all times.

When they are a few weeks old I feed them any small
grain that I have, but the principal food is corn chops
dampened just sufficiently to cause the fine part to adhere
to the coarse. As they get older and until they are sold,
they are fed almost entirely on corn. They must be well
supplied with grit and oyster shells. When I first com-
menced to raise turkeys in such close quarters, I was
told by all my neighbors that I would stunt them so that
they would never recover from it, but as I raise the
heaviest turkeys that have ever been raised in this part
of the country, my friends have quit talking.

I have been asked what preparation I give my turkeys
for the show room, and my answer is, none whatever.
From the time they are four or five weeks old until they
are shipped to customers, they have the range of a one-
hundred-and-sixty-acre farm, and as soon as they are old
enough to withstand the hard rains at night, they are
made to roost outside in the open air. If during the
winter we have deep snows, and protracted cold spells,
we drive them into the barn and allow, them to roost
there until the weather moderates. Managed this way,
there is no danger of them contracting colds and roup
when being shipped a long distance.

SHIPPING CRATE FOR TURKEYS

Seeing the forlorn and bedraggled condition of tur-
keys shipped in pairs and trios to our station, made me
wonder if the turkeys I shipped to customers looked the
same when they arrived at their destination, and I de-
termined to devise some means of preventing them from
picking each other
and breaking their
feathers while on
the journey. The
erate I use is my
own invention, as IL
have never seen
one anything like
it, and while it is a
very simple affair,
it answers the pur-
pose admirably. I

use narrow cloth- ; ; é }

lined t for Fig. 2. Showing coop for trio, with cloth
ime i crates or partitions in place.

shipping turkeys,

making the crate for a pair just a little wider than for a
single bird, and for a trio a little wider than for a pair.
Any style of crate will do, but the ends should be up-
right pieces so as to have something to nail partitions
to. In making a coop for a pair, after the frame is made
and before it is lined, nail on two laths lengthwise of the
crate, one the width of a lath below the top, the other
against the bottom. Nail them firmly to the upright
piece at either end. These laths are just slanting enough
to show the space at one end to be about twice the width
of the other. When you have the laths firmly in place,
take a piece of your lining twice the depth of the crate,
drop it over the top lath, tacking it firmly to the floor on
each side of the bottom lath. Now you have a good, firm

22 TURKEYS—THEIR

partition, one that will sway gently with the motion of
the birds, but keep them apart as effectually as a stone
wall. If you wish to ship a male and female, have the
space on one side of the partition a little wider than the
other side, as the male is always broader across the back.
Make it just wide enough for them to rise up and sit
down comfortably. When putting them in the crate,
place the tom with head toward the wide space at one
end and the head of the hen toward the wide space at the
other end, having their heads at opposite ends. There is
no danger of fighting, and the space being wider at one
end and narrowing down at the other, there is no chance
for them to turn around, which I have seen them do in a
narrow crate that is the same width. In shipping a trio,
follow the same general directions, having the wide end
of the wide compartment and the narrow ends of the side
compartments at one end of the coop, and at the other
end, the narrow end of the center compartment and the

CARE AND

MANAGEMENT.

wide ends of the side compartments. Have the middle
space somewhat larger than the side spaces and place
the tom in it, with a hen on either side. I believe the
same plan could be followed in shipping a pen, making
the crate wider and adding two more partitions. The
crate must not be lined until the partitions are put in,
because there is no room to nail.

No matter how you raise or ship your turkeys, be
honest in your dealings with your customers. In cor-
responding with them, describe your birds honestly, send-
ing a tail, wing and covert feather. If your birds are well
marked, the customer can tell it by the feathers, but they
have to depend on you for correct weight, shape, ete.
Remember always, the golden rule and judicious adver-
tising are the only safe rules to follow in poultry culture,
If you do not sell all your birds this year or next, you
will some time, and if you do, you will not be ashamed to
look your customers in the face if you should meet them.

BREEDING MAMMOTH BRONZE TURKEYS

Selecting the Breeders—Setting the Eggs—What to Feed at Different Stages of Growth—Remedies for the Dreaded Blackhead or Cholera—
Hints on Turkey Rearing from One Whose Experience Covers More than a Quarter of a Century

JAMES E. LORD

ARLY in the spring of my eleventh year my
father sent me to an adjoining farm on
which our family was to locate in a few
weeks, my duty being to stay with the tur-

their eggs. If my memory serves me well,
this was my first responsible share in the
management of the flock.

The Mareh winds were fierce and cold,
but with undiminished interest I resumed the task each
morning. ‘The flock was made up of practically all the
breeds and crosses known at that time and their wild
natures were in strong contrast with our stock of to-
day. I remember following one of those cunning crea-
tures forthe greater part of a day, but she finally eluded
me by taking wing and alighting in a woods nearly half
a,mile away.

' Two years later I was sent to a distant school. 1
recall distinctly the heartache I experienced in parting
with “Old Yellow,’ a gentle house turkey that was all
my own. ‘The frequent allusions to this old bird in my
correspondence with my mother attest my fondness for
this part of farm life, which though interrupted from
time to time, has been resumed as often with all the
ardor of those days.

Raising faney stock was not very general then and
showing was not even thought of, but our turkeys were
sent to market in prime condition, were neatly dressed
and sold at a premium even at that early date.

Improvement in blood was first suggested to the
writer twenty years ago when he received a present of
a number of beautiful Bronze Turkeys from a friend in
Vermont. They formed the nucleus of our present flock.

The old tom became a wonder in intelligence and he
was taught several tricks. At picking one’s pocket he
was an adept. While showing off one day he stumbled
and his neck was broken.

From time to time the best blood obtainable was se-
cured, with the result that our birds were sought by ex-

keys, to watch for their nests and to gather

hibitors and many prizes were won at leading fairs.
Then we decided to show our birds, with results so grat-
ifying that since 1902 the greater part of our stock has
been sold to fanciers and breeders.

SELECTION OF BREEDING STOCK

Much may be written on the selection of stock for
breeding. Somewhere I have read that it is easier to
breed a turkey up to the requirements of the Standard
than any other variety of poultry. I am not prepared to
say whether this statement is true or not, but of one
thing I am positive. Never yet has there been a perfect
specimen of Bronze Turkey taken from the show room,
and so long as this is true none of us needs to be less
earnest in his efforts. d

It has been our practice to keep as near the Standard
as possible, size being the first requirement, shape next
and color last. The defects in the female we try to over-
come with the male, which must be good in all sections.

Fanciers should bear in mind the fact that the larger
part of our turkeys goes to flocks bred for the market,
and that in order to furnish satisfactory breeders we
must aim to have birds of large size and those that ma-
ture early. To produce this result, select females of
large frame and mate them with a cockerel, the largest
and best of the breed that one can afford.

Lately pullets are coming more into favor. They lay
earlier and lay a greater number of eggs than hens, make
quite as good mothers and are less wily.

It is also desirable to have the broods off reasonably
early. A few days give the early poults a long lead over
their later fellows, which is as great an advantage to the
market man as to the fancier.

Bear in mind that the male is one-half the flock,
therefore do not stop at a few dollars for a tom that
suits. An undersized tom from a standard-bred fowl is
to be preferred to one overgrown where the quality of
his ancestors is unknown.

The matured toms are often too heavy and unless

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 23

one can give them closer attention than is customary,
the hens will be injured by them. It is a safe plan to
keep such old toms apart from the flock, except when
they can be watched. They are a necessity in standard
flocks, but it requires a great amount of patience and
perseverance to be successful with these extremely large
sires.

It is a safe rule to place one tom with ten to fifteen
hens. It sometimes happens that a valuable tom is not
inclined to mate. This difficulty may be overcome by se-
curing another one, prefer- y
ably smaller. When the
two meet in the flock,
jealousy will open the eyes
of the old bird to his duty.

For many reasons the
hens should be induced to
lay near home. Ours are
so domestic that it is not
unusual for them to nest
in the buildings and often
one is found in the hay
loft. Collect the eggs each
day, place them in a cool
room and turn them every
day or two until wanted
for setting. The hen should
then have a thorough dust-
ing with some good lice
powder. As a heavy tur-
key hen is liable to break
the eggs, it is better to
hatch them under common
hens. Put a few china eggs
under the turkey until
such time as the poults ar-
rive, then slip one or two
of the little ones under her
over night and by morning
she will be in a mood to
mother the whole _ brood.
By another day they will
be ready to be taken to
the field, at which time
they should be carefully
dusted. We have found one
application sufficient for
the season, but it may be
necessary sometimes to
apply the powder several
times. At any rate, use it as often as required, because
poults cannot thrive where lice abound.

A slatted coop three feet square and two feet high
placed where the grass is short and pulled gently to
fresh ground each day serves as a home from two to
four weeks. Occasionally a hen will not take kindly to
being confined and in her efforts to free herself will in-
jure if not kill her young. We know of no better way
than to let her go and rear them as instinet teaches
her.

color.

Kast.”

Bronze Turkey Cock

Mr. F. L. Sewell, the artist who photographed this bird, wrote of it:
“Judges and breeders at the Boston show admired Dan Amos not for his
unusual weight of forty-six pounds but because his great size was modeled
into such a beautiful form and on account of his majestic carriage and fine
Those who are used to studying the exceptionally fine turkeys each
year at Boston Show know that those winnings represent the best in the

During pleasant weather two feeds a day are
enough. From the very first this consists of a mash of
wheat, bran and corn chops with a sprinkling of chopped
onion tops, cabbage or lettuce, dampened with milk or
water. Fine sharp grit is put where they may get it at
pleasure and it is very essential.

Make an iron-clad rule never to overfeed during the
first two months. If you do, liver trouble will be the
result and it will prove fatal to most of those that are
affected. About the fifth week cracked corn, whole wheat,
barley or other small
grains may be included in
their diet to advantage,
but the mash described
above constitutes the main
ration throughout the
season, supplemented later
by crushed ears of corn
seattered about the yards.
Mangels and cabbage make
the best green foods for
winter and they are
greatly relished.

It may be well to say
right here that Indian corn
is the chief food on most of
the turkey, growing farms
during the fattening per-
iod preceding Thanksgiving
and continuing up to the
holidays. The superiority
of the Rhode Island turkey
in our large markets is
due to its plump condition
and pale colored flesh—re-
sults of being fattened on
the native white flint corn
—and its neat appearance
the result of being care-
fully dry picked. New
London County probably
furnishes half the so-called
Rhode Island turkeys and
from one of the many
flocks there the choice
bird for the president is
usually selected.

IAL BOSTON?

LASSAG ss
CONN-USA:

AQ) WIL i} Qt
DLORD, STONINGTO!

CARE OF TURKEYS
Early roosting on
perches should be discouraged for the reason that the
tender breast bone is liable to become ill shaped and the
market value reduced.

The best roosts are those that are low and nearly on
the level, otherwise there will be continual strife for the
highest perch.

Turkeys are healthier in the open air. On rare oc-
casions one may be blown from the roost during a cold
snow storm and perish, but we have yet to learn of any
being frozen while clinging to the perch.

TURKEYS ON FISHERS ISLAND

Turkey Raising Profitable—They are Not Difficult to Breed Under Proper Conditions—Wide Range Essential—
Half-wild Turkeys—Selecting Breeding Stock—Hatching and Raising Poults—Profits

E. M. & W. FERGUSON

JT ALWAYS gives us great pleasure to write
anything pertaining to Bronze turkeys, and
especially to our turkeys, for our work with
with them has been productive of much sat-
isfaction, not to speak of a very consider-
able profit.

While we shall make this article
chiefly a history of efforts in turkey breeding, rearing and
exhibiting and a brief treatise upon our methods, we
realize that all turkey raisers have not the same environ-
ment and will endeavor to write in such a manner as will
be interesting and instructive to every breeder wherever
he may be and by whatever conditions surrounded.

It seems to be an established fact that turkey raising
in this country, particularly in the east, is on the decline;
where years ago a flock numbering one or two hundred
was a profitable adjunct on the majority of country
farms, now these birds are found but rarely and then in
flocks of a dozen or less, tolerated rather than fostered.
The cause is hardly apparent; the thickening settlements
have not yet encroached upon the solitude of many a
back-lying farm where green pastures and sheltering
woodlands offer ready for use, the best possible food and
shelter. True, they may damage to some extent the
growing crops, but they will render services much more
valuable than what they destroy, in the wholesale destruc-
tion of bugs and insects which threaten the farmer on
every hand and which they incessantly pursue as the
principal article of their diet.

We are sometimes told that turkeys are difficult to
raise and lack a strong constitution, but common sense,
backed by our actual experience, tells us that such is not
the case. In fact if they be allowed to indulge their
natural desire for a wide range and outdoor life the year
round, and are properly bred, anything but strength and
hardiness in their make-up, would seem well-nigh impos-
sible. But where such cases exist it seems to us that the
cause must be found in the absence of one or another of
these conditions.

We believe that a wide range is very essential and
that although turkeys can be reared and kept in an en-
closure of moderate area, a much less percentage will
reach the highest development in size, shape or color.
With this condition provided and a lack of vigor pre-
vailing an inherent weakness must be present in the blood
of the parent stock. This may be traceable to indiscrim-
inate inbreeding or unwise mating. In no other domesti-
eated fowl does deterioration so closely follow careless
breeding, and for a farmer to breed the same small flock
year after year with no further attention than is required
to select the largest and fattest for his Thanksgiving
dinner, is to invite failure by the most expeditious course

Mistakes in adding new blood may prove equally de-
moralizing; in fact, we can cite cases that have come
within our own observation where a breeder has sadly
depreciated the value of his stock by adding a bird which,
apparently strong and healthy in itself, had an inherited
weakness caused by poor breeding. We speak of these
matters not to discourage the prospective breeder or the
disheartened farmer, but to emphasize the advisability of

close adherence to the methods that have proved suc-
cessful and the value of a careful study of the principles
involved.

Some years ago we managed to secure at heavy
expense a flock of genuine wild turkeys, which, although
purchased for the purpose of crossing with our Bronze
to make a better foraging market bird, have proved to
be of inestimable value for infusing new vigor into run-
down flocks, and we sell every year a large number of
toms for this purpose. The half-wild make a market fowl
par excellence; they are rapid growers, carrying a con-
siderable amount of fine-grained meat, and support them-
selves almost entirely throughout the year by foraging.
When crossed on the pure Bronze as a strengthening
agent, reducing the wild blood to one-fourth, the in-
creased stamina is the only apparent effect.

SELECTING BREEDING STOCK

The selection of breeding stock with us begins as
soon as the young turks are given their first food in the
fall, say the first of October, when any bird that gives
particular evidence of lusty good health and sturdy
growth becomes an object of especial interest to be care-
fully watched as it matures and finally selected for use if
it has constantly maintained its robust health; but it is
discarded if the slightest evidence of weakness has been
detected.

The final selection is made usually in January when
the stock is at its best. We have found that one male to
every twelve females is about the right proportion, and
we advise that at least two males be allowed to run in
the same flock in view of the fact that occasionally a hen
will refuse to mate with a certain tom, but can readily
agree with another, and also to safeguard against loss
should one of the males be, or at any time become, wholly
or partially impotent. When one recollects that the
female is served by the male only once in a season, the
wisdom of this plan is obvious. But care must be taken
to use toms that have been accustomed to each other’s
society and that agree, else it will be necessary to con-
fine one each day while the other runs with the hens,
changing them every night.

We endeavor to get our breeders in a condition of
medium flesh, as a fat bird never gives satisfactory
results. For this purpose we consider oats to be the
best food, and it is fed exclusively so long as food is re-
quired during the breeding season.

When we began with turkeys we did all manner of
things supposed to contribute to their welfare, but we
have gradually given up trying to do what they are better
able to do themselves, until now we leave them pretty
much to their own devices and find the results far more
gratifying.

THE TURKEY AND HER POULTS

Occasionally it happens that two or three hens are
found laying in the same nest, a proceeding which is
usually discovered by the slightly different color of the
In this event we remove all eggs as laid, substi-
eggs to guard

eggs.

tuting a couple of china eggs or duck

TURKEYS

against a change of nest. When one hen begins to sit
we give her a full quota (fifteen to eighteen eggs) and
confine the other hens for a few days, after which they
will begin laying again in another nest. If, however, the
discovery is made after incubation has begun, we prefer
to let them sit together unless we can ascertain unob-
served that there is but one sitting of eggs. And we will
here state that we always try to make our visits at a
time when the hen is absent, otherwise she may become
worried and give up her nest. When the hatch is com-
plete, we provide a little nourishment for the young
turks in the form of stale bread moistened in milk; this
will assist them to gain strength until they are well on
their feet, after which time they get their food from the
earth and air. Occasionally we find one weaker than the
others, by reason of slowness in hatching, which is
unable to leave the nest with its mates; such a one we
eare for until it is strong. enough to go with the hen.
After they are all able to hustle about, we put poults and
hen out in the low bush with which the island is plenti-
fully supplied, and pay no further attention to them until
well into the autumn, when we begin to get them to-
gether for the fall feeding.

As they grow and develop through the late summer
and early fall they gradually form into several large
flocks, which wander about together under the guidance
of the old toms, each flock having its own roosting place,
generally at least a mile from that of any other. In
October they are found to be in excellent condition and
require but little feeding to fit them for the Thanksgivy-
ing market. At this time they are very suspicious of any
one who tries to approach them, but soon become recon-
ciled to the presence of the feeder and will surge around
him with such force as to endanger his footing. Corn is
the only food given at this season, and as killing time
approaches we feed them all they will eat.

The greater part of the market stock is devoted to
the Thanksgiving trade and is shipped to private families
all over the country; but there is always a certain
number that are not fit at that time and which are re-
served for the Christmas season. By furnishing each
year a very fancy grade we find ready sale for all we
have to dispose of for table use at a considerable advance
upon the highest market quotation. These are carefully
picked and drawn, the heads, shanks and last joint of
wing being removed, and are then packed in clean boxes,
in which they are shipped direct to the residence of the
consumer,

December usually ushers in the advance orders for
breeding and exhibition birds, in which we always do a
large and satisfactory business. Having so large a
number to select from (all of which are selected speci-
mens from the hundreds that we raise), we find little
difficulty in filling the most exacting order, and it is
seldom that we receive a complaint.

Although our business in turkey eggs for hatching
was very satisfactory, we decided to discontinue their
sale three years ago and have had no cause to regret our
decision. We find it far more profitable to set every egg
ourselves and sell the stock instead. In shipping the
birds we know that the purchaser will get full value for
his money, while in selling eggs too much depends upon
various conditions.

* PREPARING FOR EXHIBITION

Our method of preparing turkeys for the show room
is simple indeed. It consists wholly in taming the bird
and getting it accustomed to being handled. Our turkeys
coming from a range of over five thousand acres are as
fit as only a free, wild life can make them, full of rich,

THEIR CARE AND

MANAGEMENT. 25

red blood, which sustains their vigor and spirits through
the longest trip and the tedious. weakening confinement
of the exhibition hall. They have a hard, smooth and

wonderfully brilliant plumage, together with that robust
development and noble carriage that is never found in a
turkey raised in confinement.

We select the birds that we are going to show about
two weeks in advance of the time when they are to be
exhibited, and always take up more than we expect to
show to insure having our ful] entry in case one or more

> 51 AT Bostom
yin ea "2 NEW Yom
18%

““Miss Alice’’

A Bronze Turkey Hen. that traveled two thousand miles to shows and
never was defeated, Owned by K. M, & W, Ferguson.

of the birds becomes damaged in plumage or otherwise.
These are handled with the utmost care, as it is very
easy for a struggling bird to break a number of wing
flights or to strip feathers from its thigh, where a care-
less handler is almost sure to get his grip.

PROFITS

To any one who has read the foregoing paragraphs it
must be evident that turkey raising as it is managed here
—and we know of no reason why our methods and suc-
cess can not be duplicated in almost any locality—is much
more profitable than any other farm crop that the farm
ean produce. Any one who is apt at figures can
easily figure out the possible profit to be derived in
his own locality, which will be governed by the cost of
food, the area of the range available, and the price that
ean be obtained for the product.

We would say in concluding that as many questions
will doubtless arise in the mind of the reader which have
not been clearly answered in this article, we shall be
glad to see them at our farm, where we shall always be
pleased to explain every detail of the business and where
we can give far better instruction verbally with the
birds and their home to illustrate our words.

A Typical Forty-Pound Bronze Turkey Cock

The above splendid specimen of Bronze Turkey was Second Gobler at Madison Square Garden, New York Show, exhibited by’*Mr
George W. Salsbury. Forty-pound Bronze males are not rare at the leading shows; however males that are so much above standard
weight rarely possess such rounded form in all sections. The great fault in most large poultry is coarseness, the medium-sized birds of
the breed as a rule being nearest the ideal form. We present the above as one of the most symmetrical males shown above 40 pounds.
The size, general form, character of head, and color points of this typical Bronze Cock are worthy of imitation on the best turkey ranches
and where show quality is sought.—F, L. SEWELL.

CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF TURKEYS

Raising Bronze Turkeys in Canada—Best Soil for Turkeys—Inbreeding and Line Breeding—Shape, Color, Markings—

Roosting Houses Used with Success—Young Hens as Breeders—Setting the Hen—Care of

the Young—Diseases—Catching and Weighing—Selling Stock

Ww. J. BELL

LTHOUGH I am aware that turkeys are
raised successfully on all kinds of soils and
in nearly all locations, I believe that sandy
land or clay with an abundance of gravel is
a better place than heavy clay soil, espe
cially if the latter is not well drained. On
two of my turkey farms the soil is gravelly
clay and there is running water all days of

the year and from those farms haye come my largest tur-

keys. ;

When I moved to my present farm in 1893, which has
no sand or gravel in its composition, I noticed the poults
a day or two after they were moved out on the ground
from the nest commenced
to look siekly. I could not
imagine what was_ the
matter, as they were free
from lice and their treat-

ment was the same as
previously given on the
home farm. In watching

‘them going around I no-
ticed they were picking at
small substances. I imme-
diately procured some fine
gravel for them, and an
improvement was _ notice-
able in about a day’s time.
This shows what is gained
by close observation and
also that the dying of
poults is caused—not by
the food given, which is
usually the cause assigned
—but through overlooking
what may seem unimpert-
ant matters. I consider a
fifty-acre range necessary
for even a small flock.

BREEDING

Some writers say that
to mate Bronze turkeys
you have only to “discard
all specimens disqualified’

SHOW STOCK

In regard to the shape of the male I like one that
stands well up. By this I mean one that, carries his
breast high, the same to be moderately full and well
rounded. I have mo use for the bird that carries his
breast and body in a straight line parallel with the
ground. Fig. 1 is my idea of a good shaped bird, either
for the breeding yard or show room, except that the
feathers on the rear part of the back were raised a little
when the photograph was taken. Select a bird with
good, heavy bones, and see that the toes are straight.

COLOR

When you examine the different birds in the show
room you will find on
breast and neck almost as
many shades as _ birds.
There is the green bronze,
the black bronze, a dul
brown bronze and a yellow
bronze. The latter is my
preference, and what I
think is called for in the
Standard, although plenty
of judges favor the black
bronze color. The body
and back will be darker,
with bronze _ reflections.
The legs should be pink.
In the wings and tail
are where the faults ap-
pear. Spread the wing and
look for solid black feath-
ers in the primaries, irreg-
ular barring’ in both pri-
maries. and _ secondaries
and .also a white edge
along the bottom of each
feather in the latter. They
are bad faults. Fig. 2 is a
good wing. The tail, which
includes tail coverts, is
seldom perfect; in fact, I
have never seen one. The
black bars near the end of
the tail coverts (I mean

a io ” . 7

by. the Standard. After Fig. 1, Showing a Well-Shaped Bird for Breeding the row of feathers lying
thirteen years spent in or Show Purposes farthest out of the
breeding these birds I Feathers on rear of back were slightly raised by the bird’s excitement tail proper) are generally
must say I disagree with GU Ghose FE I RLUS EERCoL missing, and two center

them, for I have found the
selection of the largest specimens and inbreeding
them to certain extent will increase the size instead of
decreasing it, but when carried too far inbreeding will
impair the vitality and produce deformities. Therefore,
to properly mate these birds is, I claim, as much of a
problem as mating any of the Standard breeds of fowl. I
wish the reader to remember that I am referring to the
production of Bronze turkeys for breeding and show
purposes.

feathers of the tail proper
always have the white tip, the black bar and the brown
barring more or less mixed. I have noticed the latter
peculiarity in the wild partridge. Spread the tail coverts
apart and look at the bottom of the tail proper and in a
great many cases you will find white barring the same as
on the wing. This is another serious fault. Some
breeders are satisfied with a tail which is all speckled
with black-and brown so long as it has the black band
near the tip and a white tip. Now I am satisfied that

28 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

a feather regularly barred with brown and black, with
the broad black band and dull white or gray tip, is the
proper color. Fig. 3 is as good in color of tail as I have
seen.

I do not refer to all the shape or color sections, but
only to those which are usually faulty or in dispute. The
above will give you my idea of a good male to head a pen,
except on one point, and that one in my estimation is
the most important, viz., you should insist on having a
line-bred bird. If you use a bird produced from two
strains entirely different in build and in a great many
sections in color as well, what can you expect? My advice
is to have a good male sired by good males of one line of
breeding. :

What 1 have said in regard to shape of male will
apply to the females also. The Standard says of the
female. “The entire plumage is similar to that of the
male, but the colors are not so brilliant or clearly de-
fined, and the edging of the feathers dull white or gray.”
Now some breeders say that hens should have a gray edge
to breast and back feathers, and I must admit that the
great majority of hens are marked that way; still the
meaning I take from the “color of the female” section in
the Standard is that they should have the same color as
the male, and I claim that the females in all our shows
are scored too high. It is not impossible to produce
them, for I have produced quite a few and find a great
demand for them.

Young hens in my experience have proved the most
satisfactory breeders. The old hens in a great many
eases (and young hens sometimes) will lay soft shelled
and misformed eggs in spite of all I can do. I have
starved them; have had an abundance of old mortar and
lime before them; have given them free range and every-
thing I could think of, but I cannot stop them entirely.
I consider it the only fault the Bronze turkeys have.
Usually I mate seven or eight hens with one male, but I
think more than that number would still give satisfactory

results. Any shed or building not too warm will do for a
\

Fig. 2-A. Ten years ago this was considered an exceptionally good wing
Bred and Owned by Mr. W. J. Bell.

roosting place for breeding stock. They should be given
free range during the daytime in all weather. I would
advise feeding the male pretty well, but the hens only
lightly.
SETTING THE HEN

At this stage it is a good plan to have nests prepared,
as I have noticed hens looking up nests a month in ad-
vance of laying. Have them roomy. so the hen can turn
and come off withont breaking the eggs, and place them

Fig. 2-B. The wing of a present day Bronze Turkey. Shows the im-
provement in markings made in the past decade, Bred and Owned by Mr-
W. J. Bell.

in all the corners and secluded places that you can find.
By doing this early I save myself the trouble to a great
extent of hunting the turkey nests. It is a good plan to
watch which hen lays in a certain nest, and mark the
eggs as you gather them, placing them in bran in a cool
room until the turkey wants to sit. Then dust the nest
well with insect powder and give them to her—about
seventeen eggs if she lays that many. Some advocate
placing the first laying under domestic hens and forcing
the turkey to lay a second lot, but here in northern
Ontario the late July hatches are seldom a success. About
two days before the eggs are due to hatch dust the hen
and nest well with insect powder. I consider this one
of the most important things to do, as a young turkey
cannot stand a dose of lice the first thing.

CARE OF THE YOUNG

When you bring the young from the nest mark them
on the web of the foot with a small poultry punch. If
marked when about twenty-four hours old they seldom
bleed andthe hole never grows together. By doing this
and keeping the hens’ eggs separate you can ascertain
which hen is producing the best birds. I now come to a
period in which my treatment of turkeys radically differs
from other successful breeders, but I have had very few
casualties under this system and so I intend to continue
following it, and, further, I can raise them by this sys-
tem just as easily as chickens. About twelve hours after
the last poult is hatched I take them to a larger box—

turkey and all. I feed them bread soaked in milk. They

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 29

will not eat much at first, but by sticking a little of it
around the sides of the box and working it on your hand
among them, they get started. I keep them in this box
from one to two days, depending on the weather, and get
them taught to eat off my hand. Then I change them to
an A-shaped coop with no bottom, and a lath front, and
gradually 1 substitute shorts for the bread in their food.

I feed them their shorts entirely out of my hands
until they are sold. I am very often told by my cus-
tomers that they are surprised at the tameness of my
turkeys. Another advantage gained by feeding out of
your hand is that there is no food left on the ground to
sour—a fruitful source of bowel trouble.

Up till five weeks of age I feed five times per day and
cut dandelion leaves fine and mix with the shorts nearly
every meal. I occasionally cut onion tops instead of the
dandelions. Give plenty of milk—any kind—to drink, and
keep fresh water before them all the time. Something
which should never be neglected is to move the coop the
breadth of itself every day. ln mixing the shorts it is
important to have them quite damp, but not sticky. There
is one fine grade of shorts it is impossible to mix prop-
erly. I am aware some claim that feeding five times per
day will kill the poults, but they surely have not tried
feeding shorts and milk. Shorts digest very fast and I
believe is a preventive of bowel trouble. At any rate I
haye found it a very slow-killing process.

At about five weeks old I give the hen her liberty and
let them have free range of the farm and roost on the
fences or buildings until fall. I only feed twice per day
during the summer—shorts mixed with milk in the morn-
ing and clean wheat at night. If grasshoppers are
plentiful they will oft-times refuse the wheat, but with
me they never refuse the shorts.

HOUSING
When I first started 1 found great difficulty in getting

them to roost in a shed at night during winter. I would
spend over an hour keeping them from going on the

Fig. 3-A. A tail considered fair ten years ago. Bred and Owned by
Mr. W. J. Bell.

fences and buildings, so I thought of a plan which has
worked satisfactorily ever since. I built a lean-to on the
south side of my farm barn. Twelve feet from the barn
and parallel thereto four posts were placed twelve feet
apart and seven feet above ground. On these were placed

a four by four-inch seantling. Then to the side of the

Fig. 3-B. A Modern Bronze Turkey Tail, This tail shows the im-
provement made in standard marking during the past ten years. Bred and
Owned by Mr. W. J. Bell.

barn, twelve feet from the ground, another scantling was
spiked, and on these were placed the rafters. The two
ends were then boarded up close and also the front, ex-
cept what was required for doors and windows.

Now the rafters were not cut close to the building,
but extended over about four feet. Straight under the
points of rafters I placed four short posts twelve feet
apart and two feet above ground and boarded this two
feet up solid. From these boards to the point of rafters
was strung poultry netting. One and a half feet from the
ground and against the two-foot boarding was nailed a
V-shaped trough the entire length, thirty-six feet, and a
door placed on the end of this “run.” The inside or house
proper can be divided into two or three compartments as
required, with roosts, and a large sliding door and a
window for each compartment. I advocate placing the
roosts on a level and about four feet from the ground.
All I have to do now is to place food in the trough, drive
the turkeys into the “run,” leave the sliding doors open
and they have plenty of light to see their food and are
compelled to roost inside. Then, again, if the weather is
warm the windows can be raised and the sliding doors
left open all night, and if cold all ean be closed. Figs. 4
and 5 will give an idea of this building. Of course the
rafters are boarded over and shingled.

DISEASES

I shall touch very lightly on this part of the subject.
I have had very few turkeys die from disease. At one
time I housed them in a building much too small, and
they contracted roup. I tried doctoring, but found it
was not a success, and now use all my energies in pre-
venting disease. I firmly believe if you let your birds
have free range in daytime, feed at regular intervals and

30 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

keep them free from lice you will have no more trouble
then in raising any other line of live stock, My greatest
{roubles have been soft shelled eggs and foxes.

CATCHING AND WEIGHING

While our Provincial show was judged by score card
and all birds were weighed, I. was generally asked by
competitors to catch their turkeys and place them on the
seales, as I could handle the birds more easily
than other. In ecatehing a turkey, if on
the ground, I stand ‘on left side, place my
right arm over its back and grab both legs.
Lift by placing left hand under the breast. It
may try to break loose for a second or two,
but hold steady, and it will give up. If the
bird is on a perch, grab by both legs from
behind—right hand for right leg and left
hand for left leg—and dtaw quickly from the
perch so its breast or, wings will not strike
it; then hold steadily Swhile it flaps, after-
wards it will remain quiet if held by the legs.
In placing on the scales hold its feet toward
you with the right hand and breast with the =
left. Lay it on its right, side and pull its
right wing down towards its breast as much
as possible when withdrawing your left
hand. Make your movements gradual and
quiet and you will have very little trouble.
It is almost impossible to get their weight
while standing on their feet. In weighing as above if
small counter scales are used it is advisable to place a
box of the same size as the seales and about one foot
higher under the scales, as
the head and tail of the tur-
keys will droop a little on
each side and having the box
under the scales prevents
them touching the floor.

any

SELLING STOCK

It would require a whole
book to treat this subject
properly, as it includes ad-
vertising and making coops.
I think the best advice I can
give is to be perfectly honest
and truthful. I have found
more persons lie about the
weights of their turkeys
than about any other one
thing in this world. I have
bought turkeys at different
times to be a _ certain
weight and in almost every
case have found them five

Fig. 5.
Runway in Turkey House.
Showing Feeding Trough and

Wire Netting. to ten pounds short. I am
aware that turkeys will
lose about two pounds in transit, no matter how

short the distance, but seldom more.
will

Then again you
notice prominent breeders using cuts that have
been in existence for years, as if said cuts were from

photographs of their stock. A case of this kind which
amused me and caused me not to trust a leading
breeder with my order was to find a cut on his envelope
and underneath labeled “S—8rd, 1st prize cockerel at
Cc , 1899,” and right in front of the cut in small type

was “F. L. Sewell, 1897,’ which showed that the cut was
wade before the bird it was supposed to represent was
hatched.

Fig. 4. W. J. Bell’s Turkey House

With roof cut away to show interior arrangement.

In regard to advertising, I would say try small ads in
different papers and then increase the space in those
papers which give best results. Do not try to make
people believe you have the only good ones on earth, but
state just what you have done in the show room and
what you have to offer. Showing comes under the head of
advertising, and I find it must be done or we drop out. I
would say exhibit at the largest shows, as it is not the
amount of money you can “clear’’ at the show, but the
amount of reputation for good stock that you can gain.
Answer all correspondence promptly and be careful to
answer all questions asked as far as it lies in your power.
Upon receipt of an order acknowledge by first tnail, stat-

ing what day you will ship. ‘ iE
WWE.

For shipping coops I use dry basswood.. Take four.
pieces one and one-half by one and one-half inches and‘
thirty inches long for corner posts. . Nail” two: pieces.
three inches wide, two feet long and one-half inch thick
on each end, and two pieces three inches wide, three feet
long and one-half inch thick on each‘side. This will give
you a light square frame. Nail on a bottom of one-half
inch basswood and two pieces three inches wide, one-half-
inch thick on top, Tack factory cotton all around the
eoop and after the cotton is on nail ‘lath about four
inches apart around the coop. This makes a light, strong
coop in which to ship a pair of young turkeys!

For old birds it would have to be larger in every
way, and for a single bird it could be narrower. I gen-
erally try to ship by night trains, as the birds are quieter
at night and do not abuse themselves so much by break-
ing their feathers and bruising their flesh.

HATCHING AND REARING BRONZE TURKEYS

A Successful Breeder of Mammoth Bronze Turkeys Gives Valuable Advice for the Beginner with Turkeys—Importance

of Properly Conditioned Breeding Stock—Management of Layers and Care of Eggs—Housing, Feeding and Rearing

RALPH S.

HIS article being composed particularly for
the benefit of the beginner, or amateur, who
is starting in or who has trouble in raising
turkeys, I will try to write sc anyone can
understand how I have
Bronze ‘‘urkeys, year after year, and what
I have found the most to
hateh and rear them.

raised Mammoth

practical way

How often one hears people that
hard to hatch and raise. It is a settled fact that turkeys
cannot be raised the
chickens are, as we know that the turkey is not domesti-

say turkeys are

under same conditions as most

eated the same as a chicken, but we
do know that if turkeys are given

MOSELY

near brush heaps, a little way from the house, and put

some straw and leaves in each, with a nest egg. By mak-

ing nests in this manner, I have no trouble in keeping
the turkeys from running to the other end of the farm,

thereby losing a part of the eggs.

I gather the eggs every day, marking upon each egg
By doing this,
! know how old each egg is, and can keep the pedigree of
each turkey when hatched.

the date and name of hen laying same.
. >

As quickly as the eggs are
secured, they are put in a room where the temperature
ranges from 50 to 60 degrees and turned once in one or
two days, until I want them to set.

SETTING AND HATCHING

range and a place to thrive, with
good, sensible care, they become as
easy to raise as chickens.

Before saying anything about
the hatching of eggs, let us con-
sider the breeding stock that pro-
duces the eggs. The question
arises, ‘““Are you sure your stock is
in the best condition to breed
from?” The best condition means
that they should be well matured,
vigorous and free from diseases.
As the breeders are the founda-
tion of your flock of young tur-
keys, this coming year, you should
carefully this important
point, as those who breed from
the late hatched, or scrubs, are as
a rule, the ones to complain that
turkeys are hard to raise.

FERTILITY OF EGGS

Some amateurs say “My turkey
eges don’t hatch well. What is the
trouble? I feed them all they
want to eat and give them the best
of care.” There are quite a few
reasons for eggs being infertile;

note

observed care-
when

have
know that
first turkey commences to
the last of the flock be-
gins to lay, and to_keep the first
break them up

Those who
fully,
the

sit,

generally
one

turkeys laying, I

and make them lay a second lit-
ter.

When the turkeys are half
through laying (about twenty

days from the time the first egg
is laid) I gather all the eggs laid
up to that time and set them
under chicken hens, giving eight
or nine to each hen, according to
her disposition and_ size. The
nest is made one foot high and
fifteen inches square on the sides.
In
for the hen to enter.

one side there is an opening
A frame of

muslin is hinged on the top for a

cover, ventilation and conven-
lence.
The nest material is a sod

about fourteen inches square and
two or three inches thick, and to
make the nest coneave, the bot-

some, on account of the turkeys
not being healthy, others, because
the stock is confined in too small
a yard, but the principal reason is
because the turkeys are too fat, not
having been reduced in flesh during the winter after they
were selected from the flock that was fattened for market.

3534 pounds.
Mosely,

MANAGEMENT OF LAYERS AND CARE OF THE

My breeders are fed oats and Canadian peas, once a
day, during the winter and spring, and about a month
before I think they will lay, I begin to feed some ground
bone, once or twice a week.

The ground bone tends to make them lay earlier, and
makes the eggs more fertile, especially if there is no
green food to be obtained in the fields.

About two weeks before they commence to lay, I
place some salt barrels on their sides, along rail fences

EGGS

Victor seven and a half months old, weight,
Bred and owned by Ralph S.

tom of the sod is seraped a little
in the middle, then a thin layer
of straw is placed on top. The
makes the best nest, as it
gives the eggs the right amount

sod

of moisture, to give the best results. As previously
stated, I set my turkey eggs under hens, so I can get
more eggs from the turkeys, and because there will be
no disturbance from foxes, skunks, ete. Two or
three times the sitting hens are dusted with in-

sect powder until I am sure there are no lice left to dis-
turb the poults. Enough gentle sitting turkey hens are
kept in reserve to take care of the poults when hatched.

When the eggs are about to hatch (about twenty-
seven days) I give a few of them to each turkey to
hateh, so that she will own the young poults. I have had
turkeys. that, after sitting only three days, became the
of I leave the poults in the nest, fixing

best mothers.

32 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE, AND MANAGEMENT.

the opening so they cannot drop out and get chilled. At
the expiration of forty-eight or fifty hours, I look the
poults over carefully and if I find any of them with the
yolk sack not absorbed and digested, I leave them in the
nest, taking out the rest and giving twenty poults to
each turkey in their respective coops or houses.

HOUSES, FEED, REARING, ETC.

There are two ways of rearing turkeys, one by put-
ting the young turks out with their mothers at the
other end of the farm and letting them shift for them-
selves until fall, while another (and better for me) is
partial confinement when young, giving them free range
when older; feeding once or twice a day to induce them
te come home. The latter way produces larger boned
turkeys, and insures more freedom from foxes, etc.

My turkey houses for the young poults are 10 by 20
feet, divided by partitions into three apartments. The
south end of the house has four windows, and the east
side two. The four windows in the south are kept open
except when it storms they are covered by muslin cur-
tains. When forty-eight hours old I give the first feed
of fine chick grit, charcoal and water. The grit gives the
poults teeth for the next feed and starts the machinery
going; second feeding is stale bread soaked in sweet milk
squeezed dry, part of a hard boiled egg and enough pow-
dered charcoal to give the food a darkish color. Feed
this every two or three hours for three days. Once a
day feeding green food, such as onion tops, lettuce or
dandelion leaves, chopped; grit and fresh water is kept
constantly before them. It is very important that they
do not have all they will eat at each meal, as their sys-
tems cannot stand the strain of continual gorging—it
causes liver trouble or diarrhoea, when about four to
six weeks old. When three days old I let the hens and
poults out in the middle of the day, if pleasant; after a
week they are able to stay out all day, and they are then
fed three times a day on bread, eggs and charcoal, until
two weeks of age, when the egg is left out and wheat

fed at night until three weeks of age. After this they
are gradually worked on to johnny cake and
curds in the morning and wheat at night. The
johnny cake is composed of two parts white mid-
dlings, one part corn meal, one part ground oats, a
little pure beef scraps, mixed with skim or sweet milk,
and baked until thoroughly done. When fed take
as much cake as will be required at one feeding, mixing
with one-third milk curds giving them only what they
will eat up quickly. 1 continue this feed for one month,
after that feed oats, peas and skim milk to give growth.
By this method of feeding have raised young toms that
would weigh 374% pounds at eight months of age, being
just in ordinary breeding condition.

LICE
Young poults should be looked after very often and
see that lice are destroyed with good insect powder.
Look sharp for they are hard to see. Lice will kill a
poult in a very short time.

INDIGESTION OR WHITE DIARRHOEA

It is generally caused by over-feeding, letting them
out when the grass is wet, thereby getting chilled, filthy
drinking water, or irregular feeding. I have found pow-
dered charcoal, mixed in with the feed an excellent rem-
edy for this, at the same time keeping them dry. Sweet
milk sealded in which a little nutmeg is grated is also a
good remedy.

SUMMARY OF SUCCESSFUL TURKEY RAISING
Breed only from vigorous, well matured stock.
Keep stock in healthy condition.

Do not let poults run in wet grass.

Do not over-feed or starve young poults.

Make war on the lice.

Prevent disease by disinfection.

Use your best judgment and common sense.

Give plenty of range. ‘The turkey is naturally a
wild ae and will not thrive in confinement.

Se gan ada Pea a de

SOME PRACTICAL HINTS

0. E. SKINNER

HILE I have not had as much experience in
raising turkeys as a good many others, I
have had continued experience with them
for over thirty years, but my remarks on
the turkey will be from a practical stand-
point and 1 shall leave the fancier’s por-
tion to some expert judge.

In the first place, everybody knows that turkey eggs,
as a rule, hatch well, but the rock that wrecks all hopes
is the art of raising them after they are hatched. One of
the most successful turkey raisers I ever knew handled
her young turkeys about as follows: She never let them
out while there was the least particle of danger of get-
ting their plumage damp, even if she had to confine them
a whole day. I was there once after a heavy rain and she
had them closely confined in a small box. I made the
remark, “You will surely kill every one of them confining
them in such a place.” But upon visiting her a few
months later she still had every turkey that had hatched.
I believe this is the great secret in turkey raising—keep
them absolutely dry and free from lice and nature will
do the rest.

.

‘from getting their plumage damp when young.

Another neighbor who is just abont as successful
handles his the same way, only he uses turkey hens for
mothers. He follows the same plan about keeping them
He has
domestic hens sitting on the eggs, but he keeps giving
them at night to the turkey hens until they have some
twenty-five or thirty each.

WELL SHAPED BIRDS COMMAND A PREMIUM

The ery nowadays is for as large turkeys as pos-
sible. This is all right provided you retain the full
breast and good shape generally. If you will observe the
daily market reports, you will notice that the quotations
say that scrawny turkeys (poor shape) are either not
wanted or will be taken only at a big discount. So after
all it is the shape that sells the turkey rather than the
overgrown size. I have always made it a point to breed
for full breast and good shape more than for oversize.

As to feed, I do not believe it cuts much figure if the
other sanitary conditions, noted above, are closely fol-
lowed. Plenty of sharp grit I believe necessary for best
results, however.

POINTS ON TURKEY BREEDING

Loss of Vitality in Turkeys and Lack of Fertility in Eggs—Injured Females—Food for the Young—Danger from Lice—Their Causes—

Care of the Layers and Sitters—Indigestion and Diarrhoea—Preparation for Market—T he Poults—
Feeding the Breeding Stock—Advantages of Roosting Outside

[J. F. CRANGLE

RONZE turkeys are more raised than any other
variety, for several reasons. First, they are
the largest; second, they are hardy and well
adapted to this climate; third, they are good
layers and the best of mothers; fourth, they
are most satisfactory for marketing, being

full-breasted and possessing the desired color of flesh.

They will lay eighteen to forty eggs a season under

proper care.

Generally it is considered that one male will mate
with six to ten females. I have used one male for twenty-
five hens, but I do not think it well to risk using only
one male with your entire flock (especially if you have
more than eight or ten females) for the following rea-
son: A female usually allows the male to tread once. If
from any cause the male did not effect proper connection,
the eggs would not be fertile and the best part of the
season would be lost because the first litter is considered
the best.

The hen after connection selects a spot for her nest
and a few days after it is made, This is usually done by
scratching up the earth so as to make a hollow place to
keep the eggs from rolling out. A great deal of the risk
of males not fertilizing the eggs could be avoided in the
following way: Use two toms alternately every day, but
under no consideration allow both toms to run with the
females at the same time. If you do you will, as a rule,
have bad luck, as the males will fight and at times hurt
themselves, also the females.

The lack of fertility in eggs and vigor in young poults
is one of the main reasons for the decline in turkey
breeding in the eastern states, and perhaps all over the
United States. In many of the eastern states, where a
few years ago hundreds of tons of turkeys were raised,
they now have to import mostly from western states, to
meet the demand, as it seems almost impossible to raise
them. I think the main cause is in-breeding. There are
many farmers who in the past have not thought it neces-
sary to obtain new blood, and who thought they could
save a few dollars by borrowing a tom from a neighbor,
gn this way using the same blood year after year. This
has been done for so many years that the vitality has
been about bred out. For the past few years turkey
breeders no doubt have seen their folly, because many of
them are now looking months ahead for a good male.
The vitality had gotten so low that it created disease,
and I am sure that many of the turkey diseases with
which we have to contend have been caused by lowering
the vitality of the turkey. I believe there is no other
variety of birds in which the vital forces decrease so
rapidly by in-breeding as in the turkey.

I think it possible under proper management to raise
turkeys in every state in the Union, and I believe if
farmers in general will be more careful about in-breeding
and will see that they have the proper kind of males to
breed from, such as will introduce new, strong, hardy
blood into their stock, they will be able to raise turkeys
as they have in years gone by. To people who are having
trouble in raising turkeys I advise using a half wild male
if they have large range. It is almost impossible to get
a pure wild tom in this country, although you may hap-

pen to run on one by accident. About all the people who
claim to have wild turkeys have nothing but half-breeds,
yet with a half wild tom you can get enough new blood
to make the offspring very much stronger, and this will
be noticeable the first season.

THE LAYING AND HATCHING SEASON

After the turkey commences to lay, in many sections
of the country, the nights are cold and in many places the
thermometer goes down to the freezing point. When
hens are laying and you are afraid of frost, the eggs
should be gathered every evening and marked with the
date. Then they should be placed in a pan or basket in
common wheat bran with the big end of the eggs down,
as by so doing you will keep the air cell in good condi-
tion. Put them in a cellar or any cool place and turn
them every day. It is not best to turn them completely
over; turn them only part way over each day. It is safe
to keep them ten or twelve days, but I would not advise
keeping them any longer than possible, as they are liable
to get stale, in which case not so many of them would
hatch. When the eggs are removed from the nest a glass
egg should always be put in. If you do not put glass or
wooden eggs in the nest the hen will probably leave her
nest and lay elsewhere.

A good mother will cover her eggs when she leaves
her nest; usually this is done with dry grass or leaves, so
that in looking for a turkey nest it is always necessary
to be careful, as otherwise one might step on it. An
ordinary hen will cover eighteen eggs. If she lays more
than that number, take the extra ones and put them
under a common hen, setting this hen and the turkey at
the same time. If you have a good hatch and get out
more than eighteen, leave a few of the poults with the
common hen. The turkey hen can brood eighteen poults
with safety. Above all things, see that there are no lice
on the hen when she hatches, as the poults are very
tender when hatched and if the hen has lice the poults
will have them on their bodies within a few hours. When
you transfer poults from common hens to turkey hens
dust them well with a good powder, as you want to be
sure there are no lice on them.

It takes twenty-eight to twenty-nine days to hatch
turkey eggs. If the turkey does not leave her nest at
that time do not disturb her for at least twenty-four
hours, because oftentimes a few of the eggs are slow in
hatching and she stays on the nest several hours after
they are hatched for the poults to gain strength. It is
always well to take a piece of stale bread moistened with
milk and put it near the nest, near enough for the tur-
key hen to reach it. If the poults are hungry, they will
also eat. This food is very important because if the hen
is hungry she may leave her nest before she should, look-
ing for food. We must remember she leaves her nest only
three or four times in twenty-eight days. If she does not
appear inclined to move to get the food, do not disturb
her, as it is a very easy matter to find out whether she
has hatched any young, for as a rule, broken egg shells
will be seen near the nest. At the expiration of thirty
days, if you see no signs of the young turkeys, it will be
well to-investigate the matter by raising the turkey off

34

the nest and ascertaining whether the eggs are fertile or
not. If they should prove to be infertile, shut up the
female for four or five days in a coop large enough for
Give her food and water and
in three or four weeks she

her to get a little exercise.
a place to dust herself and
will lay again.

One of the best places in which to let the hen turkey
run with poults is a field where the grass is short. As a
rule, a pasture is very good; woodland is also suitable.
Keep them out of long grass and grain fields when there
is a heavy dew or it is rainy, until after the grain and
hay are harvested, because the wet vegetation is bad for
the young poults. It chills and sets them back in their
growth and often is fatal. You will always find the
largest and finest turkeys where they have free range. As
turkeys will wander some distance from home
the day, but will come back to their home every
Under proper management you can place turkeys

a rule,
during
night.
anywhere you wish on the farm, and by teaching them
to roost in one particular place, they will come to regard
this as their home, and will know no other; you will al-
ways find them wherever they have been taught to roost.
This can be done by watching them a few nights in suc-
cession and driving them to the place where you wish

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

shell, it will be porous. I have known many germs to die

on this account.

DISEASES AND INJURED STOCK

Under no consideration breed from a diseased tur-
key. It is much safer to kill a sick turkey than to let her
among your flock of healthy birds.

When the males mate with the females and they are
extra heavy and clumsy, it is well to see that the male
does not tear the female or hurt her back. A very good
way to prevent this is to file down the toe nails of the
male. I have seen them many times slip off of the female
and rip open the hips or side. It is very easy to discover
an injured female by her actions, more especially the next
day, as she will be lame and her wings will droop. It is
best to catch her at once and examine the wound, as
generally they can be saved by sewing up the tear. This
is not a very difficult matter. Let one person hold the
turkey and another do the sewing. Pull all the feathers
from the edges of the wound, and with warm water
moisten them so they will stay back while you are put-
ting in the stitches. Before sewing, the wound should
be washed thoroughly with castile soap, using a small,
soft sponge; then take a long, fine needle and with white

A Mixed Flock

them to stay. Just before dark they will go up in the
trees or on a roost that has been put up for them. With
the right kind of breeding stock turkeys at Thanksgiving
time should weigh about as follows: Toms, sixteen to
twenty pounds; hens, twelve to fourteen pounds. I have
dressed at six months old, turkeys weighing twenty-four
pounds, but they are rare.

FEEDING THE BREEDING STOCK

There are two things which have to be done in order
to have success in breeding. One of them is to get the
right kind of breeding stock, and the other is to feed
them properly. These are the two main things. The
proper way to feed breeding stock is to be careful not to
overfeed them. After your breeders are selected, feed
almost entirely on oats (sealded). I find they do better
on oats than on any other food. For a change, feed
whole corn about twice per week, and at no time feed
more than they will eat clean. Where turkeys have a
barnyard to seratch in, you will have to be careful not to
get them over-fat, and as a rule, it is only necessary to
feed them at night. A good accompaniment to the food
for turkeys is chareoal ground coarse.
where they can find it.

Put it in a box
They also need shells—oyster
shells are the best. On a farm they can ordinarily find all
the grit that is necessary for them to have. If the hen
turkey has not enough lime to properly supply the egg

silk thread draw the edges of the skin around the
wound so that the parts meet as they were. Commence
at one end of the wound and gradually draw the edges of
the skin together over the wound as you stitch, until the
Many times I have taken as many
as fifty stitches in one wound. Bathe the wound with
witch hazel every day for four or five days. It is welb
to keep the hen in a small pen or coop for three or four
days where there is quiet, and where you can catch her
without running. If you gave her free range she might
tear out the stitches. The period of confinement de-
pends entirely on the size and nature of the wound, but
as a rule, after three or four days she can be liberated
with the rest of the flock.

tear is all closed up.

FOOD FOR YOUNG TURKEYS

As a rule, many young turkeys are killed by over-
feeding. On large farms where the hen turkey and her
poults have plenty of range, it is best to feed them only
twice each day, once in the morning and again at night.
Young turkeys can live on insects and many little grasses
which they relish. You will always find that food they
get in the fields will keep them in better condition than
anything you ean give them. During the berry season,
especially, when wild strawberries are ripe, it is a
pleasure to watch the little turkeys pick and eat them.
when thereis a good supply of grass-

In seasons

hoppers, the turkeys will live almost entirely on them.

When young turkeys have to be fed the best food I
know of is stale bread, but be sure the bread is not sour.
By stale bread I mean wheat bread three to ten days old.
Moisten the bread with sweet milk, but do not get it too
moist. I usually press out all the milk that I can with
my hands. Clabbered milk is also good for young tur-
keys. Put it in a dish on the ground where they can get
at it easily. During the warmest weather of summer it
is best to keep all turkeys. young or old, on the hungry
side, for if you do not, there is great danger of their hay-
ing bowel trouble.

1 have told you how to care tor turkeys on a large
range. If you are on a limited range, or for any reason
you have to keep your birds confined, I mean young
poults, take three boards twelve or fourteen inches wide
and ten’ or twelve feet long and make a triangular pen,
In this pen put the old turkey and her poults. Do not
confine the hen. She will jump out and in over the boards
and will not leave her poults. It is best to leave the
poults in this pen for fifteen to eighteen days, and then
let them range with their mother. Many persons think
it is necessary to put the hen turkey in a coop to keep
her near her young, but this is not the case, as the
mother will stay with the poults; you could hardly drive
her away. When the young poults are confined in a
pen as above described, it is necessary while so young to
feed them four times a day with stale bread moistened
with milk. If the weather is rainy and wet, it is some-
times well to use red pepper enough to make the bread
quite warm. If any of your poults are drooping it will
tone them up. Clabbered milk is also good for them.
Should you find that the young turkeys are drooping and
do not seem to pick up, the very first thing to look for
is lice. If your poults have lice or ticks they will not do
well, and it is almost impossible to raise them. — You wili
find at times a large blue tick on turkeys and turkey
poults; they are on the neck and head only. If you
should find any ticks on your poults, pick them off, then
use clear lard on the head and neck. It will kill the nits
that would hatch if you did not use some preventive.
For the two other varieties of lice, use any good insect
powder, but always be careful that none gets in their
eyes. Hen turkeys generally keep free from lice if they ean
find any place to dust themselves, but some are very lazy
and if these hens have poults they will be sure to be in-
fested with lice, too. In looking for lice it is best to
examine the little wings, as generally you will find them
at the base of quills, also around vent. For the terrible
ticks, which are almost sure death, look upon the neck,
push back the feathers carefully until you reach the top
of the head. You can easily see them, as they are good
sized, and the older ones are dark blue in color, usually
full af blood. If you keep your poults free from lice you
will have overcome almost all danger of loss.

Stale bread moistened in milk should be fed to the
poults for three or four weeks, then gradually get them
to eat wheat and fine cracked corn. This grain should be
sealded, as it will then assist digestion, but do not feed it
until it has thoroughly cooled. Indigestion is very prev-
alent among turkeys, both young and full grown.

lf your poults should have diarrhoea from any cause,
one feed of boiled rice will usually stop the trouble.
Another common but sure relief is to give them red
pepper, say one tablespoonful. Mix it with about two
tablespoonfuls of wheat middlings, then moisten it with
water, but do not wet it enough to make it sticky. Cut
it up in about four to six parts and roll the parts into
pill shape, put them in an oven and bake them hard. It
is wel) to have a few always on hand, as after baking

/ wrong.

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 35

they will keep for a long time in a dry place. If I haye '
a turkey, either old or young, with a bad case of diar-
rhoea, I give one pill three times a day until the
droppings are improved. ‘Then give a tablespoonful of
castor oil if the turkey is full grown, or a teaspoonful to
a young poult. It is very seldom that I cannot stop a
ease of diarrhoea with this treatment.

FALL FEEDING

I commence to feed all turkeys the first of October to
get them ready for Thanksgiving, as we all know there
is more demand for turkeys at that time than at any
other. hey should be fed morning and night, but never
more than they will eat within a few minutes. Most of
the trouble we have in the fall is caused by overfeeding.
At the time you commence to feed for fattening use com-
mon sense and feed lightly for the first ten days, gradu-
ally increasing the food. The principal food from Oc-
tober to January first should be corn, not cracked, and
the older the corn the better, as new corn will cause
bowel trouble. I have seen large flocks of turkeys
knocked out by feeding new corn. If you get their bowels
out of order, it takes weeks to get them in good con-
dition again. As a rule, most of your turkeys will be fat
and in good condition to dress at Thanksgiving. There
may be a few late hatched broods that will be improved if
carried over to Christmas.

Many people advocate putting turkeys in a closed pen
to fatten. I have given this method a good trial many
times and under all conditions and find it a failure. Let
them have all the range they want. The results will be
better and you will avoid the sickness they will have if
you confine them. Many persons do not understand why
their turkeys are not so fat as they should be, but almost

invariably you will find that they have fed them in con-

finement and the turkeys could not stand it, especially for
‘a period of several weeks. They get off their feed and
will not eat. In the fall when the weather is cold, tur-
keys will not range far from the farm buildings. They
will eat their morning food, then roam around after a
little grit to help them digest it and then lie down in a
warm place out of the wind. Drive all the turkeys you
wish to kill in a barn or shed so as to confine them
twenty-four hours before killing with no food of any
kind. To look well when dressed, their crops must be en-
tirely free from food.

THE BEST ROOSTING PLACE FOR TURKEYS

Many persons who keep turkeys think they need
shelter in the way of a building. That idea is entirely
The best possible way of keeping turkeys in good
health is to have them roost away from buildings, in
trees if you have them. By roosting in trees they will
not be in draughts, as they would be if allowed to roost
in sheds or buildings. JI have known turkeys to roost
in trees with the thermometer fifteen to twenty degrees
below zero, and be much healthier than turkeys that
were inside a building. A turkey can stand auy weather
we have in the United States if they are roosting in trees
that are partly sheltered from the wind. 1 have seen
turkeys in trees during a snow and rain storm with the
wind blowing sixty miles an hour, and they did not
appear to mind it in the least.

A great improvement has been made in the size of
turkeys, especially Bronze, in the past twenty years. The
ordinary turkey of some years ago, as bred by the

average farmer, would weigh about as follows: Toms,
twenty pounds; hens, eight to ten pounds. Today

Bronze turkeys will weigh: Toms, thirty-five to forty-two
pounds; hens, eighteen to twenty-five pounds. This shows
what proper mating will do.

IN NATURE’S WAY

Selecting Breeders—Introducing New Blocd— Raising Breeders— Avoid Crossing, kut Jedicicusly Inbreed—Poults in Nature’s Way—

Range —Food— Housing—Difficult Sections to Breed Correctly

B. F. ULREY

S I BREED only the Bronze variety of tur-
keys, and a limited number of them for
exhibition and breeding purposes, and as
I have had no experience with any other
variety and never sell on the market, ex-
cept the culls of my flock, I cannot give

you much information on raising turkeys for market.

Yowever, if I were to breed turkeys for market purposes,

I should employ the same methods as I do in breeding

exhibition fowls, except that I should not discard a good

bird if it were faulty in color. Most farmers, I notice,

sell all of the early hatched turkeys on the market be-

cause they will bring more money and they retain the

late hatched and immature poults for breeding purposes.
The consequence is, they do

hand, if you buy a tom of another strain (the male counts
more than half of the flock) to mate with your hens, and
such mating results in poor birds, you have lost the sea-
son. I often see advertisements in poultry journals in
which breeders offer stock for sale produced from
twenty-seven to thirty-one pound hens and forty to forty-
seven-pound toms. Such claims are intended to catch
amateurs, for any breeder of experience knows that a
hen that weighs twenty-seven pounds never lays fertile
eggs, and a tom that weighs forty-seven pounds never
fertilizes an egg.

HATCHING AND RAISING POULTS

I allow the hens to have their own way about their
nests, although I place barrels

not raise many next season,
because the breeding stock has
no vigor and the poults no
strength when hatched.

I have bred Bronze turkeys
for ten years and my method
of raising them is entirely dif-
ferent from that employed by
anyone with whom I have
talked, or from the methods of
poultry writers which I find
printed in the poultry journals
from time to time. In the first
place, I keep about fifteen fe-
males in each flock, seven hens
and eight pullets, headed by an
adult tom, assisted by a cock-

on their sides along hedges
and in secluded places in the
orchard and fence corners, in
each putting a small quantity
of straw. The hens generally
nest in the barrels and I re-
move the eggs every day until
the hen is heady to sit. I then
give her seventeen eggs and at
the same time put ten eggs
under a domestic hen to hatch.
All the poults are given to the
turkey hen to raise, as I find
that a turkey knows more
about taking care of poults
than I do. I give her a good
feed of corn and a drink of

erel, and I always have fertile
eggs. The Bronze turkey com-
mences to lay when she is
about ten months old and she
will lay from twenty to twenty-
five eggs before she offers to sit, then if con-
fined for about a week or ten days she will commence
to lay again and will lay from twelve to six-
teen more eggs before she becomes broody. Most
hens lay two clutches in a season, though I have known
some hens to lay all summer, and I have one hen that
laid ninety-seven eggs from April first to September
tenth. In selecting my breeding stock I take females as
near Standard weight and color as possible, having large
frames and bones and such as are not too fat. These are
mated with toms that are a little above Standard weight,
the cockerel weighing from twenty-eight to thirty pounds
at ten months old, the yearling cocks from thirty-five to
thirty-seven pounds, the adult from thirty-eight to forty-
two pounds. I am particular to have males of the best
color and shape I can get. I find that the female gives us
size, while the male governs the plumage. In changing
males and breeding for exhibition purposes, I always try
to get a tom that is extra fine in the sections in which
my females are defective. The best way to introduce
new blood is to purchase a female from some successful
breeder and mate her with the tom that heads your own
flock. Save her eggs and mark her poults, and if they
vrove good, you can use them successfully. On the other

Two Winning Hens, The Property of B. F. Ulrey

Indiana Queen (at left), score 974%; Pride of Shawnee (at
right), weight at ten months old, 234% pounds

water and then let her go
where she likes. If there is a
meadow or pasture within
three-quarters of a mile, that is
where she will go. I have
one hen that hatched sixteen poults and I gave her nine
more hatched by a domestic hen and she raised twenty-
two of them. I have never seen a fence that will confine
turkeys unless one wing is clipped, then a four-foot net-
ting with a barbed wire above will keep them confined,
but I do not wish to confine my turkeys except occa-
sionally for a short time. Once in a while I have a hen
that wanders too far from home to build her nest. I
have an orchard covering about two acres which is in-
closed with netting and barbed wire and in which I keep
my Silver Laced Wyandottes during the breeding season.
I bring the wandering turkey home, clip her wing and put
her in the pen described until she lays out her clutch. If
a hen and her brood get to running away and going to a
neighbors’, I put them in the chicken yard for about ten
days, after which I have no further trouble with them. I
look after the hens with poults on bad days when I can-
not work in the fields. If I find any weak poults I
examine them for lice, and if I find any lice I give the
poults a good dusting with insect powder. If the weather
is dry, the poults find enough dust in which to wallow to
keep down the lice, but if it is wet weather you must look
out for lice. I am satisfied that nine-tenths of the poults
that die are fed to death or are killed by lice.

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 37

RANGE—FOOD—HOUSING

I give my turkeys unlimited range and feed nothing
until July 15th, then I drive them home every night and
give them a little corn. In about a week they will come
home at night for food and to roost and I have no further
trouble with them until I am ready to sell or show. Some
writers claim that wet weather and heavy dews are fatal
to poults. If such were the case I should not have a
poult today, as the past season was the wettest we have
had in several years. Still I have more poults now than I
ever raised before in one season. I have never had but
two sick turkeys during the years I have been in the busi-
ness. One of these was crop-bound. I poured about a
pint of warm milk down her throat and kneaded her crop
with my fingers for about ten minutes, then gave her a
tablespoonful of castor oil and she was all right the next
day. The other was a three-year- old tom which dropped

not eat a half bushel of corn a day during the week I
fed them.

Never discard a good bird because it is getting old. I
have known hens to be first-class breeders when seven
years old. ‘The best tom I ever owned, both as a breeder
and an exhibition bird, I sold when he was three years
old because I thought he was getting too old for a
breeder. The person to whom I sold him used him two
seasons and he proved a successful breeder. Then this
man sold him, thinking he was too old for breeding or
showing, but his new master thought differently and
showed him at Madison Square Garden, New York, that
winter when he was five years old, and won the blue
ribbon. Old “Champion” has a record of eighteen first
prizes. He weighed thirty-five pounds as a yearling,
forty pounds as a two-year-old and forty-three pounds

when four years old. He was the sire of the first prize

Champion Jr.

off the roost dead. I commence feeding my turkeys all
they will eat about November first and continue feeding
until about February first, then I let them hustle for
their living and they will be in good breeding condition.

I never house turkeys, as the trees and fences are the
natural roosting places for turkeys and I think that the
nearer they are raised as nature does the better the re-
sults. Turkeys cannot be raised successfully without
plenty of range, as they must have exercise and a variety
of food, which they cannot obtain except on an extensive
range. If you will examine the crop of a poult after
September first that has had plenty of range, you will
find grasshoppers, bugs and worms, together with several
varieties of weed and grass seeds, but very little grain.
Some persons claim that a turkey will eat more than a
hog. I had a chance to test the matter last winter when
I had sixty-five turkeys on hand and there came a severe
snow storm which prevented the flock from getting any-
thing to eat except what I fed them. The sixty-five did

One of B. F. Ulrey’s Chicago Cup Winners.

Score 97 Points, by B. N. Pierce

eock and second prize hen at Chicago, January, 1900, and
to my knowledge, was the sire of eleven turkeys that
scored 97 points or better.

STARTING THE BUSINESS

If I were to start in the business of raising turkeys,
having the experience I now have, I should purchase three
or four of the best females I could find that were near
Standard weight and as nearly perfect in color as I could
find. I should also buy their sire if he had proved to be
a good one and should mate them to him. If I could not
get the sire, I should get a cockerel from the same mating
that the females were from and should mate him to the
females. Then I should save the eggs from the best
hen, mark her poults and save a tom from her to mate
with my flock the next season. The pullets I should take
to another farm and mate to a tom from the home flock.
In that way I could line-breed and not in-breed too
closely. When I saw there was need of new blood, [

38 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND

should purehase a female from the breeder of whom 1
purchased my original stock, and in that way I would
keep the same strain, but my birds would not be near
enough related to affect their health and vigor. As surely
as you introduce a new strain in your flock, you will lose
both shape and color and it will take at least three years
of careful mating to get back where you were when you
made the cross.

I find that the breast and back are the most diffieult
sections to breed correctly in regard to shape. As a rule,
the back is too narrow and too short. We want our birds
broad across the shoulders with a long back and full
round breast, rather long legs and large feet. In color
we have the most difficulty with the wings, tail and back.
The Standard says in regard to color of wings: ‘Primaries
—fFach feather evenly and distinctly barred across, with

MANAGEMENT.

parallel bars of black and white extending the entire
length of the feather.” Of the color of the tail it says:
“Dull black—each feather evenly and distinetly marked
transversely with parailel lines of brown, each feather
having a wide black band extending across it near the
end (the more bronze on this band the better) and ter-
minating in a wide edging of white.” Now I find if we
get a clear white barring in the wings we are sure to
get white barring in the main tail feathers, which is a
serious defect. In fact, I should not keep a bird for a
breeder that had white barring in its tail. I also find
that if we get a clear white edging on the tail and tail
coverts we do not get a rich bronze on the back and
tail coverts, and if we get a good bronze where the
Standard demands it, we are sure to get smutty white
on the end of the tail and smoky white on tail coverts.

TURKEYS RAISED WITHOUT HOUSING

Confining and Housing Yurkeys—Turkey Eggs—Care of Poults—Feeding Corn—Diseases—How to Begin

B. F. HISLOP

FEW years ago when we finally coneluded to
try turkey raising, we had already decided
that the Bronze was the variety which
suited us best, and we bought a trio in the
fall in order to be ready for business the

- following spring. We had no experience, so
we began to read up on the subject and to
question our neighbors about their methods

of caring for the young. We found that most of the

neighbors allowed the turkey hens to do all the work,
and when winter came, if there was a large ilock of
turkeys the farmer’s wife claimed all the credit, but if
the turkey hens failed to raise large families, they had
all the blame. At first we raised the poults with domestic
hens and later decided to try the turkeys, but found the
old ones so unruly that we again gave the poults to the
domestic hens. We worked according to rules, kept the
coops well scrubbed, etc., and we succeeded fairly well,
raising as large a percentage of poults as we have ever
raised since, but the work we did that year, if applied to
some other calling, would have obtained us far more
money, and we concluded if raising turkeys required so
much work we had better quit the business. The time we
wasted doctoring colds that season would have discour-
aged most amateurs. We were afraid these colds might
develop into roup, and so labored most patiently. We
wish to say that we do not believe turkeys ever have roup
as chickens do. We think the birds become debilitated
from injudicious treatment from the time they are
hatehed, and when autumn comes the birds take cold,
which develops into chronie catarrh. We do not believe
it is contagious, but a flock will be more or less affected,
as all the birds are exposed to the same causes. It is
hard to eure such colds, for if a man does not know how
to prevent his flock from taking cold he is hardly likely
to know how to eure them. There may be flocks that
have the roup, but we have never seen any, though we
have seen birds whose owners thought they had roup,
but which we believed to be suffering from a severe cold.

This year not one of our turkeys has a cold, although
this is the season for it, and we think we understand why
they have escaped. In the first place. we changed the
blood, as we believe inbreeding produces weak stock,
although one does not need to make too great a change.

We do not think the turkeys are as liable to be off in
color as chickens are, and so we have no hesitancy in
putting a fine tom at the head of our flock without
tracing his pedigree. A tom will do a large part in
elevating a flock, but he cannot do it all, because much
depends on the females. The male, so our experience
teaches us, has much to do with the size, with the length
of the bones, markings of the tail and wings, and also
the shape of the body, but if the females are too small
and poorly marked, one cannot expect anything tirst-class
from such a mating. A large percentage of judges are
very particular about the markings of the tails and wing's
of turkeys, so one has to look after these sections. Some
judges are very particular about having a good bronze,
although shape, size, ete., will help one out, but the best
judges want a bronze, not a black or brown. Many
breeders cannot see bronze in any but their own birds,
but when the birds are all together in a show room, a
person, if he has an eye for beauty, can select the bronze
birds, and so ean the judge—which is one good point for
comparison judging.

CONFINING AND HOUSING TURKEYS

We do not think turkeys can be raised in large flocks
without a large range, although we have never tried
raising them in confinement. A turkey is naturally a
forager and in roaming about procures its proper food.
Even if a person has solved the food problem (we do not
think we have) and confines his turkeys, intending to feed
them, he would prevent them from taking the proper
exercise which they require as much as they do food, if
they are to attain the greatest possible size and vigor.
We find that the lack of size and vigor is to be seen in
poults raised by domestic hens. We have been asked if
it is best to house turkeys. We have never housed them
ourselves. They have always roosted at night in the
trees and lived around the buildings during the day, but
we intend to try housing them sometime because from
what we have learned we think it would be a good plan.
We shall use sheds open to the south, with trees for pro-
tection on the open side. We have a grove that is a great
protection to our flock, but we think they need more.
When a bird stands around on a cold, bleak day, all
drawn up and then goes to sleep on a naked limb, with

TURKEYS—THEIR

the wind blowing a blizzard around him all night, we
eannot see that it is of any benefit to him. He has the
same sort of body that other stock has and if he has no
shelter to keep him warm, his food has to do it. Plenty
of fresh air does not mean that birds must be out of
shelter. We do not think that over seventy-five turkeys
in one flock will do well and we prefer fifty or less. It
does not matter how early turkeys are hatched. The
hens in this climate will not commence to lay much be-
fore the first of April. and the later hatched will lay
about as soon as the early ones, very late
hatched.

unless

IN REGARD TO TURKEYS

We do not keep the young birds for breeders because
they are not matured enough. should be at
least ten or eleven months old, the older and more
mature the fowl is, the better the breeder. We may not
get so many eggs from the females, but we get better
ones. The one draw-back to two-year-old turkeys and older
is that we let them get too fat in this corn country dur-
ing the winter. We have never been able to secure such
large clutches of eggs as some
average of

sreeders

claim. We get an
the first
about ten in the second.
hens will lay more, and some will
lay three clutches, but they are
less in number and we never count
much on them, for the hens usu-
ally hide their nests and we sel-
dom bother about them. Occa-
sionally a hen will lay a large
number of eggs, in fact, will lay
all summer, but such eggs are sel-
dom fertile. We have inated
fifteen females with
with good results, and we do not

twelve in eluteh and

Some

one tom
believe there was any larger per-
centage of infertile eggs than
when we mated a tom with two
females. Turkey eggs are usually
fertile if the hens are not too fat
We put our hens on “starvation
rations,’ as we call it, when
nearing the breeding season.

mostly oats, meat and vegetables.
in twenty-eight days, and when the weather is very warm
a day or so less time is required, but we do not remember
Turkey hens
In the second

At that time we feed
Turkey eggs incubate

ever having one sit over twenty-eight days.
seldom hide their nests for the first clutch.
they make the attempt, but we watch them and if they
want to go too far away we drive them nearer home and
thus get them to commence laying in a nest more con-
venient to us. We gather the eggs and keep them in a
cool place, placing them on the small end, and if we
should keep them long, we turn them, but as a rule, we
do not keep them long enough to take that trouble, for
if we do not set them ourselves, our customers are wait-
ing for them. We have generally had better success in
putting eggs under domestic hens, but we do not let
them raise the poults. We always have a turkey hen
waiting to take them. If a turkey hen has been sitting
two weeks, or even less, she will take the young if they
are put under her when a few hours old. We have tried
putting pipped eggs under the turkey, but too many of
them get mashed, so this year we waited until the poults
were a few hours old. If a turkey chooses to sit in the
proper place, we put eggs under her and set a domestic
hen at the same time, but give all the poults to the
turkey.

CARE

First Prize Young Tom

Chicago and Indiana State Fair.
by F. B. Hislop

AND MANAGEMENT. 39
CARE OF POULTS

We used to keep the poults and the mother hen
penned up for about ten days or two weeks, feeding the
young turkeys three or four times a day on boiled eggs,
dandelions, curd and bread soaked with milk. They did
very well, but we think now it was a mistaken kindness,
for we lost a larger per cent of the young in the fall. We
think that with all our care we invariably overfed, but
they did not show the effects until fall. Now we make
a practice of keeping the hen and poults penned up four
or five days, feeding very sparingly on boiled eggs, dan-
delions or any green plant, such as onions or lettuce, and
a little bread. We have discarded curds altogether as
we think it is too much work for the benefit, in fact, we
have almost concluded that it is a detriment to the tur-
keys, for when we fed it we were bothered by the fowls
having worms more than we are now. This season we
went to very little trouble to feed them after the hen was
set at liberty. If it were convenient we fed them twice or
three times a day, but if not, we looked after them at
evening to see where they roosted, and fed them, giving
then some kind of cooked food,
oatmeal, and bran, and later a
mash composed of equal parts of
corn meal, middlings and bran,
with a little meat meal, bone and
venetian red. The food we gave
them was so little that we did not
consider it necessary, and as they
grew older they did not have use
for it, but we still fed them in
order to keep them
teach them that they had a home.
Nevertheless,
to drive them home.
on a farm range will take care
of her flock and raise them strong
and vigorous with very little food
from the house.

There is much ado about young
poults being killed by damp
weather and by being out in the
dew. By the time a turkey hatches
in this climate it is not likely to be
very cold, and unless the ground is so low that the land is
This has been
a very wet summer in our locality, and we had hens out
in heavy rains when the poults were but a few days old
and we did not lose a poult nor did the young get wet.
We have a large orchard and grove that furnishes a great
deal of protection, but often the hen sat out as far from
the trees as she could get, not to entirely leave the
orchard, still there were no poults drowned. We think
during such wet spells that the poults need*to be fed
more regularly, as they cannot hunt for their food. We
have lost more young by having the old hen go into a
coop with a part of the flock, the other part being left
out and drowning, than we ever did when the hen was
out with the flock. After the frosts kill the bugs, grass-
hoppers, ete., the turkeys require more food, and we feed
them morning and night a small ration, increasing it as
the food in the meadows and pastures decreases. In the
morning we feed a mash with the same ingredients that
we fed to the poults while young, with the addition of
charcoal and oil meal in small quantities. We also give
them cracked bone and grit, all they will eat of the
latter, and at night coarse cracked corn and soaked oats.
Now if the young poults are not fed to death, so to speak,
there will be little, if any, indigestion, and if a case now
and then appears lessen the food, and in individual cases

tame and

we frequently had
A turkey

Bred and Owned

flooded, there is little danger from rains.

40 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

give the fowl a full tablespoonful of castor oil with from
five to ten drops of turpentine in it. If one dose is not
enough, give two or three, or even more, one dose a day,
and search for lice. We have invariably noticed that the
debilitated fowl always becomes lousy and generally has
worms, as these pests invariably follow indigestion.

FEEDING CORN

Do not begin too soon to feed corn. Last year we
fed our chickens considerable cracked corn in the outside
seratching pens. Our turkeys soon learned this and were
on hand by three or four o’clock, if they had not hung
around all day waiting for evening, and they got a large
share of the corn. As a consequence, we lost a lot of fine
birds from indigestion. We could not cure it, as we did
not remove the cause. We wanted fat chickens and we
paid for them with our best turkeys, but we learned our
lesson. Keep your turkeys going out on the range as
long as possible. Drive them away in the morning if they
will not go. When the weather becomes cold and the
proper time for fattening comes, then feed corn and
heavy grain. We would never fatten the birds intended
for breeders if the purchasers did not demand heavy
weights, as fat is a detriment to the birds. We cannot
blame the purchasers, as this is about the only way they
can.be sure of getting a large fowl and so they call for
actual weights; but the tall, rangy, well-shaped, long,
coarse-legged turkey, even if he does look slim in the
fall, is the one that will be a large bird. Our first turkeys
purchased were low, blocky birds, and they were almost
as heavy in the late fall as they ever got. We thought
them fine at first, but it did not take us long to change
our minds, so that the next autumn we purchased a trio
of birds from a well-known breeder. When they came
the fowls were but a pound or two heavier than our old
stock, but they were long legged, awkward, green looking
birds, and we were pleased with them, for we could see
into what they would develop and we were not dis-

appointed. Since then we have known better what to
purchase. Turkey raising is like a great many other
things. One can read a great deal about it, but the

actual experience is necessary. More than that, it can
never all be learned, nor does one person possess more
knowledge than all other turkey raisers combined. The
longer one is in the business the less conceited he be-
comes if he has any success.

MARKETING TURKEYS

In catching poults or old turkeys, one must catch
trem by the legs, holding them just below the hocks with
the legs together, laying the birds across the arm if you
wish to carry them, or on something else if you do not.
The cost of feeding a turkey on a farm does not amount
to more than 50 cents per head, even with all the extras
a breeder needs, and the farmer’s wife who lets the
turkey do the raising is out so little one cannot estimate
it. We purchase food for all our poultry together, using
as we need it, and consequently when the time to bal-
ance comes we simply count up our expenses and income
from all our flocks and look for the gain or income.
When turkeys are raised for market, the heavy ones will
pay the most profit fattened and sold for Thanksgiving
and Christmas, but the younger and lighter weights that
are not in as good condition as they will be later, can
be marketed any time during the winter, as the turkey
market does not fluctuate so very much for good stock.
We have had dressers of poultry tell us that the Bronze
turkeys were the finest they handled, but we do not be-
lieve they command a higher price than other varieties,
all conditions being equal. Good dressed turkeys bring
from eleven to twelve and one-half cents a pound in Chi-

cago. Every breeder should dress his own fowls, as it
will pay him in all instances. Have the fowls fat and do
the work nicely and you are sure of the top price.

LICE ON TURKEYS

We have not touched the lice question in regard to
young poults. We are not much in favor of greasing,
except in using a little lard on the old hen when first
taken from the nest and on the tops of the poults’ heads
as a preventive of head lice. We dust the old hen two or
three times while she is sitting, and thoroughly when we
give her the poults, then watch the young and as soon
as we see lice on them, dust them with good insect pow-
der, avoiding the white, as it makes them look shabby.
We do considerable dusting, once a week for a few
imonths, but oftener if the lice compel us to. Dust the
old hen, too, jor when the lice are destroyed in this way
at the beginuing your trouble is over. We catch the
young by Laving a box trap. Feed them in a bunch and
when they commence to eat set the trap over them, the
top of vhe box being laths with a little trap door in it so
we can take the poults out one by one, dust them and let
them go. In this way none are missed. It is not so easy
to catch the old bird. Occasionally she escapes a dusting,
but we manage to get her often enough to prevent
trouble. We seldom have a sick poult, so we never ex-
perienced pulling wing feathers. Our trouble heretofore
has been, as we said, in the fall, and we think we can
steer clear of that better than we have.

DISEASES OF TURKEYS AND RANGE

In our experience the diseases of turkeys are brought
about by impaired digestion. If one can build up the con-
stitution and remove the causes of the trouble one can
cure many of them, but when the constitution has become
thoroughly broken down you might as well use the ax and
stop the misery. Do not be too hasty, however, as many
of them may be cured and marketed. Colds are not
necessarily fatal, nor is rheumatism, although the latter
is worse, but when a turkey gets the black head he is
often dead before one gets a chance to doctor him, so the
best way is to begin right and avoid such trouble. A
large flock is more difficult to handle than a small one.
We do not aim to raise over seventy-five in our home
flock, as the range is not good on the prairies and the
pastures are too small. We all know that a large cattle
pasture is an ideal range, but they are not to be found in
a locality like ours, where land is high and it is all under
cultivation, besides one’s neighbors do not like to see
another man’s turkeys in their oat fields or corn fields in
the fall, although it isa well established fact that tur-
keys eat more injurious insects than they do grain and
they are a benefit rather than a detriment, but you can
not make many farmers believe it, and it is useless to
try. We are trying to console our neighbors by compen-
sating them in some way -for the imagined damage,
but with all that the yellow cur puts in his appearance
occasionally and chews up a fine bird. It is not all clear
sailing in the turkey business, and as we are located, if
it were not for the pleasure we take in seeing a fine flock
of the mammoth beauties, we should quit the business.

We do not think swampy ground would be a good
pliuce for turkeys, especially during a wet season.

There has been a great deal said in regard to the size
of the Bronze. Many think the present Standard weights
are high enough and we have heard of judges cutting
birds (toms) for being too heavy, same as too light. Now
this surely is carrying matters too far, as size is one of
the main features in a turkey (or any domestic bird that
is cut when under Standard weight for that matter) as
long as we retain shape and plumage. We have never

TURKEYS—THEIR

struck such a judge in our exhibiting, and when we do,
there will surely be a noise. Hen turkeys may be too
large and masculine to be good breeders, but even they
ean be from two to four pounds over Standard weight
when in good flesh and yet be very desirable breeders.
As for an adult cock, we don’t think 40 pounds would be
too heavy for Standard weight, and birds that reach 45
or 46 pounds are just as good breeders as those of Stand-
ard weight.

One cannot expect to retain size in his flock if he does
not stick to large males for breeders. An occasional use
of a small cock with large females may be necessary to
secure some desirable feature that the breeder is more
in need of than size, but the latter has bothered us more
than any other point, as our customers are always look-
ing for the big birds, even at a sacrifice of other quali-
ties; especially is this true of the market breeders. We
fanciers are always looking for the birds that win the
blue ribbons at our shows, but nevertheless we cannot
afford to let the market qualities go unnoticed, as all our
birds after all are bred for the common market in the
end. One thing the prospective purchasers, old breeders
as well as amateurs must learn, is that weight does not
always mean size. For instance, two turkey cockerels may
each weight 25 honest pounds, but one may be a large
bird and the other small. The birds may both be scored
and taken on an average. ‘there is very little difference
us far as the score card speaks, but compare the two.
One wey be worth twice what the other is to a breeder
that wants size as well as other points.

A score card show will not do justice to Bronze

_ Turkeys, and the breeders of our most popular birds, the
large, fine ones that are in demand all over America,
know this; if they don’t, they will soon learn it.

The kind of turkey judges we want are those that
consult the Standard for plumage, shape and size, but for

CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 41

the latter we want a man that can see size without put-
ting the bird on a scale and weighing it, as the scale has
to consider the fat along with the bone and muscle. Nor
does it tell you how much of each there is in the bird
considered. ‘The Standard has no other way of fixing the
size, save by weights. The rest is in the hands of the
judge, and he is supposed to know the meaning of size.

FOR THE AMATEUR

Were we to start in the turkey business, knowing
what we do now, we should buy the best breeders we
could find that were for sale at a price we could stand
and would not be afraid of a few dollars if we could
afford it. We should build a shed for them, and if we
did not have some kind of a grove we think we could ill
afford not to build. We should start with the Bronze, for
considering all we know of other breeds, we still like
them best, and think that we can make the most money
out of them. The market man prefers them for their size
and the fancier for their beauty. Judging from the num-
bers shown ‘in our exhibitions, they are the most popular
variety.

A word to purchasers—when you wish to buy, first
select a reliable breeder and if you want breeding birds
you can easily purchase them at a reasonable figure, but
if you want show birds for breeders (which are the best)
do not expect them at common breeding stock prices,
for no man’s whole tiock is composed of show birds, even
if many of his old breeding stock were once show birds.
If the breeder tells you that his birds were never beaten
in the show, immediately learn where the birds were ex-
hibited, whether in a local show or in a show like Chi-
cago, New York or Boston. No person has made a clean
sweep at many large shows unless the competition was
very small indeed.

A Part of the Range over which Mr. B. F. Hislop’s Turkeys roam

MATING STANDARD-BRED BRONZE TURKEYS

Desirable Qualities in the Males and Females—Number of Females in Pen—Evil Effects of In-Breeding

J.T. THOMPSON

S THERE any kind of live stock on the farm that is
more beautiful to look on, or more profitable to
aise, than Mammoth Bronze turkeys as they are
pred today? I believe that you will answer in the

negative, for they bring more per pound
than other live stock and their flesh costs no

more; in fact, I do not believe it costs as much to raise
They are great rangers and they obtain most of
would not otherwise

them.
their living from foods that you
realize on. Males weighing from forty to fifty pounds
each, females of twenty pounds or more, that are beauti-
fully and delicately marked, and with that rich bronze
color and proud carriage,
are certainly admired by

that we have won at the leading poultry shows, certainly
proves that our efforts have not been in vain.

MATING TURKEYS
In mating turkeys select those that have large, broad
and bodies, big feet, and as well
heads, lone necks and bodies, big feet, and are as well
as well marked as you can get them, at the same time,
never discount a poorly marked hen if she is of good size
and shape, for if the tom is well marked, he will, to a
degree, overcome this defect.

heads, long necks
D>

great The same is true
with a poorly marked tom mated with well marked hens.
Never breed from a

short turkey, for while

everyone.

History tells us that
in the winter of 1620—
about a year after General
Bradford and the pilgrims
landed on our, eastern
coast, and after having en-
dured hardships that only
the strongest and bravest
eould they set
aside a day to offer thanks
to Him for bringing them

survive,

through such discouraging
first
Thanksgiving, the pilgrims
ate wild turkey, in prefer-
ence to the meat of the
elk, the deer, the bear or
any of the other wild ani-

times—on their

mals that were plentiful.
While that is nearly three
centuries ago, I am glad
that from that
the present the
the turkey has

to know
time to
flesh of

been more honored than
any other fowl that we
raise.

The North American

they fatten more quickly
and look larger than the
one of the same
age, it is the latter when
fully matured that makes
the ones—the
that we all want.
If your turkeys are
large, but. not as_ well
marked as they should be,
or perhaps they are a
little off in color, and you
have a

rangy

big kind

strong colored
that is somewhat

small in size, it is all right

tom

to use him once to breed
out such defects. How-
ever, you cannot afford to
continue to breed from
small males, for the
of your stock will cer-
As the
raises for
market purposes demands
size, and since the Stand-
ard ents more on _ size
than anything else, it is
evident that it is the main
consideration.

size

tainly decrease.

breeder who

forests being their native
home, they were. neverthe-
less, raised in many parts
of Europe within three
vears after they were discovered here. This proves that
the people of the old world like those of America, were
not long in discovering the fine flavor of this royal fowl.

BREED FOR EXHIBITION QUALITIES AND SIZE

When we began raising Mammoth Bronze turkeys
years ago, our object was to breed them for exhibition
We believed that in

order to make the greatest success of the turkey busi-

qualities as well as for great size.

ness, and to realize the most money from it that we must
For the
past seven years, our toms have weighed as yearling

combine the exhibition and utility qualities.

birds from forty to forty-five pounds, and our hens of

similar age, twenty pounds or more. The high honors

Exhibition Mammoth Bronze Turkey Tom
Bred and owned by J. T. Thompson

NUMBER OF FEMALES
IN PEN

Never mate more than
twelve -hens with one tom.
In my opinion eight is the right number for the average
male. I have known of cases where good results were
obtained by mating twenty and twenty-five hens with one
tom, but such cases are exceptions and not the rule.
Never let two males run in the same yard. If you have
too many hens for one tom, and do not wish to mate two
yards, you can arrange it by having one of the males in
the yard and keeping the other penned up for three or
four days. The birds should then be changed, and the
one that was in the yard should be confined and the other
placed in the pen.

Never breed from the same tom more than two years.
It is better to change every year, for there is nothing

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND

MANAGEMENT. 43

that will decrease the vitality of your stock
more rapidly than close inbreeding. In buy-
ing a trio or pen of turkeys, demand that the
male is not related to the females. We have
two flocks, each on a separate farm, and in
filling the orders of our customes we always
select the tom from one flock and the hens
from the other. We thereby start our cus-
tomers on the right road to success by fur-
nishing them with good, vigorous stock that
is not related.

Many breeders, in selling off their stock
in the fall, dispose of their largest turkeys—
because they bring more money and keep the
late hatched specimens to breed from, think-
ing that by spring they will be sufficiently old
and large enough for breeders. This is a mis-
take. You cannot raise large, vigorous tur-

~ keys from small, late hatched birds. By all
means keep your earliest hatched turkeys for
the next year’s breeders.

Some breeders advocate mating an old tom
with pullets, but I prefer mating the pullets
with a good, young tom, as an old male is sure
to injure and probably kill some of them.

If you have only a few turkeys by no means yard
them, for they will do much better when they are given
the entire range of the farm.

During the laying season

One of J. T. Thompson’s Turkey Toms with Tailand Wings Spread
to Show their Markings

it is sometimes difficult to find their nests when they
have so much range, but if you will pen your hens until
the afternoon, they will go straight to their nests.

THE FARMER’S BEST FRIEND

The Mammoth Bronze Turkey So Proclaimed by One Who Formerly Would Not Allow a Turkey on His Farm—Turkeys as Pest
Destroyers—Selection of Breeders—Hatching and Raising Poults

MRS. J. M. RANDOLPH

CONSIDER the most important thing in turkey
raising is good, healthy breeding stock. In
~ selecting a tom I look for good markings on
wings and tail,a long body, large legs and feet
and as the Standard requires heavy weight.
as large a bird as I can get that meets these
requirements, although in my own judgment
a thirty-two pound tom is large enough. I think most old
turkey breeders will agree with me that there was a
great mistake made in demanding such heavy weight
toms. As I believe the poults get size from the hens and
markings from the tom, I select the hens with regard to
size first, but wiin markings as good as I can get on large
hens.

About the middle of February or when the hens begin
to eall—a sound familiar to all turkey breeders—and
show signs of mating, I remove them to a young orchard
enclosed with poultry netting, and clip the right wing of
each hen, put I never clip the tom’s wing, as he will not
give trouble by trying to fly out as a hen will do if her
wing is not clipped.

In this yard they have plenty of range, blue grass and
clover and I never let them out until the breeding season
is over. I believe every breeder should have an enclosed
yard or park for turkeys. Much as I should dislike to
give up raising turkeys, I would do so before I would go
back to the old way of letting them have the run of the
farm. I cannot forget long, weary, ofttimes fruitless
searches I have had trying to find their nests, only, per-
haps, to haye them move again in a few days.

We have a great many osage orange hedges in this
part of the country and these hedges seem to be a fay-
orite place for turkeys to hide their nests. I have had
them follow the hedge more than a mile and then make

Being in an enclosure not only ensures your
getting all their eggs, but they can be gathered often
and thus avoid having them chill during the early spring
months.

their nests.

TURKEY NESTS

Turkeys in this locality usually begin to lay the latter
part of March. After confining them to the park I take
some evergreen boughs and lean them against the poul-
try netting which adjoins a hedge fence on one side of
the park, thus making a secluded place for them to nest.
I do not leave a very large opening, but let them creep
in, and they think they are hiding their nests. Usually I
keep about twenty-two hens and most of them will lay
their first clutch of eggs in two of these nests, but later
on when the grass grows knee high they will steal their
nests and sometimes elude me for several days or a
week; but by that time it is warm enough so that the
eggs will not chill.

HATCHING THE POULTS

Although turkey hens seem to be expressly designed
to take eare of their offspring and know how to do this
part of their work to perfection, I have not found them
to be as good sitters as domestic hens. For several years
I have not waited until I had a turkey want to sit, but as
soon as I have enough eggs for several sittings I place

44 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

them under domestic hens. About two weeks before they
are due to hateh I put some hen eggs under a broody
turkey hen and when the turkey eggs begin to hatch I
placed one or two eggs under the turkey and she would
own them without any trouble.

Last spring I kept breaking my turkey hens from
sitting in order to keep them laying and so at one time
some turkeys were to hatch in a few days and there was
no turkey mother for them. About that time I had an-
other turkey want to sit, so I gave her, without moving
her from the nest, two or three small Barred Roek
chickens to see if she would own them, placing them
under her just at dusk. Next morning she was hovering
+hem and was very proud of her suddenly acquired family,
so the next night I moved her to a building and gave her
eighteen little turkeys, of which she seemed jusf as proud
as if she had sat four weeks. This was a new idea to
me, but I thought why not use that plan altogether and
thus keep the turkey hens laying. I did so the balance
of the season with eight or

nine turkeys, giving them

experience. Occasionally I use some good insect powder
instead of lard.

After they ‘shoot the red” and can be driven to the
pastures and meadows it is surprising to see how they
will thrive and grow with only a little food to induce
them to come home at night. A more beautiful sight in
poultrydom than a large drove of Mammoth Bronze tur-
keys with their bronze plumage glistening in the sunlight,
I cannot imagine.

y TURKEYS AS PEST DESTROYERS

Years ago I used to raise the old fashioned mixed
turkeys, but my husband grumbled so about what they
destroyed that I gave up raising them when he said if I
would do so he would give me his note to pay me as much
each fall as a drove of turkeys would bring. So I did not
try to raise any for several years. Then a neighbor
wanted to exchange some turkey eggs for some pure-
bred Buff Cochin eggs and I made the exchange to accom-

modate her, besides I wished
to raise a few to have for

broods when they had sat
only a few days and in some
instances only over night.
Just one hen out of this
number refused to own and
eare for her brood, the oth-
ers acted as if they had sat
the allotted time. I shall try
it again this season and I
feel confident that it will
work all right.

The best success I ever
had in raising poults was in
a small lot with very short
grass and a very large coop
or small building in which
they could roost. They were
kept shut in on rainy days
and in the mornings until the
dew dried off, until they were
four to five weeks old. Then
they were turned out to
range, being driven back to
their coops at night. For the
first few weeks I find clabber
cheese and green onion tops, pinhead oatmeal and millet
seed to be good food for them. A little bone meal and
small sharp grit also is put in their food once a day. I
find sand and old plaster is good for them and a load of
sand is hauled and placed where they can run to it. No
one has any idea what a lot of sand young poults will eat
until he undertakes to carry it to them as I did one
spring.

At this season we always have plenty of milk and so I
give them new milk every day, first boiling it to prevent
bowel trouble. When the little poults are just one week
old I pull out all the flight feathers in their wings. By
the time they grow out again the little birds have more
strength to stand the strain of growing them. Since fol-
lowing this plan I have had much better success in rais-
ing them.

I also go over them once a week and treat them for
lice, rubbing a very little lard on top of the head, in the
quill feathers on the wing and just below the vent. I lost
a great many turkeys before 1 knew that when lice and
mites were around the last named place they were most
fatal. Remember I said a very little lard, for smearing
the body with grease is sure death, as I learned by sad

Markings on the Wing of one of J. T. Thompson's Mammoth
Bronze Turkey Males

Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I raised five very nice ones
and killed two of them, but
decided I could not manage
any longer without turkeys
and so kept a tom and two
pullets to raise from the
next year. The next fall I
sold them all and bought six
pure-bred turkey hens and a
fine tom and went at it in
good earnest so that the
next year I had a fine drove.

Near the house we had
forty acres in clover and the
grasshoppers were so plenti-
ful that the turkeys seldom
went more than half way
across the field until they had
all they wanted. The result
was that when the clover
was cut for seed it was found
that only the part where the
turkeys had ranged was of
any account. The grass-
hoppers had ruined the other part. That convinced my
husband that turkeys were a good thing to have around,
in grasshopper season at least. It was wonderful how
those turkeys grew.

This sedson we had our clover for seed on another
part of the farm a mile or more from the house, and I
had a drove of over one hundred turkeys. The grasshop-
pers ate up all the clover seed. Every day my husband
would say, “I do wish those turkeys could get to that
clover field, for the grasshoppers are ruining it, and I
shall have to buy my clover seed.” And so he did and he
had to pay a good price for it. He said that after this
experience he would try to have his clover for seed near
the house. A prominent turkey breeder told me after-
wards that I could have trained the turkeys to go to the
field if I had begun to do it when they were first turned
out to range. In a ease of this kind again, I am going to
try it.

I hope this article may help some farmer’s wife,
whose husband, like mine did, does not think turkeys pay,
and who, like myself, has need of some loose change.
Perhaps the husband, like mine, will become convinced
that turkeys are the farmer’s bes friend.

SUCCESS WITH TURKEYS

Time and Method of Making a Start—Housing and Feeding Breeders—Nests and Food of Sitting Turkey,—Care of Poults—Lice—
Fattening Stock for Market—Preparing for the Show Room—Diseases of Turkeys

MRS. BETTIE GLOVER MACKEY

)RULY there is more interest taken today in
poultry culture than ever before ‘in the his-
tory of the American people. There seems tu
be an awakening to the fact, long proclaimed
by a few, that there is money in poultry.
The question. is seldom asked now, “Does

poultry pay?” The form has changed and the question
now is, “How can I manage my poultry to get the best
returns?”

It seems to me that the poultry business, and espe-
cially turkey culture, is
one belt which reaches

a place of security from vermin, and the only person who
went near them were those taking them food. This was
said to be the only way in which they could be raised,
for if they were kept near the house they would be sure
to become unhealthy and die. I well remember when I
thought this true. Of course, turkeys thus raised became
timid and ran away from every thing or person they saw.
They were generally fed until six or-eight weeks old and
then allowed to make their own living. Naturally of a
roving nature, they did not seek quarters near the house,

and I have seen them fly

to the highest trees

around the globe. Amer-
ica is sending fine turkeys
to foreign countries, and
the west is furnishing the
east with her best tur-
keys. I have shipped tur-
keys and eggs from ocean
to ocean, from Canada to
Mexico. The turkey is one
American bird that will
thrive in any land, will
grow on any soil, or in
any climate, and is con-
sidered a luxury by all,
from the king on his
throne to the humblest
laborer in his hut.

There are more
specialty fanciers than
ever before and in no de-
partment of poultry cul-
ture is there more inter-
est taken than in the tur-
key department. Of the
many varieties, the
Bronze is the leading one
now bred. It is hardy, easy to breed to Standard, has fine
style and is a beauty in color. It is of quick growth and
will attain immense weight if fed for flesh. The objection
is urged that the Bronze is more roving in disposition
than other breeds. This disposition to roam is not con-
fined to the Bronze alone, and the roaming turkey is
more healthy than the one which hangs around the back
door. Whether any other one will ever supersede the
Bronze in popularity remains to be seen. Of one thing
I feel assured, and that is that no breed now in existence
will ever rival them. What may be produced by a cross
we do not know.

While there is general admiration for the turkey,
and a desire to raise them, there seems to be, among
those who have never handled them, an impression that
turkeys are very hard to raise, very expensive to keep,
and difficult to manage as to disposition, that is, that
they are such a roving and wild nature it is almost im-
possible to keep them at home or tame them. This last
impression has grown out of the first. For years it was
the custom, when turkeys hatched on the farm, to take
them as far from the house as possible and put them in

Mrs. Mackey and Her Turkeys at Home

whenever they were ap-
proached. They would
tear down shocks of corn,
for how else were they to
get their living? No one
thought of feeding them.

WILD TURKEYS IN
VIRGINIA

I do not agree with
persons who think tur-
keys are hard to raise
and keep healthy. But
they cannot be raised in
a haphazard manner. Fol-
low nature as nearly as
possible. and the poults
will do better.

Wild turkeys abound
in warm, woodland coun-
tries. In the pinelands
of Virginia (my native
state) wild turkeys grow
in large flocks. This is a
mountainous region,
rocky, abounding in
springs of erystal water.
The pine trees are in all forests, and it is said that there
is more or less of the properties of turpentine in the water.
Even in rainy seasons the rocky hills are not very wet
and there are such large, sheltering trees the hen turkey
can protect her young in the hardest storms. The sea-
sons are mild and the pine trees are said to be a pre-
yentive of vermin. As turpentine is sure death to lice,
I think it reasonable that the pine will prevent them.
There are abundant seeds and wild food for the fowls,
with plenty of insects and grit.

Following this lesson in nature (where the wild tur-
key thrives and large droves of tames ones are raised)
I draw the conclusion that a hilly, rocky slope is a good
locality; that turkeys must be kept dry, have plenty of
pure water and fresh air, and at the same time not be
allowed to become chilled. Either they must have a
place where there is plenty of grit or it must be sup-
plied to them. I do not favor giving poults or chicks hot
feed. It is not the natural way and we cannot improve
on nature. I have succeeded in raising strong, vigorous,
gentle turkeys.

That it is nature to eannot be

their roam

64 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

denied, but this may be greatly overcome by the treat-
ment they receive.
BEGINNING WITH EGGS

Frequently I am asked which is cheaper to begin
stock. This question can be truthfully
answered—Hggs and
roundings largely decide which is cheaper.
the money buy a trio of turkeys; if not enough for a
trio, then a pair; but if you have not money enough to
I have made

with, eggs or

Cireumstaneces and = sur-

If you have

stock.

buy the turkeys, buy a sitting of eggs.
some very profitable investments in eggs

I have been asked if turkey eggs will hatch after
being shipped? IT reply that are
viehtly packed and fairly handled there is nothing in the
shipping to prevent a hatch. But there is a great deal
in the hen under which they are set. From exactly the
same lot of eggs set at the same time one hen will hatch
several hours before the other and will hatch every egg,
while the other hatch will be very poor. If you break
the eggs decide whether it is the fault of the egg—an
infertile egg will not rot, but will be as clear at the end
of the hatch as when set. Turkey eggs are usually bet-
ier fertilized than chicken eggs. ;

Follow these directions when setting shipped eggs:
Allow them to rest twenty-four hours after receiving
them; longer will not hurt if kept in a cool, dry place;
put them under a quiet hen in a quiet place and disturb
her as little as possible. If the weather is dry sprinkle
the eggs with warm (not hot) water a few days before
they are due to hatch; be sure they are clean. If an
ege should be broken the others must be washed with a
clean cloth in clear rain water; be sure there is no
grease about it, as grease will prevent the eggs from
hatching. 5

where eggs

BEGINNING WITH STOCK

I should adyise the beginner not to buy more than a
trio. The mistake of almost all beginners is that they
want to start with too many.

When writing for breeding stock state just what line
of business you are in. Do you wish to sell your stock
on the market or as breeders? Do you wish to raise
exhibition birds or simply good pure birds? Much of the
unpleasantness between customers and advertisers would
be obviated if each inquirer would make his wants clear.

I think from the 25th of November to the first of
February the best time to buy breeding stock. The
sooner it is purehased after the first of December, the
better, for at that time fanciers have plenty of good
birds, while later you may have to take what you can
get. Turkeys always pay, and while it may seem ex-
pensive to pay for a tom to change blood, it will pay in
the vigor of the young turkeys next year.

Do not hunt for the cheapest, but try for the best.
This is not always the heaviest in weight, but the best
bodied and the best in quality. Look out for healthy,
vigorous stock. Do not wait until the weather is too
cold to have the birds shipped without getting the roup.
You may think this strange advice when I tell you my
turkeys roost in trees all winter, but I have noticed that
if you take a turkey that has been used to the cold and
put it into a warm place and then expose it to the cold
it is liable to take cold. This is what is done when tur-
keys are shipped in bitter cold weather. They are put
to the cold after being
taken out and changed into a new home.
breeding stock early

into warm cars and exposed
Buy your
turn it and let. it get
aeclimated and used to the new home by breeding season.

and out

The most important part of turkey culture is to
start with strong breeding stock. I will not breed from
a fowl of any kind that is delicate. If I have weakly
chicks or poults hatched I am always glad when they
Yet it is true that a chicken or turkey may take
cold and have a sore eye or head for a short time and
not be materially injured as a breeder. But when the
disease becomes very bad or chronic, better kill the bird,
for the progeny from a bird with a chronic disease will
never be of any account.

IN-BREEDING AND LINE BREEDING

In selecting or buying breeding stock, do not buy
inbred turkeys. If you do you will lose by it. Possibly
you may get better markings, but can you afford to sac-
rifice the vigor of your flock for these?

I have been asked if I think it will do to breed from
the same tom two years. The question, I presume, has
reference to using a tom with his pullets. There may be
cireumstanees where this could be done to advantage.
In order to secure certain points it might be done, yet I
think not without loss in the number of turkeys raised.
Demand, when ordering a trio of turkeys, that the
breeder send male and female not related.

I adyoeate line breeding and practice it. But this
may be done very easily without close inbreeding. I do
it by mating on different farms every year. By look-
ing up every sale and. the yard from which the stock
was taken, I ayoid selling. related stock. If a pen or
trio is ordered, the tom is'taken from one yard and the
hens from another. These are booked, and if the same
customer orders again he gets new blood. To introduce
new blood, I buy eggs and use the toms in one yard, the
pullets in another, thus keeping my own line, but intro-
dueing new blood. If necessary, I import a tom at the
breeding season.

One who has common turkeys would like to know
whether it would be best to grade them up or start with
thoroughbreds. I think this is simply a matter of what
you wish to do with them. If only for market, the cross
with a full Bronze tom will increase the size and beauty
as well as the vigor of your flock. But why not get the
best and sell your toms as breeders to your neighbors?
If you have the full blood and are the first in your neigh-
Lorhood to get them, you can more than replace the cost
ir: the excess of the price over market turkeys.

Another asks, ‘How can I get larger turkeys? I
have the Dronze, but they do not get as large as some
I see advertised.”

Very often those advertised are never seen except in
the advertisement. But it is a fact that the size of tur-
keys may be inereased by breeding from not only good
individual birds, but from birds of good stock. The
ereatest reason for production of smaller turkeys is in
the breeding. To save the price of a tom, a breeder de-
cides to use one from his own flock, year after year. I
do not know that using the same tom two years would
cause the turkeys to degenerate in size, but the habit
of inbreeding is injurious.

Again and again comes the question, “Do you prefer
an old tom or a young tom?” I can truly say, yes and
no. It all depends on the conditions. JI let the pur-
chasers have their choice, but I always give to customers
preferring young toms those which were bred from
either yearling toms or yearling hens, and often both.
Where young toms are bred with yearling hens or pul-
lets of large bone and large ancestors, I see no difference
in the size of the young. Still in my own breeding yards
I use the old toms, for people want eggs from the largest
to be found.

die.

stock

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 47

VIGOR, SIZE AND FANCY POINTS

Several have written asking which I think is the
most important point to consider in breeding stock. My
reply is, first vigor, then size, and then fancy points.
The reason I consider strong, vigorous birds the first
point to be looked after is patent. If the parent stock is
not strong, the young will not be so. Mind, I do not
say weight, but size. Turkeys that are not large framed
birds may weigh very heayy, especially young stock, but
after they are fully matured the little boned birds will
uot weigh so well.

Why do I say I consider size first? Simply because
the Standard requires weight and cuts harder for lack
of weight than for anything else, and if we have to be
governed by the Standard we must come to consider size
in breeding stock. If you were to ask my personal
preference, I might give a different reply. The fancier
must consider size in order to win in the show room,
and then the turkeys are “cut all to pieces” on weight
which they lose in shipping. Again, the fancier must
consider size because ten customers require large tur-
keys where one requires faney points. But the fancier
must combine the size and faney points and this takes
study in mating. It is not the rule that the largest tur-
keys in the flock score the highest, be they ever so well
bred.

I will never believe that the demand for immense
weights required by the Standard and turkey raisers is
wise. I have lost the heaviest turkeys I ever owned
simply from being over fat, and I do not feed very much
for flesh, either. It is not unusual for me to lose sales
because I cannot quote as heavy weights as are de-
manded, yet I have as large turkeys as any fancier. I[
know over-fat stock is not good for breeding purposes,
and so does every one who has given the subject any
careful attention, yet a turkey must weigh so many
pounds regardless of consequences. If the would-be
purehaser would be satisfied with Standard weights then
there would be some reason in the demands, but I have
often received inquiries in November for young toms
weighing from_ thirty pounds up to sixty, “sixty pre-
ferred.” Now everybody with common sense knows, or
should be taught, that in this climate it is almost im-
possible to make a young tom weigh thirty pounds in
November or even December, and that to do so is an
injury to breeding qualities. From January to March
young toms may weigh from twenty-eight to thirty-two
pounds without any special effort at fattening them. I
prefer a pullet from sixteen to eighteen pounds rather
than one heavier, and I know that I voice the sentiments
of some of the best fanciers in the United States. The
over large hen does not lay so many eggs, nor are those
she does lay so fertile.

It will not be many years before this demand for
excessive weights will be greatly modified. Market poul-
trymen say our Bronze turkeys are too large for their
trade, and the market poultrymen must control the tur-
key trade. If we continue to increase the size of the
3ronze, some other breed will take its place, and when
this happens the Bronze turkey fancier who has tried to
excel all others by breeding the heaviest weights will
see this error.

I hope I will not be considered as advocating small
turkeys, for I am not, and I could eall hundreds to tes-
tify that I stand for large boned turkeys. The weights
of mine as adults have not been excelled in the west,
but what I-do plead against is the demand for the pound
of flesh, which is far easier to put on the short legged,
small boned turkey, than on the tall, majestic fellow,

that will, as a yearling, weigh from thirty-five to forty
pounds. The extremely heavy weights are fit only for
the show room and the fancier’s yard, while the medium
sized bird is the better turkey for all purposes. I do not
like to breed from excessively large turkeys, neither
does any other fancier, and yet the fancier has created
the demand for these birds by advertising excessive
weights to catch trade, and the farmer has caught the
spirit, and without really knowing what is best, demands
what he sees advertised.

If I were a farmer raising market poultry I would
want turkey pullets weighing from fifteen to seventeen
pounds, good large-boned birds, not fat, and young toms
weighing from twenty-four to twenty-eight pounds, or
yearlings from thirty to thirty-five. I would hatch my
turkeys early and in the fall they would be as good
market turkeys as anybody would want. I would keep
the pure Bronze turkeys, for nothing has ever equalled
them. I would not do as some have done—inbreed until
1 decreased both vigor and size of my birds, nor would
I save the late small, runty turkeys to breed from. I
would save nice pullets and yearling hens and buy a
tom from some fancier every year; or if I were short of
money I might keep one two years, though I prefer
changing stock every year. One tom is sufficient for
twelve hens, and more may be used with perfect safety.
I would keep more hens than most farmers’ wives do,
and instead of breaking them up from sitting, I would
let them sit on their own eggs, or if preferred, I would
set the eggs part under the domestic hen, giving all the
young to the turkey hen, and if I did not care to keep
over so many hens I would sell the surplus after they
had laid the early eggs. I raise late turkeys, but if I
were not a poultry fancier, and were raising market
poultry, I should not raise late turkeys; early ones are
much more profitable, they are much hardier during the
summer, and are not so apt to be affected with the dis-
ease which takes off hundreds of young turkeys in the
fall. a,

The farmer should learn that he needs good, strong,
large-boned, vigorous breeding stock, such as will take
on flesh when he wishes to market them. Nobody wants
a poor turkey to eat and if the ten-pound one is fat and
brings more by the pound than the twenty pound one
it still pays to have the twenty-pound one, but when the
marketman says he can scarcely use the forty-pound
ones at any price because only hotels and large
restaurants want them, the farmer has no need for forty-
pound young turkeys, as some demand.

BREEDING FANCY TURKEYS

As to shape of tom and hens to breed from—I select
large head and feet, long body, long neck, held well:up,
und a broad back and breast, with long shanks. A short
turkey will fatten earlier and look larger when not fully
matured than the rangy one, but the latter will make
the weight at maturity much heavier, and will produce
larger turkeys. I select hens the same way, yet if they
are specially well marked and good in weight I would
not discard them if not quite as tall as I like them to
be when pullets. [I am sometimes disappointed in pul-
lets, but cannot remember that I ever have been in a
tom—pullets sometimes are no larger at two than at one
year old. They often stop growing at one year, while a
tom never does. Other pullets grow until they are two
and three years old.

My method of mating is simply this: Select the very
best tom possible, and in females do not diseard a very
fine marked one because it is not quite as large as de-
sired. By this I do not mean that I breed from smali

48 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

Some of the Fine Ones Raised on a Missouri Farm

A Flock of Turkeys belonging to Miss Addie Brown

boned females. There are some larger than others in all
flocks of the same age, and I should not advise the use
in the breeding pen of an undersized female, or a runt.
Nor should I discard from my breeding yard an extra
large female because she is not quite up in fancy points
for the reason that the tom will overcome to some ex-
tent the defects. The well marked female will produce
large stock from the mating with a large tom, and the
one not so well marked will produce evenly marked
young from the mating with a well marked tom. Yet
these must be exceptional cases, for it will not do for a
fancier to have many females in his breeding yard that
are not well marked and not very large. By undersized,
we mean pullets, for if at two years old a hen is not of
average size I should discard her unless there were some
special point I wanted to impress on my flock. I think
young turkeys get size from the maternal side, even
more than from the paternal. Never should a fancier
use a late, small-boned tom, or a poorly marked one. As
a rule toms get very thin in summer if mated with hens,
and they do not eat a great deal until cold weather. I
have known a tom to weigh twenty-six pounds in No-
vember and thirty-five by January. Turkeys will gain
two pounds a week in cold weather, unless there is snow
on the ground, then they will stay on the roost and will
not eat.

I once had a red legged turkey pullet. She was not
large when young, but her legs were almost too deeply
colored to be called pink. I bred from her as long as
she lived, or, I should say, until she was stolen. I could
tell the turkeys from her eggs. They were a good size
and invariably had pink legs when young, though not
as deeply colored as were hers. From this hen I got
that line of breeding which gives in some of my yards
pink legs in young stock. I can tell it wherever I find it.
But this is the only female I ever kept that was under-
size after she was a pullet. The rule is that the shanks
are dark when young. Some of the best hens in size have
dark shanks always, while others get very bright pink—
I prefer the pink legs, other things being equal. But I

am candid when I say that I make size and not weight
the first consideration in breeding stock.

Never breed from a turkey with a natural deformity.
1 once bought a sitting of eggs from one of the foremost
fanciers I know. The only pullet raised had a crooked
toe, but she was so fine I felt I could breed from her.
Every year there would be a lot of turkeys. with crooked
toes, and these were the very best otherwise. It took
several years to get entirely rid of crooked toes.

While there are fewer culls among turkeys than
there are among chickens, it is also true that under the
present Standard some of the very best breeding birds
are not first-class exhibition turkeys. For instance, all
turkey raisers know that there is a tendency to brown
edging on tail coverts in some specimens, and it is a
notable fact that these specimens are usually very
strong in wing barring and that they are decidedly
larger boned than those which possess the Standard gray
and white edging. Now such a bird cannot be sold for
exhibition, but if one is raising turkeys for market and
selling toms to other market breeders, what better
breeder would he want than this same brown tailed tur-
key, for as the market poultryman pays for pounds, it
is the tom with size that one raising for market must
get. Again, one may be poor in wing for exhibition and
fine as a breeder. Yet I am sure that at least ninety per
cent of the best bred Bronze turkeys can be put on ex-
hibition when fully up in weight, and whether they win
a prize or not they do credit to the owner. The main
thing in breeding is to select healthy, vigorous breeding
stock of good size and shape, with the very best mark-
ings possible. Don’t expect perfection, but try to attain
as near it as possible. Patience, perseverance and knowl-
edge will bring success.

CARE OF BREEDING STOCK—EGGS
When once you have your stock, be sure that you get
your turkey eggs. To do this I keep my turkeys penned.

I would prefer letting turkeys run at large if I could do
so with much convenience to myself. But to follow

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

from twenty-five to thirty turkeys to their nests is too
great an undertaking for me, and I keep them in a
large pen until after they have laid.. Each afternoon
about 4 o’clock I turn them out in an orchard of blue
grass. After a few days they will come to the gate
and call to get out. If I forget, they do not; but they
always go back to the pen to roost. I find grass very
essential both to the fertility of the eggs and to increase
the number, and also to keep the turkeys healthy. If L
were so situated that I could not let them out to
eat grass, I would feed wheat bran with flowers of sul-
phur in it every other day in small quantities. There
must be sulphur to insure fertility, but the grass sup-
plies it. Plenty of lime, gravel and grass, with wheat
twice a day, is all turkeys need. If too closely confined
turkeys will not thrive and I believe that the freer the
range the more eggs the turkey will lay, but when they
lay where you cannot find the nest and you lose both
hen and eggs, as I have often done, you will prefer to
get the eggs they do lay in the pen.

My turkey house is sixteen feet long, eight feet wide
and has two partitions, making three rooms in it. It is
made of barn boarding sixteen inches wide. ‘Two of
these boards are put together at the bottom, but as they
go up cracks are left so that the air can pass through;
however, they are too close for animals to get through.
It is one-half foot high in front and three feet in the
back and is set out in the orchard where the poults will
have a seven acre range of their own. This turkey shed
has proved a success, and my young turkeys have seldom
failed to come up at night. I think the large, airy roost-
ing place provided has had something to do with their
coming up, for in small roosting places I was always
compelled to drive them in, while all I do now is to turn
them into the pen and they go to roost themselves.

The fence is the best I have ever used. It is made
of straight farm fence wire, with stays and locks. The
wires are only three inches apart at the bottom, and
the distance apart is increased as they get higher.

I do not like to cut the wings of large
turkeys for they often get up in trees and

49

be just as vigorous. We do not claim they lay quite as
many eggs, but we get more of them.

My experience has been equally divided between a
farm and a small place for raising turkeys. I have lived
seven years where my turkeys had unlimited range and
seven years on an eight-acre place. I give the farm the
preference after the turkeys are grown. Until they are
six or seven weeks old they do as well on a small place,
but from that time until they are grown the larger the
range the better for the growth of the young turkeys,
and yet the finest turkeys I have ever raised were
raised on the small place; but this is not an argument in
favor of it, for they could have been raised with much
less labor and expense on a larger one.

HOW MANY HENS TO A TOM?

I make twelve hens the number for one tom, as a
rule, but once I kept twenty hens with a tom that was:
two years old in May or June, and never had eggs hatch
better. The question of how to manage when more than
one tom is desired in the same yard, is a troublesome
one. The most satisfactory way in which I have man-
aged it is to let only one tom in the yard at a time. Let
one stay in the yard several days, keeping the other
where he cannot be seen or see the turkeys in the yard.
Then change, putting the one in the yard in confinement
and letting the other out. Some advocate changing
toms every day where changing is practiced at all, but I
prefer letting each tom stay in the yard several days at
a time. Where more than twenty hens are kept, two
toms should be used as above directed if all the hens are
kept in the same pen. After the hens begin laying one
tom may be disposed of if so desired. After the first
clutch of eggs js laid I find that all the hens never lay at
the same time during the season. Some are sitting, some
stop laying and begin again, and some carry turkeys, so
that one tom is sufficient after the first fertilization.
But it is always safe to have the second one at command
if one should die.

when they fly down they hurt themselves.
My show birds are often spoiled by cutting
the wings. They do not always grow out in
time for the show. I do not cut the wings of
the toms because they will stay with the
hens.

The natural instinct of the turkey is to
roost high and in ordinary weather I think it
is best for them to be out of doors. My ex-
perience is that the first turkey to get droopy
is one roosting low in the same place night
after night, unless the dreppings are either
removed frequently or the impurities counter-
acted by frequent applications of either air
slaked or quick lime.

I am often asked if one living on a small
place can he successful with turkeys. If by
small place is meant a town lot, certainly
not. If an eight, ten or twenty acre place is
meant, you may be successful with a limited
number; and if you trespass on your neigh-
bors and they allow it, you may be success-

ful with a larger number. It is no longer a
question. whether turkeys can’ be kept on _ small
space successfully. for so many overworked women

are penning the birds and so getting eggs with much
less labor, proving that with proper care the stock will

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

Notice the fine, white edging on the spread tail of the tom in the center of the

group. Miss Addie Brown’s Bronze Turkeys.

How long can a tom be used, or when is he too old
for service? I do not know. 1 use them two years and
have sold yearlings that were kept three years. I never
go to extremes in mating, that is, do not keep too old
or too young breeding stock.

50 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

FEEDING THE BREEDING STOCK
The breeding stock should never be excessively fat.
All stock raisers will agree with this assertion. There
is nothing more productive of soft shelled and infertile
egos than over-fat hens and toms.

“What to feed for the production of eggs has been
a question. I confess that I have lost faith in hot
siashes for either chickens or turkeys, and I never feed
hot food to either young or old. Neither do I give hot
I was first foreed to adopt the cold feed
to prepare a

drinking water.
from sickness. I could
mash that did not make it sloppy and I soon learned
whole grain was far more healthful than sloppy food.
Tf turkeys have free range during laying season they eat
very little that you feed them. Keep grit and lime on
hand in abundance and sow wheat for them. If it is laid
in a pile they often leave it, but if scattered broadcast
Turkeys in their normal condi-

not get anyone

they will pick all day.
dion do not sit around during laying season; they are
active and want to roam and pick as they go. I often
scatter the food after they go to roost, as they are
early risers and begin picking before I haye time to
give them their breakfast. One thing you may depend
upon and that is, to have turkeys lay well, and lay fertile
egos, they must have an egg producing diet in some way.
lf they run at large they will get this without any
trouble to the owner, but if they are confined it must
be given them. One year I fed soaked oats with excel-
Jent results, but I would not give oats without soaking
them. I mix shipstuff with them so they are not so wet.
Wet food sours in the crop.

When should turkeys begin to lay?
yards is, about the middle to the last of March. I
onee had turkeys lay the last of February. My mother
told me the “old-fashioned turkeys’—by that she meant
the common ones—laid earlier than the Bronze. I think
the climate may influence the habit of earlier or later
laying. In a southern climate they lay earlier than in
the northern.

If you want many eges, you must breed from year-
ling hens and pullets. Old hens do not lay as many eggs,
and extra large ones do not lay as many eggs as smaller
ones. A tall turkey will lay more eggs than a short
Why? I do not know. I think the last eggs laid
by the hen before sitting sometimes produce poults with
less vitality than the others.

Will the eggs from yearling turkey hens hatch as
well as those from pullets? I think they will, the great-
est danger of infertility lying in getting them over-fat.
They must be kept vigorous and healthy, but do not
overfeed in order to get weight.

I am often asked how many eggs a turkey hen will
lay. One of mine last year laid eighty, which is the
largest number I ever could voueh for. Of course she
was not allowed to sit.

One asks, “Do you think July too late to hatch tur-
keys?”

The rule in my

one.

We have two toms which weighed in March twenty-

eight pounds without having been fattened; they were -

hatched July 3.

July and August hatched turkeys of large vigorous
stock make good breeding birds the first year and excel-
lent ones the second year, but unless searce of breeding
stock we usually farm out the late hatches the first year,
and put them in our breeding yards the second. From
these late hatches we give our turkey dinners during the
winter.

I dispensed with the barrels this year, having only
one. I put straw in the hollows and covered them over

with brush, allowing the turkeys to think they were
stealing their nests. From twenty-six hens I got seven-
teen eggs per day, showing that confining the hens as I
do does not materially lessen the egg yield. When the
ego's are removed as they are laid, and I think it should
be done eyery day, either nest egg gourds, china nest
eges or real eges should be put in the nest. Few tur-
keys will continue to lay in a nest after all the eggs are
T usually put three or four infertile
egos in the nest as soon as I find a turkey has laid in
it. This often saves much trouble, and yet with all
my care every year Llose both hens and eggs, for either a
rain washes out a hole, a wind blows down the fence or
they fly out after their wings grow out and steal nests.

removed from it.

CARE OF SITTING HENS—EGGS—NESTS

How many eggs will a turkey hen lay before she
sits? Some lay more than others, but I never had a hen
that laid more than fifteen or sixteen eggs before she
wanted to sit and I have many more that lay only twelve
than I have that lay fifteen. A turkey hen may easily
be broken from sitting if she is taken in time, and by
this means I often get twenty to thirty eggs before I
allow a hen to sit. A hen will lay in ten days after she
is stopped from sitting and some times in shorter time.

If you do not wish to make the nest as suggested
above, then use nota flour or lime barrel, but a salt
barrel. I turn the barrel down on the side, putting it
under a tree or in a shady place. The turkey will
scratch the nest up for the first few days, but the barrel
is a temptation she cannot resist and she will lay in it.
1 always put down several barrels, though I find the tur-
keys all like to lay in the same one.

If the hen is thoroughly dusted with a good insect
powder when set, and the top outside of the barrel
lightly painted with a good lice killer, she will be free
from lice when the hatch comes off. Be sure in using this
that you do not put it where it will touch the eggs or
feathers of sitting hens. If you do you will in all prob-
ability fail to get a good hatch.

I set from seventeen to nineteen—never more. If
the hen is large and the nest well made, nineteen eggs
may be put under her safely.

Usually I have a turkey and domestic hen hateh the
same time and give all the turkeys to the turkey hen. 1
have not been as successful with domestie as with turkey
hens until this season. IL know two other breeders who
raise turkeys altogether with domestic hens, and they
are yery successful indeed. As a rule, however, the tur-
key hen is the better mother, especially after the poults
are seven weeks old, for other hens wean them too early.
1 think a very good plan is to let both chicken and tur-
key hens have young turkeys the same age, and when
the chicken hens wean those under their charge the tur-
keys will let them follow them and care for them all.

Do not set your turkeys where there will be anything
to disturb them. When they hatch be careful to
handle them very gently. If I find I have one cross
turkey about to hatch, and | have a gentle, kind one not
due to hatch, I exchange the eggs and let the gentle
turkey hatch the brood. I find to prolong the period of
incubation tones the refractory disposition and often a
turkey that will be fussy at the end of four weeks, will
be gentle at the expiration of five.

Few people, comparatively speaking, know how to
set a turkey or domestic hen, or how to eatch either a
turkey or chicken. When you find your turkey broody,
let her alone until night. Have your nest prepared in
some quiet place where she will be undisturbed by other

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 51

fowls. Make the nest with care. I like the grass nest
better than anything else, but as I do not have a bounti-
ful supply of this I use wheat straw. I do not like hay
nests at all. Make them very much the shape, but not
so deep, as a wash bowl. If too deep the eggs will roll
over each other and either be broken or they will not
be kept of an even temperature during incubation. Make
a full, thick nest, for four weeks’ sitting will mash the
straw down very much. Put two or three hen eggs, as
they are not so valuable as turkey eggs, in the nest. At
night go to the hen very quietly and put both -hands
under her, taking her firmly by the leg, close to the
body and Jift her straight up. Don’t drag her out of the
uest. Put her head under your arm gently, talking to
her all the time. Place her on the new nest very gently
and set a blind firmly in front of it. The next morning
you may peep in. It will be an exceptional case if she is
not sitting as well as she did on her old nest. I look at
her again about roosting time. If I find her restless I
Jet her off. If she is kept on the nest in this restless,
nervous state, she will break the eggs and likely will not
sit at all. She will probably try to get to her former
nest, but as dark approaches she will go to the new one;
or if she does not allow her to go to the old one and re-
move her as before. I have often had to do this several
times with one hen. As a rule, however, the second time
is enough. You may say that it is a great deal of
trouble. I do not call it trouble. It is work, and I learned
very early in life that to be successful in anything re-
quired patience and work.

After the hen has fully decided to accept the nest

‘given her then put the turkey eggs under her. So many
people waste by haste. What difference will two, three
or four days make in the age of the poults? But what

‘a calamity to have a sitting of turkey eggs spoiled by a
restless hen. E

T usually give my turkeys the opportunity of getting
off the nest every day. I find this much more satisfac-
tory than keeping them so long without allowing them
the chance to get off. Often they do not come off for
several days, and I had one hen that never came off in
four weeks except as 7 took her off the nest. I then
had to put the blind up in front of the nest and force her
to stay off long enough to eat. I thought that I cer-
tainly would have a good hatch from this hen, but I had
only ten poults from seventeen fertile eggs. She had
smothered the turkeys by sitting so close. Turkey eggs
hateh better than chicken eggs, but they require more
moisture.

if the weather is wet I do not moisten the eggs, but
if dry I sprinkle them the last week. When the eggs
have been setting until within three or four days of the
time to hatch, put them in clean, warm water—100 de-
grees is about right, or if it goes to 104 it will not hurt.
All the eggs which have live poults in them will move
very perceptibly. Those which sink to the bottom have
dead poults, and those which float without any jerky mo-
tion are spoiled or infertile. However, the infertile eggs
usually sink.

TURKEY EGGS IN INCUBATORS

Will turkey eggs hatch in an incubator? They cer-
tainly will. I once told a lady that from fourteen turkey
eges in an incubator I got fourteen turkeys. She in all
seriousness replied that “a hen would do as well as
that.” Tf you expect more than one turkey from an
egg an incubator will likely disappoint you. I do not
hateh turkey eggs in an incubator because I do not wish
to raise the young in brooders; but if an ege gets broken

I put it in an ineubator. Last season the finest young
turkey [ had hatched was from an egg with quite a large
piece of shell broken off of the large end and I cut a
piece of cotton cloth just a little larger than the hole
and made a flour paste, just touched: the edges of the
cotton with it and placing it over the cavity, put the egg
in an incubator and it hatched in due time. The reason
1 used cloth was—it is nearer the texture of the shell.
Paper is not porous enough. Flour paste is better than
glue; use only just enough to make the cloth adhere to
the e With a clean, damp cloth I wiped off all sur-
plus paste after the cloth was put on the egg. This
would not have hatched under a hen, as she would have
broken the egg.

o
£-

Usually I do not care
after the cold spell in May.

to haye turkeys hateh until

But it is all right earlier if
Yet if they come out any time in
the weight for the December and
January shows. This is one advantage southern breeders
haye over western. We ship turkey eggs south as soon
as the turkeys begin to lay. When one has a large num-
ber of early hatched turkeys I would not advise the
raising of late ones unless they can be entirely separated
from other fowls of every kind. But if for any reason
you have failed to have early hatched ones, hateh them
late. They make fine table fowls.

the weather is warm.
May they will get

Years ago I bought a sitting of eggs from a prom-
inent turkey fancier. I was sorely disappointed when 1
opened them as [ had never seen such small turkey eggs.
1 made another order to another fancier and never saw
larger eggs than I received. The turkeys hatched from
the small eggs grew to be larger at maturity, though of
course they were not so large when hatched.

One tom from the small eggs weighed forty-four
pounds at two years old and one hen twenty-four. Those
from the large eggs never got so large, though they were
fine turkeys. In speaking of this to an old lady and my
surprise at results, she replied: “I don’t see why you
should be surprised. Nature does not vary much, whether
in lower animals, the feathered tribe or the human
family. All depends on the blood.” I believe the old
lady was right. I prefer medium sized eggs, both in tur-
keys and chickens. I find the very large eggs hatch
large young, but they are not generally as well formed
and often are weak legged and while medium sized ones
hatch smaller young they seem more vigorous and grow
much faster. Of course there are eggs that are small to
deformity—so are there those that are large to deform-
ity. Often the last egg laid before a hen goes to sitting
will be so small it will have no yolk at all. It is also
true that the largest eggs are not always laid by the
largest hens, though as a rule pullets lay smaller eggs
than hens.

Many do not know the difference between an in-
fertile and a rotten ege. A rotten ege is never clear and
an infertile egg is always clear at hatching time and
does not have an offensive odor. Eggs may rot from age
or because they are not sufficiently fertilized and the
germ dies before maturing, and they may rot under
hens which sit well, but do not have sufficient body heat
to hatch them. Again they may be set where there is
too much dampness, which causes them to rot.

We are often asked if fanciers do not sell eggs too
high. We think not, for several reasons. First, cus-
tomers often write that from five dollars’ worth of ege's
they sell ten dollars’ worth of turkeys and have a good
breeding pen left. Second, fanciers are at great expense
to hold stock enough to supply egg orders, and run much
vish in holding over so turkeys

many which could

52 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

be sold in the spring. Third, the customers build their
reputations on the fancier’s work, and certainly this is
worth something. You are not simply buying eggs from
the fancier, but you are buying the experience of years.

CARE OF POULTS—FEEDING—LICE

I would by all means prefer a turkey hen to carry
the turkeys. The natural mother is the turkey hen. She
seems to understand turkey nature better than the do-
mestic hen. There is only one advantage gained by
letting the domestic hen carry the poults; they do not
wander so far from home, though I think this is counter-
acted by the disposition of the domestic hen to wean
them when they need a mother’s care as much as when
first hatched. And the turkey hen never begins to
wander so far until the poults are as old as they are
when domestic hens wean them. I find that it is the
poults which lead the mothers away; they go and the
mother follows.

It is a mistake to give a turkey so many poults; of
course she may raise them all, but the chances are much
better for her to raise all of twenty than they are for
her to raise thirty to thirty-five.

When the poults hatch be careful in your manage-
ment of both the young and the hen. I try to have the
nest fastened very securely so that the little ones cannot
get out, for they will get out of the nest and get chilled.
Sometimes they hatch a day ahead of time. I look in the
nest the night of the twenty-seventh day and if there are
any poults I take out the shells and if there are only
three or four poults I leave them in the nest; if there
are six or eight I take them out and keep them in a
flannel cloth in a basket in the house, as so many left in
the nest will cause the hen to sit off the eggs in a hover-
ing position. If you take out only a very few they may
get chilled. In the morning I go again and remove
the dry poults and egg shells. By night she will be done
hatching, but as some of the poults are weak I just put
a few of them in the nest with her so she will not refuse
to take them in the morning. In the morning I have
a quiet place ready for her and I give them to her.

I think I have at last gotten the ideal turkey coop. I
found that the large coops with divisions in them were
all right when the poults were very small, but when
from five weeks old to the time of going on roosts, they
were too crowded in the division ecoops. I now have
coops four feet square, with height of back four feet and
height of front five feet. The sides are of screen wire,
the back and front of plank, with a tight board roof.
These are set in the orchard and are moved to a fresh
grass plot every week when the poults are very small,
and every two or three days as they grow older. I have
board roosts put in them as the poults want to go on
roosts, and let them roost in these coops until all danger
of drowning from heavy rains is past. Turkeys must
have plenty of air. They cannot stand confinement in
close coops. These I now have are, so far as air is con-
cerned, as good as if they sat out, and they are safe
from “‘varmints.”

FEED FOR POULTS

I have tried almost every plan I ever heard of and
have finally settled down into one way of feeding. I
believe the nearer we imitate nature the more success-
ful we will be in poultry culture. I feed very little of
anything to poults, especially very little bread.

I never feed my poults until they are from twenty-
four to thirty-six hours old. Then I put them out in a
grass pasture in a large, roomy coop, with grass runs
attached. The first feed I give is milk curd with onion

tops and tongue or pepper grass cut very fine, seasoned
with black pepper. I give this morning, noon and night.
As they grow older I add other things to the food
Table scraps are splendid for them. If I have infertile
incubator eggs later, experience teaches me the raw egg
broken in the food from the first is good food, better
than hard boiled eggs. I never use a fresh egg, simply
because I do not consider it at all necessary. I give milk
instead of drinking water when it is plentiful. Milk has
all the elements of food for the human or poultry race,
hence I feed all I can spare to my poultry. Heat the
milk, but do not boil.

I keep grit constantly before them. Wheat is one of
the finest of foods for young turkeys, but it must be pure
wheat, not cheat. Cracked corn is splendid when they
are older. My rule has been to mix grains of wheat in
the food from the first, so that when they are old
enough to change from curd to grain it will not be hard
to change foods.

I have used corn chops and ship stuff, equal parts,
put in the stove and made very hot, then pour cold water
over it and have found it very good. Still I believe 1
must have some wheat mixed in. Lime should be kept
where they can get it at will, but it should be lime that
has been slaked a long time. I believe fresh lime will
kill old and young turkeys.

As soon as they are old enough to eat whole corn
give it to them, for nothing makes them grow faster
and gets them ready for the show room quicker.

It is very hard to get a young turkey to change its
habits of eating. If you commence feeding them in a
plate it is hard to change to a pan or on the ground.
The same holds true of the diet. Whatever they learn to
eat at first is what they want until they are grown. If
the food could be scattered and the turkeys allowed to
hunt for it, it would be much better for them.

The great trouble is not so much what to feed as
what not to feed. Turkeys should not be overfed; this
is the mistake made by so many amateurs. They think
the more they feed the faster the little ones will grow.
If it were possible to raise the turkeys and keep them
from the clutches of ‘“varmints” (there is nothing more
expensive), the very best way to raise them would be
to give them to the hen and let her take care of them
during the day and feed them just a little in the evening
to keep them gentle and make them come home.

Do not allow your poults to become wild. If when
you go to feed them you will call them and talk to them,
they will learn to come to you anywhere. My turkeys
and my Leghorns are gentle, and will come to me when-
ever they hear my voice. If possible, let none but a
gentle hen carry young turkeys. A mild mother makes
mild turkeys. “Like mother, like daughter” is certainly
true of turkeys.

I find that cracked wheat put into the stove and
browned as we used to brown our coffee, with just

enough cold water or sweet milk poured over it when

taken out of the oven to dampen it thoroughly, makes a
very fine food for poults. I grind the wheat in a coffee
mill. This I mix with milk curd and fine chopped onions.

Until I have fully tested it I will not give my opin-
ion in favor of doubtful foods, and I confess I was afraid
to give the corn chops used as chicken food, though I
believed it would be good if fed judiciously. One season
I began when the poults were four weeks old giving corn
chops at night. I just dampened with cold water and
I never saw turkeys thrive better in my life. Be sure
you do not get that ground with the cob. It is not
fit to feed either to chickens or poults.

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 53

IT used blood meal one season and liked it very much.
T think in order to give it I shall feed soft food at least
once per week during the year. I am sure that for grow-
ing poults and chicks it is very fine. It seems to be of
great benefit to them while feathering.

After turkeys are ten weeks old all that is necessary
on a large grain farm is to see that they are protected
at night. They will glean their own living from the
fields, and while the “gude man’? may complain, yet if
he will only watch them closely he will be convinced
they are a benefit to his crop instead of an injury. Last
year the turkeys saved the corn, but the chinch-bug
killed the turkeys in many localities. Turn a flock of
young turkeys when from two or three months old or
even five or six weeks old in your potatoes! and cabbage;
they will not hurt them, but will keep them free from
bugs. Yet there is one kind of potato bug they seldom
pick; if they .do it kills them. But the cabbage worm
does them no harm and they do not when young hurt
the cabbage. They clean the corn of grasshoppers and
glean after harvest in the wheat fields what everything
else has overlooked.

Poults will not bear handling. Mine are very gentle
and eat out of my hands, still I never handle them in my
hands if I can avoid it. It will not do to try to raise
young turkeys in the same yard with other fowls. They
are so tender that chickens run over them. One snap
from the bill of a domestic hen will kill a very young
turkey.

What do you do with your little turkeys during a
cold or wet spell? 1

We shut them up in the house they roost: in and let
them stay there if it is very wet or cold, but if not very
cold we let them out on our front lawn. The grass is
never very high, and as a rule the hen will hover them
and keep them better than in a crowded spot. Keep little
turkeys dry and warm, for if they once get wet or
chilled they seldom recover. Some hens are more rest-
less than others. If possible to avoid it never let a rest-
less hen foster turkeys; however, one good feature about
them is that they are generally of that spiteful class
that will protect their little ones.

It does not hurt them to turn them out soon after
a hard rain if the sun comes out warm and bright, but
if it is cold and cloudy they will die from exposure and
being chilled.

But if at any time they should be caught out and
some seem dead when found, make a fire and warm and
rub them well. Often I have brought both chicks and
poults to life that seemed perfectly dead. Keep them
near the fire, but do not let them get too hot, until they
are entirely dry. Give each of them a cracked grain of
black, or a seed of red pepper. This warms them and
stimulates them.

Do not put the young turkeys out near ant holes,
as the ants if swallowed sting the crop and kill the fowl,
and often the ants sting the poults on the body and kill
them.

Poults are greatly benefitted by having their wings
and tails cut. I find they get about so much better, and
if a rain comes up they do not seem to get as wet, or if
they do they dry so much faster. It takes so much
strength to support the long wing and tail feathers that
if they are kept short until the turkeys are two months
old they will be much stronger than if the wings and
tail are left to grow without cutting. I cut the flight
feathers about half, and the tail about the same.

There is very little expense attached to rearing tur-

keys, but as a rule there is a great deal of work until
they are ten weeks old.

Summing up the requisites for success in raising
poults may be done in the following simple words:

First, have vigorous parent stock, not over fat.
Take care that the poults are not chilled the first two
or three weeks of their lives. Be careful not to over-
feed the poults. They require very little food for three
weeks; after that time feed all they will eat three times
a day until they are ready for market. If, however, you
have grain fields for range they will eat very little of
your food after they are six weeks old until late in the
season. Be sure to keep them free from vermin. It is
almost impossible to cure a droopy poult. If one is
droopy, try to find the cause and remove it before the
entire flock becomes afflicted. Young turkeys will do
better with no human attention than with too much.

FIGHTING LICE ON POULTS AND ADULTS

TI find that whitewashing the house in which my
fowls are kept and keeping it thoroughly clean has been
a sure preventative of vermin on my young turkeys.

Use tobacco stems and tobacco dust as follows:
Smoke the roosting places with the stems and sprinkle
the floors with the dust. If the coop in which the hen
is put with the poults is whitewashed inside and outside
before she is put in, she will not become lousy.

I swept the roosting coop every day and dusted it
once a week with air-slaked lime. Lime must be dusted
sparingly, for if too much is used it will make the feet
sore.

When the nest has been well prepared and dusted
there are seldom any lice, on the little ones when
hatched. But I dust the hen with Persian insect powder
when I take her from the nest, being very careful to
shake the dust well out so that it will not get into the
eyes of the little ones, as it may make them blind.

The turkey louse is about the color of the poult and
is very hard to find by one not experienced in the art
of hunting them. They are between the quill (flight)
feathers and are often in solid knots, and at first glance
will not be discovered, as they do not move until dis-
turbed. A little clear lard oil will kill them, but it must
be very carefully used. I prefer using it at night. Dust
the hen well with insect powder when you turn her out
in the morning. I know most persons say at night, but
I have found the powder gets into the eyes of the poults.

One thing is certain and that is that poults must be
kept free from lice and mites. Then it is equally cer-
tain that if not careful in the use of remedies for these
the poults may be killed. A little pure lard on the head,
around vent, and on the wings, where the flight feathers
come out, may be used to advantage, but too much is
absolutely fatal. I would not advise the use of sulphur
in lard to grease the heads. The lard is sufficient and
the sulphur takes away proper use of legs; it is also
liable to cause blindness. Use clear lard or thick cream
Liquid lice killer is equally dangerous if not carefully
used. It may be put on the outside of the coops or a
little on inside after they are a few weeks old, provided
it is done in the morning and the coops are aired well
during the day. Never put it on the floors, for if the
hen sits over it, it will suffocate the poults. This is
equaliy true of little chicks. I have tried it and know
from experience. Yet there are no better insecticides
than these liquid lice killers if properly used. They will
kill mites and chiggers and everything in that line, even
bedbugs, which infest hen houses in some localities.

Southern turkey breeders complain that many poults

or
Ts

are killed by chiggers, which do more damage than any
other one thing.

We presume this is the little grass chigger which
itself in the flesh—at least it does on people—
very hard to and painful to
We had never thought of this.

known to us is grease, and too much of that is fatal to

buries

and is exterminate very

endure. The only remedy
the poults.

In the late fall and winter lice are hard on turkeys
—they cannot find good dust baths as they can in sum-
mer, hence it is necessary to use our best efforts to kill

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

is seattered than when it is given to them in pans. lL
have long since discarded feeding troughs in my poul-
They were a disadvantage to both old and
In my opinion much of the so-called cholera: is
traceable to the feeding trough. Turkeys especially are
naturally inelined to take a small quantity of food at a
time and when fed in troughs they will fill their crops
and do not take enough exercise to cause good digestion.

try yards.

young.

For fattening I prefer corn to anything else, un:
Feed whole corn on the ear
or scatter it in straw so they must work to get it.

less it he erushed corn.

a

A Group of Hungarian Turkeys

the vermin on them, for they cannot thrive with vermin
sapping their strength.

PREPARING TURKEYS FOR MARKET

Many persons wish to know when to begin to pre-
pare turkeys for market. The best time
when they are hatched and keep up the preparation
until they are put on the market. If you live on a grain
or stock farm let your turkeys have free access to the
feeding stalls and grain shocks and they will take care
of themselves.

to begin is

If you, like myself, are limited to a small

place, the feeding must be kept up all the year. It will
not do to increase the food too rapidly at first. During
the summer feed adult turkeys only once a day, but
about September I begin feeding them twice a day,

morning and eyening, all that they will eat, or rather,
as I keep the parent stock in the pens, my plan has
been to scatter the food in the morning so that they
shall be kept busy all day hupting for it. At night I
full feed without any
trouble, and gradually increase the quantity of food as
the cold weather approaches. I find that both old and

young turkeys thrive better and eat more when the food

give a where they ean get it

Tf you have never noticed the necessity of lime for
turkeys watch them pick whitewash off the sides of
Make this difference in the treatment of those
intended for market and those kept to breed from: Put

houses.

all the food before the market fowl it will eat; make it
as fat as possible—but if you get your breeding stock
too fat, infertile eg@s will be the result.

Je sure you do not wait until the day before
The highest
prices are usually obtainable the week before the holi-

day feasts.

Thanksgiving to try to sell your stock.
As a rule there is a great rush to market
with turkeys two days before Thanksgiving. The rush
often causes the price to drop just when the most was
I have known the highest
tained between Thanksgiving and Christmas and in Feb-
ruary. Of course the locality has something to do with
the price, and there may, in the same locality, be differ-

expected. prices to be ob-

have to do as
our husbands do with their stock, watch and sell at the

If I had only a few I would sell
raised from seventy-five to a hun-
One can sell the
Mar-

ent influences at different seasons. We

most propitious time.
all at
dred I
oldest first, thus giving the younger ones a chance.

onee, but if I

should sell at different times.

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 55

ket birds can not be too fat, but they may be too heavy
for the highest prices. A few farmers in our county un-
derstand this, and do not buy the largest toms to breed
from; others run to the other extreme, inbreeding and
buying culls until their turkeys are too small to be
profitable. I should prefer large breeding stock to
small, even i# I sold on the market, for if I get a lower
price the difference in pounds would more than make
the difference in price.

How much ought young toms to weigh at Thanks-
giving, is a question often asked me. That depends on
when they were hatched. An early hatched, say one
hatehed in May, will weigh from twenty to twenty-four
pounds, and some few will go higher. One market poul-
tryman says,that an average of eighteen and twenty
pounds is the rule, while those going above that are the
exception.

I have been asked if I think it better to dress
turkeys or sell them on foot; “which is the most profit-
able?” The answer to this (as most answers are) is de-
pendent. I have a friend who dresses her turkeys about
the middle of February for the St. Louis market. She
says she makes money by so doing. I know others who
say it does not pay them at all.

The cause of the difference of opinion lies in the dif-
ference of surroundings. The lady who says it pays
her to dress her turkeys for market does the work her-
self and says she makes fair wages at the difference in
the price between dressed turkeys and turkeys on foot.
My opinion is that the average farmer’s wife had better
sell her turkeys on foot, but this is a question upon
which there is a difference of opinion and one which each
ene must decide for herself.

I never soid a dressed turkey, yet I know how farm-
ers’ wives dress them for our market, and I dress them
for my own table the same way. Wecut the heads off and
let them bleed well and then dry pick them and remove
their entrails. washing them thoroughly with cold or
luke warm water. Plump the careass by pouring boil-
ing water over it, then salt and let it freeze before cook-
ing, if possible. Very few salt them to put them on the
market. ;

Talk about turkeys eating their heads off!
sells hogs at five ceuts a pound he thinks he is doing a
fine business, says he is getting fifty cents a bushel for
his corn, but when a woman sells her turkeys even at
eight cents a pound she is doing far better and is doing
her husband a double favor; it is a favor to him for her
to pay her own and part of his bills; besides she gets
eight cents a pound for grasshoppers, which but for her
turkeys would destroy the corn fodder and injure the
hay as well as ruin the cabbage.

PREPARING TURKEYS FOR EXHIBITION

This one thing I never lose sight of or forget—the
show room. Not alone for the scores I wish to receive
on my birds, but on account of the remembrance of what
I gain at the shows in point of knowledge and the pleas-
ure I derive from association with the many noble men
and women to be met there.

Many timid are deterred from entering the
show room because-they dread coming in competition
with the moguls of the poultry business. To such I say,
come! You have nothing to lose by the comparison and
you may be a winner of the prizes. At any rate you wili
know what the judges think of your birds, and will learn
how to improve your stock. The show room is an educa-
tor and we need all the education we can get if we in
tend to stay in the business. Nor does it ‘follow that
because they fail to win a prize your stock is poor. You

If a man

ones

will learn what it takes to make a prize bird and what
constitutes a good breeding bird. Attend a poultry show
or two each year if it is possible for you to do so.

On large farms it is not necessary to begin heavy
feeding until the weather begins to get cool. But where
one has limited room they must be fed the year round.
Do not select show birds until they are through molting,
if old birds are exhibited. A breeder of thoroughbred
turkeys, for sale as faney stock, must feed his entire
flock with an aim to getting them in eondition for winter
shows either in his own hands or in the hands of his
customers.

Generally cocks may be depended on molting true to
the marking of the cockerel, but hens often are not as
good in markings as they were as pullets. Still, I think
turkeys are more regular in their markings after molt-
ing than chickens.

If a turkey is in a healthy condition the feathers will
be glossy, if not, they will not be.

I think that to keep turkeys healthy and gentle and
well fed is about all the preparation turkeys need. It
will not do to put them in confinement longer than ten
days, and then it will not do to have them in a strange
place, as they will not eat. Give them all the corn, grit
and lime they will eat, with plenty of grass and water,
and they will fatten.

Hlow do I manage to feed my turkeys to get them in
weight for the shows and not get the entire flock too
fat? I keep only a few turkeys on my home place at one
time, not more than fifty to seventy-five in winter and
only my breeding stock in summer. As I am continually
shipping them I select the best in size and that leaves
the smaller ones a better chance to grow. I cannot sep-
arate those intended for the show room from the others,
so I feed all alike and take the heaviest to the show, no
matter if they are not so well marked as the others, for
it is the heavy turkey which wins in the show room. In
fact, I have only a few times taken my best marked tur-
keys to a show.

I have had very few persons come to my yards who
knew how to catch a turkey or chicken. I can pick my
turkeys or chickens up anywhere in the yard with the
assistance of one whom I have trained. In the first place
I am very gentle with my fowls. I tall to them when L
feed them. You may wonder what I say. Well, I find
they are like*the human race, susceptible to flattery, if
flattery it may be called; I do not intend it as such, for
Tt mean every word of it. 1 call them pretty things—tell
them they are the prettiest turkeys anywhere around—
talk to them about going to the shows, and tell them
how they must behave to appear well; in fact, I am
never at a loss for something to say to my fowls. When
I want to catch one I prefer to go out in the yard, look
the flock over while they are out, select the one I want,
call my assistant, and point out the turkey. Then I
begin to feed. and usually I can catch the one I desire
while they are eating. Never rush into the flock or shoo
a turkey. Very quietly step up behind it and catch it by
the legs. Be sure to take hold of both legs as you catch
one, then you can easily pick the bird up and it will not
fiap its wings and hurt itself. If there are several to
eateh and you do not wish to put them in different coops
it is better to catch all you need before cooping any. A
child ean hold a forty pound tom if he knows how. Just
lay him flat on his side or breast and hold his legs ciose
to the thighs and he will not attempt to get away. I
have often released one after holding it in this manner,
and it would lie still for one or two minutes before get-
ting up.

56 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

PACKING EGGS FOR SHIPPING

It may sound egotistical, but I believe I can pack

eggs that will go around the globe without breaking,
that is, with reasonable handling; yet last year the only
chick eggs reported broken did not go two hundred
miles, and had they not been sent to a relative as a pres-
ent I presume I should have heard about them with no

Standard Bred Bronze
Turkey wing as bred by
Mrs. U. R. Fishel.

uncertain sound. They evidently had been pitched off
the car as baggage and crushed under some heavy body.

First line the basket with paper, then put in an inch
of hay chaff in bottom if it is a large basket and many
eggs are to go in; if it is only a peck basket, three-
fourths or a half of an inch will be sufficient, but it
must have a soft padding at bottom. Re-line with a
good heavy paper. Wrap each egg with paper, but do not
wrap too tight; use plenty of paper and do it nicely. I
always pack with the small end down, because the white
is in the small end and the yolk will not break if allowed
to float upon it, while if the large end is down there is
nothing to prevent the yolk breaking from the jar of the
travel. Of course if the yolk is broken the egg cannot
hatch.

Diseases of Turkeys
CANKER

I receive a great many questions as to what to do
for sick poults. I am a poor doctor for little turkeys. I
really believe that where the parent stock is not related
or inbred that it is poor management where there are
sick poults.

Canker is more prevalent than many persons sup-
pose, and while often a fowl may die before it is discov-
ered, the rule is it becomes droopy and refuses to eat.
The discharges become yellowish green, sometimes look-
ing like the yellow of an egg. The canker extends often
to the throat and frequently forms on the tongue at the
opening of the wind pipe and stops the air passages.

To cure canker I have found Mustang Liniment bet-
ter than anything else I have ever used. If this cannot
be obtained, wash in a strong copperas water and grease
with carbolated vaseline, in which put a few drops of
tincture of iodine. This is an effectual cure, but it
takes longer treatment and is more trouble. But the
fowl, turkey or chicken will need a tonic to correct the

digestion and tone the system. I give a liver pill, any
that I would use for a person. Give this at night and
a two-grain quinine capsule in the morning. A little cop-
peras and extract of logwood in the drinking water usu-
ally cure the trouble. Use whatever poultry tonic or
cholera cure you may deem best mixed in food. Make
into long rolls and put down the throat, then give the
water from a bottle. I also put grit in food. Feed only
once a day while the food must be given, but when the
turkey can pick food, give twice a day and separate from
other fowls. If I use Mustang Liniment I put a few
drops down the throat, for I think often the canker ex-
tends through the system. ;

If I am sure there is no canker I omit the treatment
for that and give the other treatment. Do not let the
fowl have anything to eat or drink which is not medi-
cated until you know it is well. The quinine capsule may
be given every morning for a week, the liver pill every
other day until three are given.

I have never lost a turkey under the foregoing treat-
ment when I have been able to give it regularly. And
several customers have reported that under my direc-
tions they have saved their turkeys.

GAPES

To preyent the disease I use a little turpentine in
the drinking water. A dash of flowers of sulphur in the
food once a week will be beneficial until they are well
feathered. Copperas in the drinking water and onions
in the food will generally prevent gapes. Turkeys having
vermin are more likely to be affected. I have been ad-
vised to use sour cream instead of lard to grease young
turkeys.

If I find the poults have gapes I put Dalmation or
Persian insect powder in the food and have no further
trouble. I sprinkle the powder into the food just as I would
pepper. I have cured several chicks of the gapes by first
puffing the powder in the wind pipe. This kills the
worms, and I extract them with a gape extractor made
of a piece of soft grass. If the worms are taken out the
chicken will recover unless it is injured by the operation.
They are easier to take out dead than alive and I find
the powder good, but one has to be careful not to get too
much in the wind pipe or the poult or chick will not be
able to breathe. :

AIR PUFF

One night I noticed that the neck of one of my young
turkeys was so badly swollen it could not get its mouth
to the ground to eat. I picked it up and found its whole
body in the same condition. The skin only seemed |
puffed. I took a pair of sharp scissors and clipped the
skin in several places. The air escaped and the turkey
began to chirp. I put it with the others and it ate
heartily. I put a teaspoonful of coal oil in the drinking
water with a few drops of carbolie acid.

The next morning I noticed its wings drooping down
and it was as badly puffed as before. I repeated the clip-
ping and this time I clipped around the neck; I went
deeper than I intended and the neck began to bleed
freely. I felt that this would kill it, but I knew it would
die anyway if not relieved, so I did not grieve. I tooka
feather and dipped it in tar and covered the bleeding
wound, then I greased it with pure lard. My husband
said: “You have killed that turkey.” I replied: “Yes, I
think I have, but I was trying to save it.” To my aston-
ishment it came up that night as lively as any of the
others. I cut both wings and in the morning I showed it
to my husband. We were both surprised. Ten days after
it was as strong to all appearances as any of the others

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 57

and it never puffed afterward. I concluded the bleeding
was good for it, yet I would not know just how to advise
it to be done, as I did that by accident.

BUMBLEFOOT

Bumblefoot is a hard place on the bottom of the foot
which often becomes very sore and contains pus. It is
claimed that it is usually caused by the fowls roosting
high and coming down on the ground with such force
as to bruise the foot. I am inclined to favor this theory,
though some high in authority deny it. At any rate,
turkeys and chickens are often found with feet in this
condition. I wait until the sore becomes soft, open it
with a sharp knife and squeeze it until all the pus and
the core, if I can get it, run out. If the core does not
come out it will run out in a few days if the foot is
bound up with a good salve.

I find one of the best salves I ever used to be vase-
line, turpentine, a few drops of crude carbolic acid and
tincture of iodine. I cannot give the proportions because
I do not measure or drop by count. I generally make
about a teacup full in the fall or early winter and it lasts
me all season. A friend told me that resin would add to
its merits. I put the ingredients all on the stove and mix
them together and the next time I make this salve I
think I shall add the resin.

Salve is also good for sore head, but it is better to
wash the head with copperas water before using the
salve. If you can afford to buy Mexican Mustang Lini-
ment it is even better than salve, but one often does not
have the liniment at hand and can make the salve.

BOWEL TROUBLE

The coops in which the poults roost must have plenty
of fresh air as well as be rat proof.’ If the weather is
cold and damp they must be kept in pens, so they can be
hovered by the hen If she is at liberty she is liable to
walk around in the weeds or grass and the poults will
chill and become loose in the bowels. And they gener-
ally die when this disease is caused by the above treat-
ment. However, if they are not too much chilled, pen
them up, make a very weak pepper tea and give this for
drinking water. Sweet milk is a good remedy for bowel
trouble with pouits.

If you do not overfeed your young birds nor give
them too much water while young, and do not let them
get wet and chilled, thereby contracting cold, they will
not have bowel trouble. They are not so apt to drink too
much where they can run at large as they are when kept
in confinement. When running at large I keep water
where they can have access to it, but when penned up I
give them a drink only three times a day.

Do not let the poults get wet. I am trying to plan a
way to have them roost on a dirt floor, yet not on damp
earth. I think the dampness of the ground gives them
rheumatism, or makes them delicate, but the hen mashes
the poults on a plank floor. I think if the dirt can be
thrown up around the coop, so as to keep the ground dry,
it will be better.

Where milk curd, seasoned with black pepper and
salt, is fed for the first ten days, there will be no danger
of loose bowels, provided other health precautions are
observed. Lice will cause bowel trouble, as will too much
heat. When caused by heat give a teaspoonful of carbolic
acid in a gallon of water.

Keep the drinking fountains clean and fresh. This
can be done by washing them out with earbolized water.

Logwood is excellent for loose bowels. I have used
and recommended it for years. There is no danger of
using too much and there is nothing better for ordinary

bowel trouble either in chicks, poults or grown fowls. It
comes by the pound in boxes and sells here at ten cents
per pound. I put a lump of it in a glass fruit jar, using
as large a lump as I can get into the jar and pour warm
(not hot) water over it. Every morning I put just enough
of this into the drinking water to color it and it keeps
the bowels in a healthy condition. If fowls are sick I use
it stronger.

Overfeeding produces indigestion and indigestion
causes bowel trouble. Vermin and overfeeding kill more
poults than all other causes. Lice will produce all the
symptoms of disease. When a poult dies from overfeed-
ing a post mortem will usually disclose the liver swollen |
and probably splotched. When it is in this condition
there is no chance for the poult. If taken in time a rad-
ical change of diet will effect a cure.

HOT MASHES

A lady in Maryland writes: “I can’t agree with you
that hot mashes cause roup, for in my native home (Can-
ada) I fed my turkeys hot mashes from the time they
were a few weeks old until they were grown, and so did
my neighbors, and we raised large flocks and were never
troubled with roup. Here I have not fed the mash and
haye the roup.” Roosting in trees may be the cause of
roup in her flocks now, as she says they never had it
when roosting under sheltey. I agree with her that in
extreme climates a shelter is better. She also gives me
a preventative for fighting which I certainly shall use. I

A7Fine*Mammoth§Bronze Turkey Tom from the Yards of _.
Mrs. U. R. Fishel.

give it to the readers of this book: Tie a small bell
around the neck of toms showing a disposition to fight.
The noise attracts their attention so they forget to fight.

CROP BOUND

In the early spring the trouble most to be dreaded
with turkeys is crop bound, caused from eating dry

grass. No one can prevent this unless they have green

fields or grain for them to run in, rye or wheat fields.
Bren then sometimes they will fill their crops with the
dry grass, which forms a hard ball in the crop and unless

it can be made to pass, it will kill the fowl. Sometimes
it will pass out after awhile without any treatment.

Some recommend cutting the erop, taking the substance
out and sewing up the crop, and they say it never fails
to cure. ‘This may be true with experts at the business,
but with me it is a total failure. I tried it and thought
it was a success, but several weeks afterward I discoy-
ered that the crops had neyer grown together where
they were cut open and the thread rotted out, so they
died. I have lost some of the finest turkeys I ever owned
from this {rouble and have cured others seemingly as
bad off.

I have not found an infallible cure and the most ef-
fectual eure I have found is very tedious. I give the tur-
key a dose of castor oil or Epsom salts as soon as I find
it has the trouble. I hold it and pour all the water into
the erop I think it safe to give and I also put a table-
spoonful of mica crystal grit in some soft food, make it
in long rolls and put down the throat. Turkeys are
easily choked and unless the food is made in long, slender
rolls they are liable to choke. The reason I put the grit
in the food is that it is liable to go down the wind pipe
if poured into the mouth alone. Then I very gently get
hold of the ball in the crop from the outside and work: it
with both hands, having someone else hold the turkey. I
can generally soften the ball very perceptibly the first
time I treat the turkey. The grit in the food gets into
the softened parts and helps divide the ball, the oil takes
all that it is possible to get out of the crop, out of the
system so that it does not clog in the gizzard, as it is
liable to do if not worked off immediately. The working
must be very gently done, as it bruises the crop. I repeat
this process every morning at first and give plenty of
soft food and grit during the day.

If I discover, as is often the case, that the turkey is
getting weak, I give a two-grain capsule of quinine every
morning. ‘This increases the appetite and gives strength
to the bird. I give plenty of onions in the food. The
treatment must be kept up until all the ball has entirely
passed out of the system. I do not give the oil more
than once a week after the first few days.

One ot the best toms I ever owned, a fuil brother to
“Champ Clark,” who scored from 97 to 98 by every judge
who saw him, was crop bound, and as I had sold “Champ
Clark” I was anxious to save the brother, which I con-
sidered just as good. I thought he was entirely cured,
and he was to all appearances well. He had gained flesh
and was as hearty as any bird on the place. I fed him at
night and noticed how well he looked. The next morning
I found him dead under the roost. He weighed forty
pounds and of course looked finer after death than I had
considered him in life. My only consolation was that he
had waited until after the breeding season was almost
over before he died.

On examination I found that a ball (not a very large
one, either) of dried grass had lodged in the vent, which
prevented anything from passing, and this
death. He treatment about two
months and I believed if I had continued the oil once a
week he would have lived.

caused his

had been from under

Once I noticed a turkey with the same symptoms,
but all my treatment availed nothing and he died. I ex-
amined him and found the gizzard packed with dry grass
and so nothing could have saved him.

“My turkeys are affected with what I call pendant

crop. The crop hangs down like a bag, sometimes low

58 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

enough to interfere with walking and is filled with dark
liquid. The turkeys eat, but are pale about the head.
What shall I do for them?”

Give them a teaspoonful of baking powder: soda will
not do. This is a dose for one old turkey. I do not find
the baking powder an infallible cure, but it is the best
thing I have tried. Two-doses usnally cure. Keep the
turkey inelosed and do not feed until the powder has
been in the crop an hour or two; then give soft food,
wheat bread made into long rolls, and put down the
throat. The roll must not be very large. Do not give
any water until the liquid has passed out of the crop. A
little salt mixed in the food will assist in carrying the im-
purities out of the system. Epsom salts are better than
oil for crop-bound fowls. You will have to be very care-
ful to keep water from them until they have entirely re-
covered, or the crop will refill and the second attack is
always worse or more stubborn than the first. It is very
unusual for this trouble to arise in summer. It is prey-
alent during the latter part of winter and early spring.

CHOLERA

The cry of cholera among turkeys comes to me from
many persons, and these are not confined to a given lo-
cality or state. From Mississippi, Wisconsin, Pennsyl-
vania, lowa and many other states I have received let-
ters reporting cholera among turkeys and often they say
there are no symptoms of the trouble among the chick-
ens. The fact that the turkeys linger for days and some-
times even weeks is one reason for believing it is not
cholera. Another is that in many instances the chickens
and turkeys are in the same yard and the chickens are
not affected; then, again, about the only symptom com-
mon to all inquiries is that the droppings are a yellowish
green. Some describe the heads as black, saying they
mope around and will not eat. Others say the head is
red to the last and they eat up to a few minutes before
they are seized with an attack like convulsions, and still
others say they have puffs under the eyes, while another
flock has a white substance floating over the eye.

it is a fact that almost any disease of a turkey will
cause the droppings to become yellowish green, showing
that disease in turkeys, like disease in the human family,
sooner or later affects the digestive organs.

Often indigestion is the cause of the trouble. I am
not quite positively certain that I ever had a genuine case
of cholera in my yards, though I well remember when I
thought every chicken or turkey that died had it.

I have been informed by one of the R. P. J. cor-
respondents that there is a much larger per cent of
deaths from what is known as black head than from
cholera, and that it is infectious. He says that what has
often been pronounced cholera is black head. He also in-
forms me there is absolutely no remedy for it which can
be relied upon to be even comparatively a cure, and that
the cause is unknown. This he wrote me some time
said that Lee’s Germozone is the best
remedy known to him. I had some experience with the
trouble in the fiock of a neighbor, and I decided it was
caused from overieeding while young, and then turning
them out without any food; at least I found when I ex-
amined after death that the liver was perfectly soft and
the gizzard twice the size it should haye been.
deal of red or
cayenne pepper and soda in turkey food. Because I had
been taught to do this I did like my neighbors when I

since. He

I find many persons use a great

commenced raising turkeys, but I soon began to use my
common sense and 1 wondered how on earth anything
could live, especially a wee bit of a turkey with the crop.
filled with pepper, soda, sulphur, copperas, also custard,

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 59

milk curd and many other things I was told I would
have to feed to be successful. I said: “I shall try a way
of my own,” and whenever I have had the sense to do my
own way I have succeeded in keeping my flock healthy.

Red pepper is a good tonie for chickens in cold
weather if given in minute quantities.

I find earbolic acid in drinking water, a teaspoonful
to a gallon of water, is one of the best things to keep
their bowels in good condition I have ever tried. Epsom
salts and salt, a teaspoonful of each to a gallon of
water, is also good. Too much salt will throw a turkey
into fits, so will too much tobacco, but they will recover
from the tobacco dust as soon as they get the fresh air,
while from salt taken into the system they do not re-
cover.

Whenever the droppings look yellowish I use my
Cholera Cure—not that I believe they have cholera, but
the droppings indicate indigestion.

RHEUMATISM

Several letters have come in, asking what to do for
lameness in little turkeys, describing the poults as being
affected with swollen joints. I think this trouble arises
from dampness. Either the poults roost in damp places
or exceedingly wet weather has been conducive to the
disease. The trouble is doubtless rheumatism and the
best remedy I know is elder bark prepared as fol-
lows: Get the bark and serape off the outside skin, cut
in small pieces and put in apple vinegar. It does not
matter how much bark you put in, but the stronger it is
the better. Put in a half gallon fruit jar and add a piece
of alum as large as a walnut and the same amount of
copperas. Put all the bark in the jar you can get in,
pouring the vinegar over it. Put enough of this liquid
in the drinking water to make it taste of acid, but not
enough to be unpleasant to the taste. IT am sure this will
prevent the trouble if it does not cure it, and I think it
will cure it, provided the poults are kept free from
dampness. I should use Mustang also or any good lini-
ment that I would use for myself. A little tincture of
iodine in the drinking water is good as a tonie.

I should feed either a little black or red pepper in
the food for seyeral days. In that time if I found I
eould not cure the fowl I would kill it, but if it were get-
ting better 1 should continue the treatment.

Once [ noticed one of my poults could not walk, one
leg seemed to be perfectly straight and the poult held it
so that it appeared to be behind it. I tried to bend it
and it seemed stiff in the joints. But I bent it several
times a day for four days when it was able to walk on
both feet.

ROUP CANKER—SWELLED EYES AND HEAD

I have cured several cases of so-called roup in the fol-
lowing manner., 1 made a strong salt water just as hot
as I could bear my hand in comfortably and dipped the
turkey’s head in it, completely immersing the head. I[
use an old tin can for this purpose. I let the head stay
in the water as long as I thought it safe for the turkey.
I then take it out and give it fresh air, press the nostrils
between my thumb and forefinger. If there is any se-
cretion, this will start a running at the nose. I open the
mouth and insert a mop made by wrapping a soft cloth
on a small stick, into the opening in the roof of the
mouth, dipping it first into salt water; then I dip in coal

oil. I make a salve of carbolie acid, a few drops of lard,

spirits of camphor, a teaspoonful, a teaspoonful of tine-
ture of iodine and anoint the eyes, head and fill the nos-
trils and opening in roof of mouth. With a clean cloth I
wiped the head as dry as possible, (I tried not wiping

the head and found it made the turkey too cold) then I
Put a little salt and
This will almost in-
variably cure the roup in its first stages. If a turkey has
arrived at an advanced stage of roup before it is noticed

rubbed it hard until it was dry.
Epsom salts in the drinking water.

1 would kill it as the only sure cure.

For rattling in the throat I find nothing better than
coal oil with a little molasses in it.

Sometimes canker is caused by fighting. I had a tom,
for which 1 had paid $10, that got to fighting and had
canker on the side of his mouth, caused by the bite of the
other tom. All I did for him was to paint his mouth
with iodine. He was a vigorous, healthy bird and pro-
duced strong poults. I also advise the use of Mexican
Mustang Liniment, used according to directions.

Sometimes turkeys have a soft, swelled place under
the eyes. The first thing is to put them by themselves.
With the finger press the soft swelling, letting the pres-
sure go towards the bill. The phlegm will go out at the
nose in most cases. Take a sewing machine oil can and
fill with warm water, into which a few drops of tincture
of iodine have been dropped; if the water is almost hot
it will be all the better. After washing the head in
strong salt water as hot as can be borne, inject the
water from the can into the nostrils and the opening in
the roof of the mouth. Make a salve of lard, turpen-
tine, crude carbolic acid, copperas melted in the lard and
flowers of sulphur. Anoint with this. If this is done
once a day for a week the turkey will be well unless it is
incurable. If there is pus, an incision made with a
sharp knife to let the pus out will be necessary. But the
bird will need something to cleanse the system, and
Cushman’s Roup Cure will be very fine.

However, the trouble is likely to return if you turn
the turkey out in the cold. If it is worth the trouble it
it better to keep it in the house until cold weather is
over. Feed onions, soft food, corn and plenty of grit. 1
find Littell’s liquid sulphur will do for flowers of sulphur
in almost every case where flowers of sulphur is needed.
I think simple remedies will cure almost any trouble if
taken in time. Do not fail to give onions once a week
during the fall and throughout the winter. They are a
safeguard against roup and any diseases caused by cold.

For canker sores try putting a little alum in the
drinking water one day and copperas the next.

WORMS

“My turkeys are dying fast and I found worms in the
droppings. What must I do for them?”

If the entire flock is sick, give turpentine in drinking
water and in the food—a tablespoontul of turpentine to
a gallon of water and a teaspoonful to a quart of food;
also add a tablespoonful of Epsom salts to a gallon of
water. Give both the turpentine and salts at the same
time. If only one turkey is thus affected I would catch
it and give it a teaspoonful of castor oil, into which put
five or six drops of turpentine; then feed as a tonic
cholera cure.

MISCELLANEOUS

I quote from an old number of the R. P. J. from an
article on ‘Turkeys as Hatchers”:

“When L first read in an English poultry book of the
Freneh method of using turkeys to hatch and care for
chickens, I had no ineubator and concluded to try the
plan. Late in the fall I sent out in the country and
bought a late hatched hen turkey for very little money.
In February we prepared a box (with plenty of chaff over
a layer of horse manure) that could be shut up to ex-

clude the light. Did not give either wine or whiskey, but

60 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

in two or three weeks she was sitting quietly on the
china eggs and when taken off the nest to be fed would
yoluntarily return. I then filled the nest with hens’ eggs,
removing them as soon as they began to pip to keep the
turkey from wanting to leave the nest and putting in
other eggs. After sitting three months she was put in a
yard with chickens for the rest of the summer. We put
chickens of different ages with her and she received them
all with equal kindness.

“This year we have two turkeys besides an incubator,
and after hatching three sittings of eggs we thought best
to take them off the nest, but one watched her chance
and went back on the nest till I filled it with
again, so I let her stay. The other is laying and will be
ready for work later if needed.

“They make careful, patient mothers, are equal in
that 1espect to any hen, and it is a wonder that farmers

do not make more use of them than they do.
(Cy 135

Sears
eges

NG
FARMING OUT TURKEYS

I am often asked if I find it satisfactory to farm out
my turkeys. It is perfectly satisfactory, because I have
no one to raise turkeys for me who is not in all respects
reliable; besides they hatch them earlier than I can, as
the twenty-five or thirty hens kept at home do not lay
eggs any faster than I have calls for them from the time
they begin laying until the first of June. I have young
turkeys now out on the farms that one has to look at

Across the Aj‘antic

the second time to be sure whether they are hens or
young turkeys. Farm-bred turkeys do not get very fat,
consequently do not weigh as heavy when I take them as
I would make them weigh to please those who demand
the pounds of flesh, but the frame is there. Be sure you
know with whom you are placing your stock and you
will have no difficulty. j

Each season teaches us some lesson that is profitable
to us for the next. I have learned to take only one flock
of hens and pullets and another of toms on the place at
one time. When two or more flocks are brought in at the
same time they fight so they will not eat and do not fat-
ten. I find it better to pay board for a few flocks on
the farms than to bring them together on the home place.
I could not raise all my stock at home and furnish pairs
and trios not related, nor could I ship as I now do to the

same customers every year and insure a change of blood.

To those persons who have written me, asking if |
think it will pay to raise turkeys, I can only say that I
have never heard any one who has given it a fair trial say
that it does not pay. Still I would not advise one to un-
dertake to raise turkeys who is not willing or physically
able to expose himself to all sorts of weather, both hot
and cold, ‘Turkeys must be kept dry while young and
gotten home early in the afternoon.

How shall you succeed with turkeys? The best way
to sueceed is to keep on trying. If you fail this year,
get more in earnest and try again next year.

Photo by F. L. Sewell

. A flock of Black Turkeys and Faverolles in a quaint old French Barnyard.
Many,who have supposed the turkey strictly an American Fowl will study with interest the above illustration and the one on page 54.

THE METHOD OF A SUCCESSFUL BREEDER

Introduce New Blood Each Year—Keep Poults Dry And Free From Lice—Feed Carefully—Do Not Crowd

MRS. H. R. SCHLOTZHAUER

HE first lesson that should be learned by
every turkey breeder is that it does not pay
to inbreed. New blood must be infused
every year, otherwise the flock will lose
strength, size and vigor and be more sub-
ject to disease. We generally get our new
blood by buying eggs from the breeder of
the best stock we are able to locate.
We have to pay one dollar per egg or ten dollars per
dozen. In this manner we do not inbreed and we find that
the vigor and size
of our fiock is main-

tained without
trouble. We have
had young toms
that weighed forty
pounds when nine
months old and

pullets that weighed
twenty-five pounds
when the same age.

BREEDERS

We have fenced
in our orchard and
in this is kept our
best breeding pen,
which consists of a
fine fifty pound, one
year old tom and
five nice, large, one
year old hens. By
keeping them con-
fined in this manner
we are able to find
every egg that they
lay.

Do not try to
fatten turkeys dur-
ing hot weather. If
they are on free range or in a good orchard where they
ean find plenty of nature’s food, just feed them at night
and let them forage during the day. In this manner they
can be kept in good breeding condition.

HATCHING AND FEEDING THE POULTS

It is much better to keep the turkeys away from the
other poultry.

Just as soon as we get fifty eggs, we set them under
one turkey hen and three chicken hens and as soon as
we get forty more, we do as before.

At this writing, June first, we have eighty nice,
strong, little poults doing fine. The first hatch of forty-
five we gave to one turkey hen which is confined in the
orchard and through which she takes her brood from one
end to the other. The second hatch is with another tur-
key hen and is kept in the front yard.

We have a rat proof house, 8x10, with a window for
each brood. We keep them shut in until the dew is off
the grass in the morning and on rainy days they are kept
shut in all day. I dust them every week with a good in-
sect powder.

The little poults get their first feed when they are

A flock of Mrs. U. R. Fishel’s Mammoth Bronze Turkey gobblers on the farm in Indiana
on an average thirty-five pounds each. Assmall as they are here the fine wing barring can be seen.

about thirty-six hours old. This feed consists of stale
light bread, that has been soaked in sweet milk and
mixed with a little lettuce or onion tops chopped fine and
seasoned with a little pepper.

After a week or so, they get some cottage cheese
mixed with rolled oats. When they are about two weeks
old, we mix in some clean wheat, gradually changing
until they are getting all wheat.

We put them on free range when they are about one
month old, but see that they come up to the orchard

MAMMOTH BRONZE TURKEYS ON THE FARM

These big fellows weigh

every night to roost.

Good grit, oyster shell, charcoal and fresh water
should not be forgotten as an important part of their
ration.

It is a pleasure to see them grow, and when Thanks-
giving comes, we cannot help but feel proud of our tur-
keys. A

We raise from fifty to one hundred each year and sell
a good many for breeding purposes. We also sell quite a
lot at market prices and consider that there is a good
profit in raising turkeys for market.

We send some of our best ones to the poultry shows
and State fair each year. If one sends turkeys to a fair
or show, they should be sent in cages or coops, about
4x4, as the coops furnished by the show associations are
not large enough, as a rule.

When cold weather comes on it is safe to feed them
a little heavier and if possible get them to standard
weight and a little above. First get the frame and then
you can put on the meat.

We trust that our methods may be of benefit to some
amateur and help him to success.

THE POPULAR BRONZE TURKEY

Improvement—Avoid Extremely Large Ones As Breeders—Selection of Breeders—Feeding—Varmints—Lice—

Feeding Poults—Selling and Shipping

EMMET F. PULLIN, Seoretary—Treasurer, National Bronze Turkey Club

HE date. of first connection with the

Bronze Turkey is lost in the haze of early

our

recollection. We first began breeding pure

strains of this breed in 1895.

WONDERFUL IMPROVEMENT

There has been’ considerable im-
provement in faney points since then.
Toms with bronze on their backs then, were re-

markable, now we oceasionally see pullets almost

as rich in that section. We see better tails and
wings, less green and brass, and more bronze in tail
The white tips have also been considerably im-
In our opinion, the practical points have

coverts.

proved. not

Standard-Bred Bronze Turkey
Wing
This cut was made from a photograph of one

of Mrs. U. R. Fishel’s Bronze Turkeys, the wing
being spread to show the remarkable barring.

been improved.
leaves

—_
As a market fowl the bronze turkey
nothing to be desired either in
merit.

appearance or

GETTING THEM TOO LARGE

‘The one thing that has threatened to rob the breed
of its universal popularity has been the craze to increase
its weight, which is already in excess of any other breed.
Extra large toms often wound and sometimes kill out-
right, females in the breeding season. Extra large hens
produce a small percentage of eggs that will hatch. TIl-
shaped, thin or soft shelled eggs are invariably the product
of large, generally very large hens. Thus you see, nature
would eliminate the overgrown. They are not in favor in
the final testing of the great majority.
The young that survive from the extra large stock, require

market circles,

more time to mature than the medium sized ones. The
former are seldom ready for the Thanksgiving market, the
most profitable time to sell, because thus far they have
required very little grain. then on to Christmas
market they must be fed liberally. Much more could be
written under this heading, but we think the present will
suffice to show the folly of going to extremes.

Prom

SELECTING THE BREEDERS

As the future usefulness of the breed depends largely
upon the specimens selected to reproduce their kind, the
selection of breeders is of vast importance. The first
essential in a cockerel to head the flock, is vitality. This
is indieated by a full breast, wide back at butts of wings
and a good depth from back to point
of breast bone. A willingness to dis-
play his bronze and voeal ability at a
are further
denee; avoid sluggards. Choose those
Years of experience con
vinces the writer that the weight de-
manded by the present Standard is
sufficient. Avoid extremes.

The same general principles hold

slight provocation evi-

with snap.

good in selecting pullets as in cock-
erels. Choose those that are well de-
veloped, having plump, well-rounded
bodies. If the aim of your selection
is to produce prize winners as well as
market fowls, the complication of
your undertaking is increased many
times. Suecess in this direetion re-
quires long experience, a study of
the Standard, and some acquaintance
with the laws of inheritance. If the
theory that like produces like, were
infallible, plain sailing would be as-
sured, but it is not. There is a con-
stant variation, otherwise there
could be no improvement. The
ability to properly
value the importance of every
tion, has accomplished a fine art, but
he who can take those that are of a

breeder with

sec-

high class and mate them so they
will produce a large percentage of
show birds, is several rounds higher up the ladder of tur-
key fame. They will stand a limited amount of inbreeding
with good results. Those that prove themselves remark-
able breeders and are not too large, are profitable to six
or eight years old.
FEEDING
The tendency in the corn belt is to get breeders too
We think better results would follow if no corn at
Wheat, oats, buckwheat, peas and the
like, make good feed, which should be given rather spar-
ingly. They must have gravel and oyster shell in the
laying season.
REMEDIES FOR TURKEY PESTS
In some localities crows are a great nuisance and
their elusive smartness is hard to match. Our remedy is

fat.

all were aliowed.

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 63

to take a few hen eggs, break a hole in one end, take out
part of the contents, put in a small quantity of strych-
nine or arsenic and stir well. Place where the turkeys
are not liable to find them, or the wrong birds may get
the dose.

A small handful of some good lice or insect powder
should be put in the nest, or better yet, on the hen if that
can be done without too much danger of breaking the
eggs. For lice on the young we think the following by
far the best. ake a bottle and fill one-fourth full with
fish berries, finish with alcohol and let stand twenty-four
liours; apply with a small brush. A small quantity is
sufficient and sure death to lice.

CARING FOR THE POULTS

Provide a pen or some grassy spot about Sx10 feet, 2
feet high, covered with wire netting for the brood. The
first feed may be hard boiled eggs with onions chopped
fine. Another splendid feed is dried bread moistened in
whole milk, squeezed almost dry; to either feed, some
powdered charcoal should be added, which serves as grit
and prevents sourness of the crop, the cause of many
deaths. Later, cracked wheat and other small grains
such as chickens thrive on may be used. Little care will
be required through the summer season. It will not be
out of place to offer them some grain in the evenings
when they return from their foraging expedition. They

rid the fields of large quantities of weed seed and in-
jurious insects. When the supply of these becomes short
in autunin, nothing is better than corn.

SELLING AND SHIPPING

Our method is to sell on the market all stock which
we think unworthy to be used as breeders. In shipping
breeders, we prefer to use narrow boxes without cracks,
except the sides may be lined with paper to
prevent undue mussing of the wings.

On long journeys, a feed box and water vessel should
be placed in the front end. In such crates, we have
shipped to the Pacific coast, where turkeys arrived in
We do not take any spe¢ial pains to
prepare specimens for shows. A long pole supplied with
a leg hook is used in catching them. We have probably
produced some of the largest toms of the breed, one
weighing fifty-two and one-half pounds, another weighing
fifty-one and taking first in one of the large shows, where
we refused a high price for him. However, we have
learned a good many things about extra large turkeys
since then.

Other delicacies may have their day, but a Christmas
without a Christmas tree or a Fourth of July without ice
eream would be no more lacking than a Thanksgiving
without turkey, when from the newsboy in the street to
the President in the White House this is the most popular
bird in the United States.

on top;

splendid shape.

TURKEYS FOR PROFIT

Turkeys in Demand—Varieties—Enclose the Breeders—Fencing—Mating and Housing—Overfeeding—Late Hatched Turkeys—Green
Food for Growth—Freeing From Lice—Results of Line Breeding—Supply Grit Observation
and Care Necessary to Success

MRS. CHARLES JONES

URKEYS have been raised longer than the
memory of those now living can trace and
still the business is in its infaney. People
are realizing each year that it is one of
the most profitable crops of poultry that
ean be raised on a farm from a mar-
ket standpoint. From the fanciers’

look they are making such great strides in size, weight

and plumage, and command such high prices that they
are doubly profitable.

If the exhibits of Bronze at the Chicago
show are any eriterion, the business of raising Bronze
turkeys has reached a point that nearly eclipses all other
departments of poultry raising. When one yearling tom
will bring $50 and a pair of young turkeys $75 it proves

out-

turkeys

the value of the goods, and these were the prices asked
and paid for some fine specimens at Chicago not long
ago. Immediately breeders put up prices on eggs from
50 cents to one doliar apiece. From these facts one can
safely conclude that the Bronze turkey business is boom-
ing, especially when the last year has seen more turkeys
shipped to foreign countries than were ever sent before.
The turkey has been basely slandered and has been con-
sidered to be about as stupid as a mule. I have never had
any experience in trying to teach a mule to keep his hind
feet on the ground when his best friend stood behind
him, but I have taught turkeys to respect my wishes
and stay on one plantation.

Seeing a four-horse load of turkeys going to market
gathered from four farms, I said, “Surely I must go and

wake up Rip Van Winkle, so that Me may see what the
despised ‘Old Woman’s hen business’ is now.’ When he
went to sleep about twelve hens and one rooster was the
poultry equipment of a farm, and turkeys were wild in
the forest. If perchance a hunter brought one down for
Christmas or Thanksgiving that was all the people of
those days expected.

The newsboys of Chicago were presented with over
two thousand turkeys for one Thanksgiving feast, and
I really do not know which to pity most, the turkeys or
the newsboys. The poultry business at Swift’s poultry
packing houses in Chicago promises to equal, if not ex-
ceed, the hog packing industry.

As our population increases the great traet of land
used for grazing will be taken up into farms and the
great droves of cattle raised on them will be a
thing of the past. Pork is not good for a steady diet,
and the people will demand an immense number of tur-
keys, chickens, ducks and geese to meet the deficit caused
by the lack of cattle.

now

WHITES, BLACKS, BUFFS AND REDS

I am frequently asked how many varieties of turkeys
we haye bred. I have only bred the old-fashioned serub
and the Bronze. I prefer the Bronze to any other variety I
haye ever seen, as it grows so very much larger, is so
hardy and it is such a pleasure to have a floek of these
brilliant beauties around. TI think it is easy to get a
good Bronze near to standard requirements in markings,
brilliant plumage and weight, although there has been

64 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

added pound after pound to the weight clause, and one
has got to get them almost as large as a calf to answer
the requirements in weight. I think the weight is too
high, as a turkey will shrink from one to two pounds
while en route to the show. I have had them weighed
in the show room where they have shown a shrinkage of
It is a settled fact that the Bronze
turkey matures slower than other varieties, as they
grow until four years old. I think the Black turkey
comes next as a desirable turkey; they nearly equal the
Bronze in size and beauty. I breed the Bronze now for
size and beauty as well as for their popularity. There is
a great demand for them. The White Holland comes
next in popularity. They are liked by people who have
small range, as they are what one may call a domestic
turkey, not given to extensive wandering, and possess
yery little of the wild spirit. I am quite partial to white
fowls, but on account of hardiness and great weight, as
well as beautiful plumage, I prefer the Bronze.

I once owned a trio of Black turkeys for a short
time. In one of my orders for turkeys to go to Europe I
had a eall for a trio of Black turkeys and a trio of
Buffs, and as I did not breed them I had to find some
good enough to ship across the pond. I sent to a well
known Ohio judge and he sent me a Black tom that had
never been beaten in the show room, a pullet that took
first premium at the Ohio State Fair, and another equally
as good. Well, that trio was so dazzlingly beautiful that
it almost shook my allegiance to the Bronze. If ever I
should change my breed of turkeys it would be to take
up the Black turkey. I also got a very fine trio of Buffs
from a reliable breeder in our own state and those with
the trio of the best of my Bronze birds made a shipment
that any turkey breeder might be proud of. The honor
did not all belong to me, however.

over three pounds.

MATING AND HOUSING

I am in receipt of a very interesting letter from a
lady in Ohio in regard to the Bourbon Red turkey. She
has bred them only- one year. Her tom and hen were
both young and to that she attributes the weakness of
the poults, but as only one died a natural death it goes to
show that they are quite hardy. They were very large
when first hatched and very pretty. They are about as
hardy as the Bronze when raised under similar con-
ditions, and make beautiful birds when grown. They are
marked something like a peafowl, are very quiet and not
much inclined to wander and want to be left entirely
alone to attend strictly to their own business. My cor-
respondent thinks that for a market fowl a cross of the
Bronze and the Bourbon Red would give good results.

1 am often asked which is the best way to mate tur-
keys—young toms with hens or old toms with pullets. I
like an old tom, but sometimes one suffers a serious loss
among the hens, resulting from injury caused by a vig-
orous male. I always make cots for the spurs the same
as a finger cot, and wire them on the legs with a fine
copper wire. If the spur is very sharp we saw the sharp
point off and cut the toe nails very blunt. I find ‘this an
indispensable treatment if one expects to escape loss.

A correspondent asks how many turkeys she ought
to keep, and how many hens and toms she should buy to
begin breeding on forty acres of land. She is building a
house for them. I wrote and told her not to build a
house for turkeys, an open shed is all they ever need. A
high shed covered with prairie hay or anything that will
keep out rain and sun. I think when the Ever Ruling
Hand made turkeys He make the sky their covering. I
really do like an open shed for rainy or stormy days and

when the terrible blizzards sweep over the country, but
you might as well try to chain the lightning or hold a
cyclone in the hollow of your hand as to attempt to make
turkeys break the laws of nature that made a roost on
the topmost branch of the tree an ideal place for them to
spend a cold night. While we cuddle down in a warm bed,
they are taking a constitutional on the tree top, sway
ing in the blast and they come down full of vigor and
with an appetite that almost equals the ostrich. I never
try to control them as to their quarters for the night
unless we have a severe ice storm, or one of our terrible
blizzards. ‘The rest of the time they are left to ‘“‘paddle
their own canoe” at night. When the Creator put into
turkeys the instinct to sleep in the open air He knew
more about raising turkeys than I do.

As to the number of birds my correspondent should
begin with, I would under no circumstances get more
than ten hens and one tom. I started with three thor-
oughbred hens and a tom, even though I had raised tur-
keys for some years before this. I always advise in-
quirers to begin upon a small seale in any branch of
poultry raising. One may work into the business and will
not then lose the money invested, nor think the business is
unprofitable. One turkey hen will lay two litters of eggs
in a season, and this is all it is profitable to have her
lay, for if she laid a third litter it would be too late to
bother with them. She usually lays about thirty eggs in
two litters, sometimes more, sometimes less. If this lady
raises one hundred and fifty turkeys from ten hens she
will be doing well, as the eggs will not all hatch and the
poults will not all live. There are always some that are
weak when first hatched. One hundred and fifty turkeys
will be as many as should be kept on forty acres, for
they are not like chickens, they must have range and
must hunt for the larger portion of their food if it is de-
sired to raise them to perfection in size, vigor and
plumage, and of course it is.

Turkeys raised on a large range are best to use as
breeders, as they develop on nature’s plan—bone, muscle
and frame, and that is what we want instead of heavy
weights and small frames. Some people think weight is
the criterion of excellence in turkeys. I wish I could take
them out with me in my morning rambles and show
them the points of excellence my birds are developing by
roving around and picking up the food that nature con-
tributes so lavishly for their benefit. The large, long
legs and well proportioned bodies with the morning sun
glancing from their brilliant plumage make a sight worth
seeing. Exercise and the right kind of diet go a long
way towards making a perfect turkey.

The Bronze turkey does not develop until four years
old, and it stands to reason that a bird which develops
slowly and healthily will make a better breeder and pro-
duce healthier and larger stock than those which are
pushed to maturity, and. which attain great weights
simply by over-feeding and lack of exercise. First se-
cure good health and a large frame, then let nature put
on weight at maturity. If this course were followed we
would not hear so much about diseases and non-success
in raising turkeys. They were created for a special pur-
pose and intended to be healthy and when we undertake
to run against nature there is war at once and we have
to pay the penalty. 5

YARDING AND TRAINING TURKEYS
I raise turkeys and like the business and attribute
much of my success to keeping my turkeys yarded
through the breeding season. People generally think it
a great expense to build a fence that will keep turkeys

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 65

in, though I do not find it so. A three-foot woven wire
fence with barbed wire above to make the fence four or
five feet high will keep them confined if the flight feath-
ers of one wing are cut. I keep the young turkeys
yarded in the same yard until they are six weeks or two
months old, which makes it convenient to protect the
young poults from the wet and I can look them over once
a week for lice, and never have to be hunting up my
turkeys.

People ask me if they are not hard to raise. I raise
a larger per cent of those hatched than I do of chickens.

is generally enough. I have had them caught that way
and hang until dead. I use the breeding yards for the
young turkeys until they are large enough to drive out
on the range, putting fifty in each yard. At six weeks or
two months they are driven onto their summer range,
driving them home at night until they have learned the
trick of coming home to roost. There is considerable
work getting them started to run out on the range and
come home at night. If you allow them to run at large
and stay out at night they will wander away to neigh-
bors and sometimes go miles from home. but if they are

A Pair of Mrs. Chas. Jones’ Prize Winning Bronze Turkeys

For the last two years I have raised over 95 per cent of
all turkeys hatched.

I have found that fifty turkeys in a yard or field are
enovgh to do well. If you keep more than that together
they are apt to pile in together and smother after they
are about a month old. When I get a flock of fifty I
start another drove in another field. I set four or five
turkey hens and at the same time give to domestic hens
as many turkey eggs as I think the turkeys can take
eare of. If possible I set an incubator with chicken eggs.
When they all hatch I give the turkeys all the poults and
the domestic hens all the ineubator chicks, and that
makes business lively all around, and keeps me very busy.

I raise from three different flocks of turkeys, ten
hens and one tom, in each flock. We have from one acre
to three acres fenced in with a three-foot wire netting,
three-inch mesh, with barbed wire at the top, making the
fence five feet high. Turkeys will never try to fly over
a barbed wire fence. They will crawl under if the wires
are not close together, but they will never try to fly over
it. If they ever attempt it they are almost sure to run a
barb through their foot and one experience of that kind

driven home nightly for a week or two they will soon
come home of their own accord, and then your work in
the turkey yard is nearly over, as they can take care of
themselves, only you must watch that they do not forget
to come home.

Turkeys like a large range as they grow older, but
while young, one to three acres makes plenty of range.
You wiil soon find out when they get dissatisfied with
their quarters, as they will crawl out or fly into your
garden or yard, showing that they are anxious to start
on their foraging expeditions. If the hay and oats are
cut so that they can get around without trampling things -
down, or finding too much to hide in, we turn them out.

Turkeys can be made to go almost anywhere their
owner wants them to by driving them to the farthest
fields when they are first started out, but they must be
brought home nights until they learn to come home. I
bought a telescope to save steps and I find it a very great
help, especially as I have to watch my turkeys on ac-
count of the railroad track, In the early dry part of the
season I had a great deal of trouble with my turkeys wan-
dering so far that they could not get back at night. We

66 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND’ MANAGEMENT.

discovered that they invariably went where they found
water last year, and we concluded it was water they were
after, so we took large dishes and put out where we
wanted thei to run, and then they only went about one-
half mile away and stayed on our own place. Their going
where they found water last year shows that turkeys
have memories. I believe animals have much more in-
telligence that we give them credit for. Only their lan-
guage and way of giving expression to their wants is all
Greek to us.

To show how turkeys measure time our turkeys in-
variably start for the house in time to reach the west
edge of the pasture at four o’clock, and it takes them
until about sundown to reach the house near where they
roost. Now, how can they tell the time of day, which
they seem to do as well as we do?

i did not learn in a day nor in a year the art of rais-
ing nearly all the turkeys hatched, nor until I had lost
hundreds each year, I acting as pall bearer and chief
mourner, and I assure you I filled the position of
mourner admirably, weeping copiously over buried hopes
(and those hopes were of a well filled purse).

I hope I shall not have to meet those turkeys in the
next world and be held accountable for my unpardonable
ignorance, but perhaps, by sincerely repenting my past
mistakes the sin of ignorance will be forgiven me. If I
ean be of any help to those who raise $50 and $75 tur-
keys it may help condone the past. May our great
American Thanksgiving bird soar still higher and grow
bigger and reach the thousand-dollar mark. He is sure
to have his praises sung in foreign tongues, and the fun
of it all is, how is he ever with his stupid brain going to
learn those foreign languages, when they call him to
breakfast, dinner and supper? How will he know what
it all means?

INDIGESTION

A turkey grows very fast and has an appetite like an
ostrich, but without an ostrich’s digestive ability. As
the natural way for a turkey to eat is to pick up a grain
here and there in such a manner as to give the digestive
organs a grain at a time to digest, then the digestive
mill grinds slowly without being clogged. This method
of feeding keeps up a steady circulation and the turkey
keeps growing’ larger and stronger, the digestive organs
being developed as the turkey grows, and they are there-
fore better able to do their work when more food is re-
quired to be digested to build up a large frame. On the
other hand, when the poults are overfed, the machinery
is clogged and there is a general smash-up, the effect.
being similar to that caused by throwing a bushel of
corn into a corn sheller. The machine will do its work
all right if fed slowly, so will a turkey’s digestive organs.
A turkey is a voracious eater and will eat as often as you
feed it.

There are other causes that will bring death with
very nearly the same symptoms. One is lice and one is
lack of sharp grit. A turkey cannot grind its food with-
out grit any more than a miller can grind wheat without
millstones; we might as well try to chew our food with-
cut teeth.

A neighbor told me that her turkeys were dying and
i sent her word to come and get some Mica Crystal Grit
and give them, as I knew she was net giving them any
grit. I adyised her to put a little in the food every morn-
ing. She did so and her turkeys are no longer dying. It
was the absence of sharp grit that caused them to die.

I have adopted a treatment for turkeys and chicks
that has proved a great success. If I see them act as
though they were not feeling well I give a calomel pill.

‘These I buy from the druggist, each pill to contain a
tenth of a grain of calomel. I give the pills one a day for
three days, then follow with quinine pills twice a day
until the birds are well. If noticed and treated when first
they show symptoms of not being well I have never failed
to effect a cure. The calomel stirs up the liver and gets
it to work, as most cases of sickness among poultry com-
mence with a disordered liver. After the system has had
a thorough cleansing the quinine acts as tonie to build
the birds up and gives them appetites, then nature does
the rest. By this course of treatment you ward oft what
might terminate in serious sickness and death. I have
used similar treatment in the human family and saved
a great many doctor’s bills, to say nothing of long spells
of sickness and suffering.

OVERFEEDING CAUSES DEATH

Overfeeding is a common cause of loss in young tur-
keys. I feed cnly three times a day for the good reason
that I could not possibly find time to feed oftener with
the large number I raise. I find it sufficient. They take
iunore exercise if fed less, then when they are fed they
are hungry. The time between feeding, too, allows the
food to digest and gives the digestive organs a little rest.

I feed more green food than most people do, as 1
find it has the same effect on turkeys that it has on
ducks. It produces a large frame. I chop dandelion
leaves for them in the morning and at night chop up
onions, tops and all. I notice there is never a serap of
the green food left when they are through eating. They
make rapid growth when fed this way, besides it is a
cheap way to feed them.

I give a little sharp grit in their food every morn-
ing. I use grit and oyster shell, the larger part grit, as
turkeys to be healthy must have it. I have lost hundreds
of turkeys I know by not having plenty of grit with
which to grind their-food. If they get a little sharp grit
in their food every morning it keeps their grinding ap-
paratus in perfect order. Very young birds do not find
the grit of their own accord, and as they grow older they
are liable to gorge themselves with the grit as soon as
they discover it, thereby clogging their digestive organs,
while a small quantity in their food each morning keeps
them in excellent condition.

I have my little poults so they will fly over a board
a foot high when but one week old. There are more
turkeys killed by over feeding and lice and want of grit
than all other things combined. If you do not keep them
near the house so that you can run them under cover
when a heavy storm comes up you are liable to lose a
large per cent. I find a large shed with a board floor is
fine to run them in in ease of sudden storms. Of course
you must stay close at home to meet all these emergen-
cies. It is not more confining than other occupations.
The merchant, lawyer, doctor, mechanic and farmer have
to confine themselves closely to business, and the poultry
raiser, whether for the fancy or market, must make it a
business and work on business principles.

EVILS FROM LACK OF EXERCISE

I learned something about exercise for very young
turkeys this year. I hatched some under hens quite
early; it was wet and cold and of the two evils I decided
IT would not turn them out to run through the day, so 1
kept them cooped a week or more. When I went to feed
them I found one that did not seem to haye the use of
its left side. J thought it had got hurt in some way and
would soon be all right. It got no better and I still kept
them cooped, as it was so cold and wet; then another
got that way. 'They would push themselves around with

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 67

their right foot as they lay on their left side. When the
third one was taken sick I decided it was paralysis of
the left side, brought on by lack of exercise, and so I
turned them out. Those that had been affected died. It
was still cold and wet when my other turkeys began to
hatch, and I kept the first lot of chicks cooped perhaps
five days, when one of them acted in the same way as
the early hatched birds. I turned them out to run
through the day and that was the last of it. This con-
vinced me that it was paralysis brought on by lack of
exercise. ‘he peculiar part of it was that it was always
the left side affected. My turkeys are making rapid
growth out on the range. I feed them a little grain when
they come up at night, and we have such quantities of
apples that I put the small ones in a box and chop them
up with the spade and feed them to
all the poultry, and they do enjoy the
cool juice these hot, dry days, and
the apples keep them in such good
health and are so much better for
them than green food or even grass-
hoppers exclusively.

The only road to suecess with
turkeys is to keep them healthy.
Give them plenty of exercise, com-
mencing to let them run through the
middle of the day at three or four
days old; keep the lice off and give
a little grit in their food every morn-
ing, with good, clean water to drink
and they will have very few diseases.
Exercise they must have, but very
young turkeys can have sufficient ex-
ercise on an acre or two, and a great many young turkeys
can be saved by enjoying this exercise under your control.
Coop at night until they begin to want to roost.

PUNCHING THE POULTS

I always mark my young poults when I put them out
on the range, as otherwise they would be forgotten or
neglected. With care there will be found web enough to
allow a good mark and it will not grow together if, as
sometimes is the case, you cut into the edge of the web,
It will do no harm and will always show the mark. It is
different with ducks, the mark will grow together if
made in the edge of the web, but if several punch marks
are made you can always see the scars, as the webs of
their feet are very transparent. Sometimes I make so
large a hole in a duck’s foot that it does not grow to-
gether and I often find them with a weed run through
the hole. In their efforts to release themselves they get
twisted and hang there until they die if not released.

PULLING WING FEATHERS

I am asked if I pull the wing feathers of sick poults
to improve their health, and I reply—No, not to improve
their health, but to prevent too much strength being
taken from their systems by the extreme growth of flight
feathers. I usually pull the first flight feathers on the
wing when the turkeys are from three to six days old,
as at that time they come out so easily that it almost
seems as if nature intended those feathers to be pulled.
Sometimes I cannot get the time to attend to it, and I
notice the quill feathers are making such rapid growth
that they hang down, almost drag, and the turkeys ap-
pear much weaker than those that have had their feath-
ers pulled; after this period, too, they are much harder
to pull and the poults have lost all the strength that it
i90k to grow them. They should be pulled almost as
soon as they start to grow, then your turkeys will put

erowth into the body and the other feathers. This
ereatly inereases our chance of success.

A thought at one of the Chicago
shows. Does the second growth of flight feathers*make
as finely marked a wing as the first, or is the reverse the
I had never thought of it in that light before and
shall experiment this summer and let the readers know.
This much I do know after years of experience, the little
turkeys certainly are stronger and stand a better chance
of living if the first flight feathers are pulled when they
are from three to four days old, and they come out so
easily at this time that it has no evil effect.

Was suggested

case?

LICE AND MITE DESTROYERS

Another correspondent asked about carbolineum,

A Group of Mrs. Chas. Jones Breeding Turkeys

wishing to know if it is the same as carbolineum avenar-
ius. It is the same article. It was originally manufac-
tured in Germany and sent over to this country in bar-
rels. Some claim it is still made there, but I am. of the
opinion that what we use is an American product. Its
original use was as a wood preservative for painting
fence posts where they are set in the ground, It is
claimed that if posts for corn cribs are painted with it,
it will keep rats out of the crib, although I have heard
this contradicted. She asks if it is dangerous to use.
The only danger is, it will cause the face and hands to
swell if it is used in strong sunlight. She also asks if
it is lasting in its effects on mites and lice. It is a wood
preservative and penetrates right through an inch board
in a very few minutes, and it is there to stay so long as
the board lasts. For this reason it has been found to be
one of the best preventatives of lice and mites that is
known. I gave it enough of a trial to know it will do all
that is claimed for it. I painted all my turkey and
chicken coops with it and never had healthier birds. I
painted my coops only once. It costs ninety cents a gal-
lon. I painted all perches and intend to spray my houses
with it, as it is not expensive used with a fine
sprayer, such as can be bought for $1.

when

However, I do not trust entirely to any one thing. I
paint a box, which I keep for the purpose, with some
good lice killer, and put turkeys and chicks in it for an
hour or two, leaving sufficient provision for fresh air. I
also use good insect powder on the little chicks and tur-
keys. Whether or not carbolineum avenarius or lice kil-
ler is dangerous to use on old fowls in the way recom-~
mended I cannot say, but there is one thing certain, it
will not poison them. Any strong insecticide will kill
little turkeys or chickens if they are shut in a box
which is painted with it and allowed no fresh air, This
I know by sad experience. For spraying houses and

68 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

painting perches I prefer the carbolineum, but I like the
lice killer best for painting a box in which to place the

birds. I use lice powder for the very young birds.

SOME DISEASES OF TURKEYS

A lady wrote that she hatched sixty-six little turkeys
and had only ten left. Her turkeys had a diarrhoea, a
thin yellowish discharge. This might be from lack of
grit.

As the cold rains and cool nights come, colds that
take the form of roup often attack turkeys, though I
haye very little if any trouble of this kind since I learned
more about turkeys and their ways and since I feed them
just clear, dry grain. When I used to feed mashes often
hot or very warm, both chickens and turkeys had roup,
but now it is almost an unknown disease on our place.

I saw a remedy recommended which I think worth
trying. It was to bathe the swollen head, mouth and
throat with turpentine. It is said to work a speedy cure.

A lady telephoned me recently that one of her hens
was suffering from a peculiar trouble. Although it had a
good appetite it could not get its head to the ground to
eat. The trouble appeared to be in her neck. I advised
rubbing her neck with turpentine and putting her food
up high where she could reach it, and thought she would
get over it as she appeared to be very hungry, which
proved that her digestion was all right. A few days later
the lady reported that the hen was all right.

Several cases have been reported to me in this vicin-
ity, of sick turkeys whose droppings are yellow. I have
recommended linseed oil, or what has proved much bet-
ter, olive oil. A lemon extract bottle of the smaller size
holds about three doses. It should be given about twelve
hours apart, and about six hours after the last dose of
the olive oil give a capsule of quinine. Give quinine twice
a day until the turkey has regained its strength.
Quinine is a very strong tonic for turkeys, and I am
never without it. But never doctor poultry if it can be
avoided, as poultry, like people, are better kept well than
doped to make them well. They, like ourselves, are ma-
chines. If they have the kind of food nature intended
them to have and they have exercise to grind that fowd,
it goes to build up the system and to repair the waste
that is constantly taking place. We must all exercise the
muscles that do the grinding.

The Bible says that man must earn his bread by the
sweat of his brow. Working until the sweat shows on
the brow means hard physical labor and that promotes
health. Of course we have thousands of men today who
have the get-rich-quick idea in their heads, who
are determined to avoid earning their bread by the sweat
of their brows. The result is that our prisons are full
and thousands of men are broken in health. Let us learn
a lesson from our birds and be wise. Animals of all kinds
eat and exercise to digest their food, but man alone
covets ease and luxury without physical labor. We al-
ways have among us men broken down in health and in
mind who fill early graves because they are not willing
to submit to nature’s ways and so retain their vigor and
health.

TINCTURE OF IODINE FOR LICE

I have been in the habit of using tincture of iodine
-for lice. I take a feather (but intend getting a small
brush) and brush the top of the head and across the
quills of the wing feathers, under the wings, and the
fluff below the vent with the tincture of-iodine. It is a
fact that I have proved time and again that those treated
with iodine for lice outgrew those treated with
other remedies, the only objection being the expense,

but if one will send and get a large bottle at wholesule
price it will not be expensive.

When turkeys are making very rapid growth, I find
the lice are making rapid growth also. When I take the
old turkey off the nest I paint a box with lice killer, put
her in and leave her for two hours. I do not shut her in
an air tight comnpartment, only close enough for the lice
killer to thoroughly fumigate her feathers. ‘his kills
all the lice and nits. I grease the heads of the little tur-
keys to destroy the large head lice; I also dust them
thoroughly with a good lice powder and paint their coops
with carbolineum, but with all the precautions I find I
must look over them once a week for lice. One of the
most essential things during July is to keep the turkeys
free from lice.

The first of July generally ends the turkey egg busi-
ness. Occasionally turkeys lay a third clutch of eggs
after that time, but I never consider them of much
value, as they do not hatch well and the young turkeys
never grow very large. I remember one exception to that
rule. I had a brood of young turkeys come off about the
first of August, and a pullet from that flock weighed six-
teen pounds on the 10th of December. I took first prem-
ium with her at Dixon, IIl., before the weight was raised
in the Standard. That was one pound above standard
weight on a pullet ten days over four months old.

The work for August in the turkey yard is very light
as the turkeys are, or should be, out on the range on
farms. I only feed them a little in the morning so that
they may be induced to run out in search of food, and a
little at night to get them to come home. After they
have started out, all I have to do is to bring them home
at night and keep on the watch for lice. They go through
a corn field and I have noticed the old turkey and young
ones stop and wallow in the loose airt to dust them-
selves, so I hardly ever have much trouble with lice when
they are out on the range.

In November I have watched them with a great deal
of interest to see how they make up their bill of fare for
breakfast. They work lively, for they have voracious
appetites and have nearly cleared the place of grasshop-
pers. Now they make their breakfast of weeds or grass
seeds with occasionally oats that have been left lying on
the ground. I notice as the fall advances they spend a
lot of time in the corn field, picking corn from ears
that have been blown down.

The following is a good story, although I do not
vouch for its truthfulness: A farmer in Kansas has ~
started a novel plan, based upon the prevalence of grass-
hoppers. He has about one thousand turkeys. After his
neighbors saw the way his fields were cleared of grass-
hoppers they proposed hiring one hundred turkeys by
the day to eat their grasshoppers, so he divided them
into flocks of one hundred and hired them out at $2.50
per one hundred for a day’s work, which made $25 in-
come a day for the use of one thousand turkeys, and
what turkeys those turkeys will be this fall. This of
course settles the grasshopper question in Kansas and
Nebraska. If they can settle the rainfall question as
easily, the two states will never hold the emigration that
will rush there.

INBREEDING AND NEED OF RANGE
Turkeys deteriorate quicker by inbreeding than any
other animal. Inbreeding indiscriminately for a long
time weakens their constitutions. Turkeys, like horses,
in their wild state, elected their leaders, or rather the
leaders elected themselves by their prowess. When an
old leader began to show signs of feebleness a young

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 69

turkey tom challenged him to mortal combat. If the old
ehief was equal to the combat the young aspirant was

compelled to fall back to the rear or remain where he -

fell. When the old chief showed renewed signs of feeble-
ness another young aspirant for royal honors stepped
out of the ranks and the old tom rarely came off con-
queror. One of our hunters who goes west every year to
hunt has often told me of seeing the footprints of an
enormous wild turkey that he had tracked and had oc-
easionally got a glimpse of. He described him as being
as large as a calf. That old tom had evidently ruled su-
preme for many years and had grown too smart to be

A Winner from the Yards of Mrs. Chas. Jones

caught napping, so the hunter could never get a shot at
him. Turkeys in their wild state range in large flocks,
but when they are domesticated it is necessary to keep
them in small flocks. I think eighty acres little enough
range for 150 turkeys. They could be bred in and left to
run in flocks of three hundred if they had a range of
three hundred acres. The reason large flocks cannot be
kept on small range is that they do not find sufficient
insects and the thousand other things that they pick
up to make their bill of fare. Fifty can be kept on from
one to three acres until they are six weeks or two
months old, then one just simply cannot keep them in
a small enclosure, as they will erawl under or through or
get out some other way, for they are growing fast and
must have what nature demands. I always make a vir-
tue of necessity and turn them out on the range.

I change males every year. I do not go out of the
strain I am breeding, but take another branch of the
same line of blood, and have found that I do not impair
their vigor in the least, but am building up strong,
healthy birds with plumage that for years has kept my
whole flock above a score of 93, and that in a flock of one
' hundred and fifty birds. Last year 94 was the lowest.
While I have improved them in shape and plumage I do
not find one sick turkey in twenty-five throughout the
season.

LINE BREEDING

At one of the great Chicago shows two things were
very strongly impressed on my mind; one was strain or
line-breeding of turkeys. The two leading strains ex-
hibited there have been line bred to my certain knowl-
edge; one at least ten or twelve years (perhaps longer,
but I am speaking of what I know), the other from in-
formation gained in different ways I am led to believe
has been line bred the same length of time. They have
formed two distinct types; both strains very large birds

and beautifully bronzed, but with this difference in color
of plumage—in one strain the bronze or gold band across
tail coverts, and in fact throughout the whole plumage
was a greenish golden color; in the other it was just the
color of gold without the greenish hue, From what I know
these two strains have won most of the premiums in our
leading shows from Madison Square to Chicago. Upon
comparing the plumage after the premiums were
awarded the exhibitors were convinced that the birds
represented two distinct species of the same bird. The
strain that had the pure gold color had the gold band
the entire length of the back. This was absent in the
other strain.

The prevailing idea in looking over this Chicago show
was that the old avoirdupois way of mixing blood was
out of date, and if we expect to get to the front, the
blood must be weighed by apothecary weight, or better
still, on the alchemist’s scales, although the alchemist, I
believe, has never been able to brew in his ecaldron in-
gredients that turned out gold. One breeder proved
beyond a doubt that he could put a clear, even gold band
on Bronze turkeys, and the inference is that he has been
for years using the alchemist scales to reach this much
to be desired point of excellence.

If the exhibits of Bronze turkeys continue to grow 1
am afraid there will have to be erected a new Coliseum
for the turkey exhibit alone. c

If we all bred Plymouth Rocks and there was only
one breed and one club, the poultry business would be
tame and we would lose our incentive to strive for our
ideal in the variety that met our fancy. Now if the ad-
mirers and breeders of each variety of turkeys were to
organize a club to push the interest of their particular
breed, to look up their origin and write up the good
qualities that commend them to breeders the turkey
business would be pushed to the front in a way that
could not be accomplished by an indiscriminate pushing
of all varieties combined.

TURKEYS VS. GRASSHOPPERS

In looking over a Chicago paper some time ago, I
saw an account of a Kansas farmer who was starting
turkey raising on a large scale. His idea was a good one
as they are raising large fields of alfalfa and the grass-
hoppers are proving a great detriment to that crop.
Alfalfa has been a great boon to the drought-stricken
parts of our country. Irrigation, the raising of trees
and then the great crops of alfalfa have made the desert
blossom like the rose. But the grasshopper lays its eggs,
and the young when hatched feed on this alfalfa, the
best paying crop of these districts. They eat off the
blossoms and so make the raising of seed very difficult
as the second crop is the seed crop that is saved, and
that is the very crop that is ready when the grasshopper
season is at its height. The seed is valuable. We paid
nine dollars a bushel for enough to sow three acres.

I have always thought that if Kansas farmers would
go into turkey raising on a large scale, they would do
away with the grasshopper plague to a great extent. I
have watched fields where grasshoppers were thickest
and I found that as a rule they are not migratory in
their habits. I know that in the early days of the-set-
tlement of Kansas and Nebraska they were said to go
in swarms, but here when they are thick in one field one
year they are usually thick in the same field the follow-
ing year. Along the railroad they are thick every yeur,
because nothing is allowed to go on the track for fear of
it being killed. And so they lay their eggs there and
they hatch and the young thrive, and this is repeated

70 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND

year after year while in adjoining fields there are com-
paratively few grasshoppers.

If each Kansas and Nebraska farmer would raise

from one to two hundred turkeys each year he would
find his farms cleared of grasshoppers, and the weed
seeds that are so great a detriment to farming woula
go into the crops of the turkeys and what had been an
injury to farmers would be turned into many dollars for
their use.

western

I have told that the alfalfa in Ne-

braska was full of grasshoppers when cut, and that they

been

During the winter the chickens scratch pre-
Turkeys would find

smothered.
served grasshoppers out of the hay.
there their natural food all eut and dried for them, ex-
It is a good

told of that

cept the exercise of scratching to get it.
story and it has an advantage over some
country, for this one might be true.

No one need be afraid of overproduction of turkeys

MANAGEMENT.

as the demand will always exceed the supply. In the
states where both alfalfa and grasshoppers grow, farm-
ers will raise three crops in one—the hay for the stock
And so the states
have had so hard a struggle to produce paying
may yet become the greatest
money making states in the union as they are also in
Look back across the years when
the first Thanksgiving turkeys were killed to feed the

and the grasshoppers for the turkeys.
that

crops year after year,
the great corn belt.

starving Pilgrims and note the marvelous changes that

have taken place. The greatest nation on earth was
born and kept from starvation by wild turkeys and wild
game with the meagre supplies sent across the ocean by
sailing vessels that took months to reach our
shores. If the future our supply of turkeys
should exceed the demand, our fast going steamships
will take them to foreign markets in six to eight days
where there will be an unlimited demand for anything

so delicious to the taste as a properly grown turkey.

slow

ever in

%

WY

NN,

{

aN

a)
— COPYRIGHT © SY THE
RELIABLE
POULTRY
JOURNAL

Down-To-Date Bronze Turkeys—By Sewell

THE WATCHWORD OF SUCCESS

Experience, Watchfulness and Common-Sense are Necessary to Raise Prize-Winning Bronze Turkeys—Something About Coops for the
Mother and Her Poults—Do Not Overfeed

MRS. NELLIE BULLOCK

7 ERE I to begin the breeding of fancy turkeys
and could have the benefit of my present
knowledge, I think I should buy stock, the
very best my purse would allow, even if I
had to limit my flock to a pair. We bought
eggs at different times from three noted fanciers, but
something went wrong each time, either the eggs were
infertile, or not strong enough to hatch, or the poults
would manage to die. So I think the quicker way to
secure a good flock would be to purchase birds. Turkeys
are hardy after they are half grown, and most persons
would sell cheaper then than after they are grown. It
would not be a bad idea to invest in half-grown birds.

I should advise any one who has not raised turkeys to
get the cheaper grade of some thoroughbred variety you
fancy, and learn with them. Then if you have losses it
will not bankrupt you, and when you have mastered the
details necessary to raising these successfully you can
invest in birds of fine plumage and other fine points pos-
sessed by fancy fowls, to the extent of your much en-
larged purse—never forgetting, however, that there is
always something to be learned.

For those who have had success in raising commot:
turkeys and who wish to start with some special variety
of thoroughbred turkeys, I should advise them to get a
pair, trio or pen of the best your purse will afford and
apply to them your knowledge of care and feeding gained
while raising the common birds.

CARE OF POULTS

Raising the poults is the hard task for most begin-
ners, and some of the more experienced ones have their
hands full when they try to raise a large per cent.
Practical experience, watchfulness and plenty of common
sense applied to the varying circumstances, are necessary
to success. Our plan is somewhat as follows: First, we
require a roomy coop with a dry floor, covered with tim-
othy or clover chaff. Confine the mother, either a
ehicken or a turkey hen, on rainy days. On dry, sun-
shiny days, tether her to an apple tree limb, having the
coop near. Clean the floor twice a week at least. If the
earth is dry, it will serve very well as a floor, otherwise,
a raised board floor would be better. Dust both the
mother and the poults thoroughly twice a week with
Persian insect powder. For dusting the poults, I keep a
two gallon, flaring earthenware crock. We put a handful
of powder in the crock, then hold the poult by the feet
over the crock and dust it until it looks yellow all over.
T do not haye so much trouble with lice as I did when I
put the powder on in spots. Keep the water dishes clean
and full.

We try not to overfeed, and neither do we starve
them, for one is as bad as the other. We console ourselves
if occasionally a poult dies, or several of them die at one
time, with the thought that our neighbors, too, lose
poults and that very few, no matter how much knowledge
they have on this subject, can raise all that hatch.

Ai TURKEYS AS HATCHERS

There was an interesting item in the Reliable Poultry
Journal some years ago over the initials C. H. A., which
we reproduce:

“A great deal is being said lately about using turkeys
for hatching hen eggs, so I will give my experience. It
has been really comical to see the look of doubt on the
faces of people when told that we had turkeys which had
never laid any eggs, sitting. Too polite to dispute the
statement, their looks plainly said, ‘Does he expect me to
believe that story ?’

“When I first read in an English poultry book of the
French method of using turkeys to hateh and care for
chickens, I had no ineubator and concluded to try the
plan. Late in the fall I sent out in the country and
bought a late hatched hen turkey for very little money.
In February we prepared a box (with plenty of chaff
over a layer or horse manure) that could be shut up to
exclude the light. Did not give either wine or whisky,
but in two or three weeks she was sitting quietly on the
china eggs and when taken off the nest to be fed, would
voluntarily return. I then filled the nest with hens’ eggs,
removing them as soon as they began to pip to keep the
turkey from wanting to leave the nest and putting in
other eggs. After sitting three months she was put in
a yard with chickens for the rest of the summer. We
put chickens of different ages with her and she received
them all with equal kindness.

“This year we have two turkeys, besides an incubator,

-and after hatching three sittings of eggs we thought best

to take them off the nest, but one watched her chance
and went back on the nest till I filled it with eggs again,
so I let her stay. The other is laying and will be ready
for work later if needed. ,

Ideal Turkey Coop for Hen and Ponults

“They make careful, patient mothers, are equal in
that respect to any hen, and it is a wonder that farmers
do not make more use of them than they do.”

DESCRIPTION OF IDEAL COOP

We have a coop for turkeys and poults which we
find almost ideal. It is two feet high in the back and
three feet in front; six feet long and three feet wide.
The door is large enough to allow a turkey hen to walk
in and out without inconvenience and the coop is large
enough to allow a turkey hen and twenty poults to walk
around when they are confined during a rainy day. We
use two doors, one made of lumber for stormy times, the
other of inch mesh wire netting for warm nights. Thus
plenty of fresh air is admitted and small rats or larger
animals are kept out.

CO

Down-To-Date White Holland Turkeys—By Sewell

WHITE HOLLAND TURKEYS

Beautiful in Shape and Chaste in Color, They Form an Excellent Foil for the Brilliant Hues of the Bronze Variety, While Their Many
Excellent Qualities Make Them Worthy Rivals

JOHN R. GARBEE

EARS ago we raised only the common turkeys
and we counted ourselves among the lucky
ones if we, or rather I should say the old
turkey hens, raised sixteen or twenty a year.

Along about 1890 I developed a severe case of “poultry
fever.” I have been a reader of the Reliable Poultry Jour-

nal ever since it came into existence. I have a complete
file of it down to date, which fact is explained when I say
that I consider it the leader among poultry papers.

I also read other poultry and farm papers, and soon
I was convinced that better poultry and turkeys ought to
be raised on farms and that turkeys could be managed so
that there should be a good
profit in them. Hunters were
killing our common turkeys
for wild ones because they
wandered so far from home,
thereby causing us consider-
able vexation and loss.

We had never seen a pure
white turkey, but we read
about their. gentleness and
that they did not roam like
the other varieties. So we
sold all our common ones and
purchased a trio of White
Holland turkeys from an R.
P. J. advertiser, paying $7.50 for them and $2 expressage
—which seemed a big price then. Since then we have paid
more than that for a single bird. These first birds were
rather small, though pretty. Up to this time I never had
seen a Standard, but I soon bought one and learned that
my birds were under weight, and feed them how I would,
I could not get that trio up to Standard weight.

I soon learned where I could get large White Hol-
land turkeys, and I bought some more, still keeping the
little, plump hens. The next season the young poults
were larger than their mothers—the result of using a
large tom. ‘The results have been about the same
whether lusedalarge young tom or an older bird, provided
the young males were big boned, blocky fellows mated
to good blocky hens or pullets. Still, I preter a tom from
two to five years old. I wish to state here that when I
began breeding this variety of turkeys the toms at their
best weighed only sixteen pounds and the pullets and
hens eight to ten pounds, but during the past three or
four years, by following my own rules of mating as
given here, my turkeys have doubled these weights, so
that now my young toms and pullets weigh from fifteen
to twenty-four pounds.

I use both pullets and hens as breeders, though I am
eareful to select the best shaped ones—those that are
blocky and in first class health. The first eggs that are
laid are given to domestic hens (eight or ten to each

A flock of White Hollands
The Property of Mr. John R. Garbee

hen) or are put in an incubator. We get successful
hatches either way, but we never have had success when
we put the poults in a brooder. It may be the fault of
this particular make of brooder, as I never have thought
well of it, though it is a high priced one. So we give the
poults to hens. Now, it is easy enough to hatch the
poults, the main trouble is to raise them. I am free to
confess I do not know it all, but some things I have
learned from experience. I know I have lost more poults
from lice, over feeding and chilling than from all other
causes combined. Lice are the poults’ worst enemies,
and next they suffer from overfeeding. Our rule for feed-
ing chicks is ‘any sound, wholesome food, fed a little at
a time.” This rule applied to poults works equally well.
We are most successful when
the weather is fair and the
food is given to them three
times a day, and not faster
than it could be digested. We
find cottage cheese is good
for them and they like it, but
judgment must be used in
feeding it. I repeat that any
clean, wholesome food fed in
moderation is good for them.
We find a varied diet—corn
bread, cracked corn, wheat,
chopped vegetables, table
seraps, even corn dough oc-
easionally—works all right, while some breeders claim
success on one straight diet.

After the second and third clutches of eggs are laid
we set the turkey hens. We always prefer to move them
to a suitable coop or barrel nest in the yard or near a
poultry house, so they can be protected and cared for
better. They can be moved with but little trouble when
broody. They are confined to the nest for a few days by
a slat coop, after that they get off and on at will, food
and fresh water being kept near them. Remember al-
ways that lice are the great drawback to successful tur-
key raising, and try to have your sitting hen absolutely
free from lice, mites or jiggers when the eggs hatch, and
then keep her free. Watch the poults, too, and do not
let them suffer from lice. A clean coop and pure water
are essential to success.

Do not overfeed nor underfeed either. Provide a
comfortable place for the hen and poults, so that the
latter may not get unduly chilled, and give the hen all
the food she will eat, so she will not be restless, but
put her food out of reach of the poults. Note how the
latter will grow with this care. By the time they are
feathered and large enough to roam they will be but
little care and they will get a large share of their food
trom the fields, but if you follow the method I have
outlined they will always come home for supper and will
be very gentie.

.

ADVOCATES WHITE HOLLAND TURKEYS

Their Beauty and Market Qualifications Make it Both Pleasant and Profitable to Raise Them—Preferred Weight of Turkeys—Inbreeding—
Black Ticking on Feathers

J. A. LELAND

FTER several years of experience with White
Holland ‘Turkeys I have come to the con-
clusion that there is no better variety for
beauty and utility. The standard weight
for adult toms is twenty-eight pounds, for
adult hens eighteen pounds, for young toms
twenty pounds, and young hens fourteen
pounds. These weights are often exceeded,

but not as a rule to the advantage of the breed, although

turkeys are never housed, nor should they be, except for
convenience in handling, but we consider it best to have
them roost some place sheltered from severe winds and
storms.

I would clip the flight feathers of one wing so that an
ordinary five-foot fence that they could not get through
nor under, would confine them.

We would not consider it profitable to raise large
numbers of turkeys in small enclosures as they require

White Hollands, as bred by Mr. J. A. Leland

the majority of fanciers try to produce the heaviest birds
possible for show purposes. In our experience young
stock must reach these weights when about six to eight
months old if they ever attain standard weight when
mature. Very heavy specimens are not prolific breeders
and stock weighing standard in breeding condition is
generally to be preferred.

Inbreeding is a thing that turkeys cannot stand,
therefore, it is imperative that new blood be obtained

each year if we wish to raise a large number of hardy,
heavy boned fowls that will top either the market or
show room. As to color I have never seen a White Hol-
land turkey that did not show some black ticking in its
plumage during some period of its life. However, there
is a great difference in specimens in this respect and
we should breed from stock as free from this fault as
possible, if we ever expect to correct it. We believe an
ideal White Holland should have a very full, round body
(an egg with large end forward gives a good idea), neck
of good length, rather long tail and pure white plumage.
They should have stout legs, the shanks should be bright
pink or flesh color, the former much to be preferred
from a beauty standpoint, and rather large feet. My

a large range, where they obtain the greater part of their
food at no cost. If all food were bought the cost of pro-
duction would be too great and turkeys do not thrive in
close confinement.

About the middle of March we place boxes and bar-
rels for nests in out of the way places about the farm
buildings. The hens find them and soon begin to lay. If
turkeys are not furnished suitable nests they are apt to
choose them in places exposed to crows and vermin. A
crow will watch a hen half a day to get an egg and gen-
erally finds the nest, while I have found hens dead on
their nests, killed by minks or skunks. If their first
clutch is taken away they will lay another and sometimes
a third. The broody hens should be confiled a few days if
their eggs are taken, as they sometimes will sit on their
nests all the rest of the summer and may die while molt-
ing in the fall. It is often a good plan to set the first
clutch under domestic hens, as the conditions in early
spring are frequently unfavorable to outdoor incubation,
and these hens are more easily handled in confinement.
It is best to let the turkey hatch her second laying, as
the third comes too late, if at all, and early hatched tur-
keys are most desirable.

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 75

BREEDERS AND POULTS

Ordinarily I mate six to twelve hens with a tom and
find the eggs are very fertile, but I think that as many as
twenty might safely be mated to one male. Only one tom
should run with the flock during the breeding season, but
it is well to keep an extra one to use in case of accident.

My breeders have the run of the farm and get only
what they pick up about the buildings, which amounts to
considerable in winter, but to almost
weather comes and then they glean the bulk of their
food in the fields. Turkey eggs are very fertile and hatch
in twenty-eight days. At hatching time the hen should
be closely watched and, if necessary, the poults taken
away when dry until all are hatched, in order that she
shall not leave the nest with them and so chill the other
eggs.

During incubation and at hatching time the hen
should be frequently dusted with some good insect pow-
der, so you may be sure she is free from lice, which, with
filth and dampness, are the worst enemies of young fowls.
Should this be neglected and the poults become infested,
a mixture of kerosene and lard—just a few drops of the
former, as it is so strong, will usually rid them of the
nuisance. Apply it around the head, under the wings and
about the vent.

After the poults are hatched place a coop with a good
roof and slatted end over the hen. This will allow the
poults to range about, but keeps the mother from tiring
them out or leading them through the wet grass. When
the dew has dried the hen may be given her liberty, but
should be carefully watched and driven to her coop in
the evening, or in case of showers. These coops should
be moved each day, so that the young will roost on clean
ground. The first feed may consist of infertile eggs
boiled hard and chopped fine, or a little cracked grain—
oats or wheat preferred. A mixture of coarsely chopped
or ground grains with a little millet should be fed until
they are from four to six weeks old, when they will be
able to eat whole grain. From now on, in good weather,
they will need only a little grain in the evening, which
will serve to bring them home at night and keep them
tame. They will get their food in the fields until frost
comes, after that they should be fed all the corn they will
eat to prepare them for market.

none when good

MARKETING TURKEYS

Young turkeys command good prices by the first of
November or even earlier in our large cities, and all the
heaviest, old and young turkeys, should be marketed be-
tween a few days before Thanksgiving and Christmas,
because after that time heavy stock is at a discount.
Through January the demand is usually only fair, but it
is a good time to dispose of any heavy turkeys that were
not in condition to market earlier. Let us add right here
that marketing thin poultry is throwing money away, as

we might almost say that the difference between thin and

White Hollands at Woodside Farm, Mr. J. A. Leland
Proprietor

The two at the left are old birds, winners of Ist prize as pair at the =>
eens} Illinois State Show, The others are young stock. , == peesiey

prime stock is the profit. From March on the only de-
mand is for medium to small turkeys, and that is when
spring hens can be marketed best, for they are then
searce and consequently bring a good price. It will pay
well to dress them if the work is properly done.

As with other poultry, good, healthy stock must be
used, it must have good care, be fed regularly and con-
stant attention must be given to every detail of the busi-
ness. Given good stock and suitable surroundings success
depends largely on the owner or caretaker. Common
sense must be relied on to carry us over the hard places.

In closing I will say that I believe there is no more
hardy and profitable turkey than the White Holland.
They meet all market requirements and their dressing
qualities, flesh and beauty are unexcelled.

Standard Bred White Holland Turkeys, by Sewell

WHITE HOLLAND TURKEYS

Can bz Grown to Weights that Rival those of the Bronze Variety—May be Raised on a Small Place—A Clever Plan of Hatching—
Feeding the Poults

A. E. BLAKER

E HAVE handled White Holland Turkeys for
many years and the longer we keep them
the better we like them. They are the
stay-at-home turkey and a large flock can
be raised on a few acres of land. Those
now bred by the leading breeders are very
closely approaching the weights of the

One of our head breeders for this season weighs

Bronze.
over forty pounds, so I am inclined to think that those
who have small birds only, have an inferior strain. Forty
pounds is fourteen pounds above standard weight, but
it shows what can be accomplished by selection and
breeding.

The White Hollands are the best layers of all the

turkeys. They will lay all summer long if not allowed
to sit. We have had them lay four clutches of eggs in a
single season. Our breeding flocks are yarded and boxes
and barrels are placed about in out-of-the-way places
for nests and when a hen wants to sit we set her in
those places. The fronts of these boxes and barrels are
generally covered with brush and hay or straw put in-
side. We use about an acre of ground for the breeding
flock, but one can yard them in a very small place if
We yarded a small flock one year, before we
built our present yards, in a yard about five rods square
and we never had eggs hatch better nor turkeys do bet-
ter than that spring. Out of 108 hatched we had eight
accidentally killed and raised 96 to maturity.
HATCHING AND FEEDING

We raise our turkeys altogether with turkey hens,
yet we have them to lay out their second clutch before
we let them have the young ones. We started here in

necessary.

Kansas six years ago with only two hens and a tom and
the way we managed them is illustrative of what can
be done with them. We saved up the eggs until the hens
became broody. Then the eggs were set under chicken
hens and we “broke up” the turkey hens. They began to
lay again in about five days and were ready to sit by the
time the eggs hatched. Although they had _ been
sitting but a few days they were ready to take the poults
and mother them just as if they had gone the full time.

The poults hatch out very strong. Give us a few
days of sunshine after they are hatched and we will
bring nearly all of them through all right. We never feed
the little ones corn chop, for we think it is too heavy a
food. The first feed is good sharp grit and we keep it
before them all the time. The first few days we feed
stale bread soaked in sweet milk and squeezed dry with
the hands and plenty of green food such as dandelion,
lettuce, onion tops or whatever we have handy. Boiled
rice is an excellent food, so are boiled eggs, but I think
one can feed too many boiled eggs and so cause liver
trouble.

The poults are yarded for the first few weeks, but
after we think they are old enough we turn them out
and let them roam overthe farm, being always careful
that they come home every night. They require very
little food and when grasshopper time comes they do
not require any at all, but we always feed a little when
they come in at night as an inducement to have them
come home. They roam over the fields at their own
sweet will in the day time, but they are made to under-
stand from the start that they must come home and go
in their yard every evening.

BREEDING WHITE HOLLAND TURKEYS

Methods Used by a Successful Breeder—Selecting Breeding Stock—Preparation for Shows—Exhibiting—Diseases

Cc. C, HERRON

T PRESENT we are breeding White Holland
Turkeys as we think they are the best tur-
key raised today. We have bred the Bronze,
the Slate and the Bourbon Reds and have
found the White Hollands to beat them all
in many respects.

In our opinion, there is nothing as stylish as a well
developed White Holland, with its pure white plumage,
pink shanks and feet and bright, red head. They are of
a very gentle disposition, make excellent mothers, will
stand confinement better than any other variety we have
tried and will mature quicker and lay more eggs.

They are the most thoroughly domesticated of any
turkey raised today and by careful breeding the size has
been improved until they today
get to be as large as any turkey
on the market. I have raised
young toms that would weigh 24
pounds at Thanksgiving and
never saw those weights beaten
by any other breed or ‘variety.

They can be successfully
raised in confinement, the same
as chickens, until they are able
to take care of themselves and
they will come home at night to
roost, the same as a flock of
chickens.

BREEDING STOCK
I am very careful in select-
.ing my breeding stock. I select
four to six yearling hens with
long backs; broad, deep breasts,
good plumage and all around
shape. These I place with a
large, heavy-boned, vigorous, young tom, and I find this
is the best mating I can get. I can get a larger per cent
of fertile eggs and hatch out large boned, vigorous,
young poults and can raise almost every one. I think a

large per cent of the loss is due to the parent stock.

I keep from five to six breeding yards each year and
raise from two to three hundred. In the fall I cull out
all the bad ones and place on the market about Thanks-
giving time, and save none but the best to ship and breed
from the coming season.

I aim to keep breeders that are show birds and at the
same time are excellent breeders. When I find a good
breeder, 1 keep it as long as it lives, for I think they
never get too old.

I select my breeders and place them in a lot about
one acre in size, for each pen. I have a nest for each hen
(a sugar barrel makes a good nest). Place the nest in a
quiet place where they will not be bothered; it is best to
conceal it a little and let the turkey think she is stealing
her nest. I gather the eggs every evening and place
them in a cool, dark place; turn each day after the first
day, as they will keep longer when handled in this manner.

The first hens that want to sit, get the eggs. I place
from fifteen to seventeen eggs under each hen and aim
to set her on the ground, if possible. Be sure and keep

Jove I.

A forty-five pound White Holland Tom from the yards
of the Royal Farms

her free from lice. When the little poults are hatched, I
place them in a large roomy coop and let the poults have
free range, after the dew is all gone in the morning.
When they are three or four days old I give them a good
dusting with lice powder and turn them and their mother
loose upon free range.

THE FARMER’S FRIEND

There is no fowl that is as profitable for the farmer
ac a flock of turkeys. They will destroy more insects
than any other fowl and eat but very little grain until
cold weather comes. Turkeys bring from 12e to 15¢ per
pound in this section and will bring from $2 to $3.00 each,
so there is a large profit to be made in breeding turkeys

FANCY END IS NEGLECTED

I think that the greatest
trouble in the turkey industry is
that they are neglected in the
show room. They are not given
near the attention that other
poultry is, and for that reason
they are not bred by more fan-
ciers. I exhibit at some of the
leading shows and as a rule the
turkeys are placed in some back
corner where they will not be
seen by any one but the judge.

CONDITIONING FOR THE
SHOWS

In July I start my old birds
to moulting, then I put them up
for about thirty days before
they are ready to start. It is at
this time that I handle them and
get them tame and in condition. When they get so tame
that I can handle them, I turn them out for a day or so
and then place them back in confinement. This makes
them very gentle and so I can handle them with ease,
without their losing flesh, which they will do if kept shut
up all the time. “A turkey needs lots of exercise and will
not stand steady confinement without losing in flesh.

I have my birds fully feathered and in good condition
and as they have their new goat of feathers they are
clean and ready for the show, except a few stains which
can be easily removed with a damp cloth or sponge.

SHIPPING TO THE SHOW

I place them in a good tight crate with plenty of
straw. This keeps them clean while on the road. Be
careful not to leave any cracks in the crate; it is one of
the worst things you.can have to muss up the feathers,
as the birds will be restless and move around more or
less.

DISHKASES AND PREVENTATIVES

Turkeys are an easy fowl to raise, yet are subject to
several diseases such as cholera, roup and black-head.
While I am never bothered much with any of the above
diseases, I think they can be prevented by keeping your
birds healthy, with roosting places in the open air, also
by using clean food and fresh water.

78 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

I think the most common disease in turkeys is
cholera and the greater part of that is brought on by
the way they are fed. In the first plave never allow the
turkeys to drink stagnant water, such as they get in the

fall when streams are low, or around the stable, ete.

Do not over feed. During the seasons when bugs
and insects are plentiful, feed very little grain, just a
little in the morning and night. Too much animal food
will get their bowels too lose and this is the first stage
of cholera. Cholera is an easy disease for me to cure as
1 use my own remedy and it has never failed yet.

There is not as much disease as there used to be and
there would be still less if the farmers and breeders
would use a little more judgment and caution in their
feeding and breeding. Inbreeding is almost a sure sign
of failure in the turkey business.

GET THEM LARGER
There is one thing we all want to work for and that
is to get more size and that is what you will not get if
you inbreed; so, let us work together and build up our
turkeys until they will be true to the name—Mammoth
White Hollands.

RAISE MORE TURKEYS

A Western Breeder of Turkeys Thinks the Farmer Who Does Not Raise a Flock of Turkeys Makes a Mistake—She Finds Them Easy
to Raise—It is Essential to Have Good Parent Stock

7 MRS. W.N.

HEN one decides to raise turkeys the first
thing to do is to invest in good, sound par-
ent stock. I do not believe much in buying
turkey eggs to set, as so many persons are

as not careful enough about the breeding
stock. A turkey that has been cured of roup or any other
disease will not make a good breeder and the young will
not be as sound nor do so well as you expect them to
do. I would advise beginners to buy good stock.

In selecting my own birds I always pick the largest
boned birds that I have. If both the hen and the
gobbler have large extended breasts the young will be
strong and healthy.

I feed my breeding turkeys just the same as I do my
breeding chickens and they lay around the barn or hen
house and do not wander far away.

Ten or twelve hens may be kept with one gobbler
and almost every egg will hatch if the gobbler is vigor-
ous. He should be a year or a little older. I prefer that
the hens be cne or two years old as they are stronger and
know better how to care for their young.

I always set the first laying of eggs under good, old
Plymouth Rock hens and then break up the turkey hens.
In a few days they will be laying again. This second
laying the turkeys are allowed to hatch and they will
rear them so that they will make fine birds by Thanks-
giving if they have any show at all. ‘

As we live on a farm we give the turkeys free range.
As the grain ripens, the alfalfa is green and the grass-
hoppers are plentiful, so with plenty of fresh water at
hand, the turkeys do not need my care—except at night-
fall—after they are old enough to allow them to roam.

FEED AND CARE OF YOUNG TURKEYS

The young poults are kept in a large coop until they
are two weeks old, at which time they are strong and
ready to follow the old turkey. She knows when they
have roamed far enough and she will hover them when
they need it.

Great care should be taken not to feed the young
poults too much at one time. This is the rock, if I may
be permitted to use this figure of speech, on which the
frail barks of thousands of poults have struck and gone
down, together with the plans and hopes of their zealous
but misguided owners. ‘The natural habit of turkeys is
to hunt for their food and they do it slowly and delib-

erately all the long day. Thus the process of eating and

JEWETT

digesting are simultaneous; but when they are fed with
a lavish hand they gorge themselves and in a few weeks
fall victims of their own greed.

I prefer the White Holland because they do not roam
nearly so far as the Bronze. If you mate them well they
will grow very large. The first feed the poults have is
hard-boiled eggs. They are boiled a long time so that
they will be crumbly when mashed with a fork. Eggs so
cooked are easily digested, and they should be sprinkled
with black pepper. This is all I feed for two days, giv-
ing them fresh water to drink. Then they are fed Dutch
cheese, peppered well, and prepared chick feed with
green onions chopped fine.

There are no floors in my turkey coops, but the coops
are removed every day to new ground. A large shingle
is kept on which the little turks are fed. It must be
kept clean, for when it gets dirty they will not eat their
food from it. They are fed four times a day while they
ure cooped, but only twice while they roam, that is in
the morning and at night. Some feed small turks too
often. Their digestive apparatus seems to be very deli-
eate at Overfeeding causes the death of a very
ereat many little turks. If one fed them every time they
come running they would be eating all the time and they
cannot stand it.

first.

BENEFIT TO GROWING CROPS

Turkeys by nature are prone to wander over the
fields for a great share of their living, thereby galning
a healthy, robust constitution and at the same time rid-
ding the fields and meadows of grass and weed seeds,
grasshoppers and other insects that are harmful to grow-
ing crops. This certainly is converting evil into good.
They will do this in the fall of the year when the corn is
ripe and never disturb the ears of corn. Mine do, but
I always feed my turkeys at home some.

Put the turkey coops near the alfalfa field if you
ean and all the day they will roam through the alfalfa
hunting bugs. It is interesting to watch them and hear
them chatter away while at work.

The turkeys that are not fit for breeders are dry-
picked with the head and feet off and sent to market.
Out here I received twenty cents a pound and furnished
the hotels with them. I sell as high as one hundred and
fifty pounds to a hotel at a time, so it is easy to get rid
of all the surplus. I think that the farmer who does not
raise a flock of turkeys is making a great mistake.

Seven Hardy and Vigorous Wild Cockerels

WILD TURKEYS

‘The Hardy Nature of the Turkey has Suffered from In-Breeding and Too Intimate Association with Domestic Fowls—Relief Found in
Return to More Normal Conditions and the Infusion of Wild Blood

ROBERT LEE BLANTON

HE turkey raising industry has recently suf-
fered greatly from a multiplicity of diseases
that have infested these fowls. The losses
have been chiefly among the poults. For
many of these diseases, no sure remedy has
been discovered, and many persons who hith-
erto found this branch of poultry culture
quite lucrative, have given up the business
in despair.

It is almost certain that the originally hardy nature
of the turkey in the wild state has suffered most from
too much inbreeding and from too intimate association
with barnyard fowls. Those familiar with the nature and
habits of wild turkeys are well aware that these birds
are the hardiest and most virile of the gallinaceous
species. They have for several centuries struggled with
man, beast, birds of prey and the elements so that their
existence has depended upon the survival of the fittest.
Thus it is that only the fittest survive.

For years I have made a careful study of wild tur-
keys in their native haunts. I know where they feed,
what they eat, how and where they seek their nesting
places, how they rear their young and how they escape
the hunter.

I have never seen one that seemed to have died from
any disease, and it is a mistake to believe that the young
turkey cannot be raised upon damp ground. I have ob-
served that they prefer the creek and river bottoms, and
I have repeatedly seen fiocks of young wild turkeys re-
treat from the rising waters of ereeks and rivers after
prolonged rains, and noticed that they returned to the
swamps as the water receded. The young feed almost
entirely upon insects, and swamps with nearby fields and
woodlands abound in this kind of food.

Not only is the wild turkey the hardiest of our na-

tive gallinaceous birds, but it is also the largest and
most handsome. No one who has ever seen a magnificent
gobbler strutting in the sunlight, his rich bronze feathers
reflecting colors of gold, green, red, purple and blue, will
forget the sight. I have seen males that appeared
to be eight or ten years old, judging from the length of
their beards and their spurs. The older they are the
richer their plumage becomes. I recall shooting one
some years ago that had a beard fifteen inches long and
spurs an inch and a quarter in length and almost as
sharp as those of a game cock. I suspect that I haye
killed as many of these splendid game birds as anyone of
my age.

Some years ago I concluded to try an experiment in
domesticating them. I succeeded in capturing five young
ones only a few days old. These I raised with a domestic
turkey that had just hatched her own_ brood. For-
tunately, one of these I captured was a male. When they
were three months old and began to show indications of
longing for their kindred in the woods, I enticed them
into an enclosure that I had constructed for their future
home. This enclosure was made with six-foot poultry
wire and was covered with the same material. .I made
the pen thirty feet wide and a hundred and fifty feet
long, constructing a roost at one end of the enclosure
twenty feet high. ‘The following year the hens laid and
I set the eggs under domestic turkeys and raised quite a
flock successfully. I then began to enlarge’my enclosure,
and to eonstruct others similar to the original one. This
I have done from time to time until now I have three
acres thus enclosed. The pens are well set in grass and
clover and are furnished with abundant shade by vines
and shrubbery. I haye now sheds to protect them in bad
weather. ‘The first birds captured had no protection
from the weather.

80 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

I have added to my stock from year to year by cap-
turing other birds and finding eggs until I have all the

varieties except that found in Central America. Our Vir-
ginia variety is the largest of all the varieties. I have
one gobbler that weighs thirty-eight pounds, and my

friend, Mr. N. R. Wood, the

grasshopper that can escape the keen eye of a young
wild turkey is indeed fortunate.

By careful experiments I have found that the wild
turkeys are not subject to many of the diseases that in-
But I am careful to avoid

fest their domestic cousins.

idermist for the Smith-
sonian Institute,
with me in believing that
this bird is likely the finest
specimen in existence. Only
one other of which I have
read approximates this one
or markings, and
that one is described by
Audubon. That one
weighed thirty-six pounds.

tax

agrees

in size

By judicious mating, I
have increased the size of
my birds each year. And
as I have my pens divided
in sections, I can mate the
birds as I please.

I keep the feed bins
well supplied at all times
with corn, oats, kaffir corn,
grit and charcoal. They
never lack food, drink or
shelter. By kind treat-
ment I can now turn

out on free range all my
birds except those most re-
cently captured.

I do not allow my wild hens to hatch the young, as I
have learned that environment is worth more than
heredity in dealing with both the young of man and other
animals. I always select the gentlest domestic turkeys
to do the incubating, and I raise the young on free
range. I feed them just the same as I would the do-
mestic turkeys, and I have learned that it is best to feed
young turkeys very sparingly; in fact they seem to get
along very well making their own living. The bug or

Section of Enclosure Showing Portion of Flock

inbreeding. Every year since I began breeding them,
new blood has been added.

On the fifth of April I-set twenty-one eggs, and
twenty-eight days after this, twenty healthy poults were
hatched. They are now giving every indication of sur-
viving the long rainy season we usually have in May. I
have two hundred eggs that are due to hatch the last of
this month (May).

The demands for my stock and eggs are so great

that I can not fill all the

orders. I am shipping birds
to foreign countries. On
the eleventh of this month
I shall send a pair to Italy.

The wild turkey can be
crossed with any domestic
turkey and the infusion of
wild blood is sure to add
vigor to the stock. I would,
however, advise all those
who intend purchasing
wild birds or eggs to be
sure that they get genuine
wild and not some that
have either lost their vir-
ility by long inbreeding or
by continued crossing with
the same domestic turkeys.

It is my firm belief
that the hope of the tur-
key industry depends upon
the breeding of wild tur-

A Wild Tom

keys or upon crossing
them with the domestic
turkey.

THE GREAT MARKET TURKEY

The Claims of the Narragansetts to this Distinction—Inbreeding—Care of Poults—Nine-Year-old Breeders—How to Begin

S. T. JONES

BREED all varieties of turkeys, the Bronze, Nar-
ragansett, Buff, Slate, White and Black. The
Whites are the easiest to breed to standard re-
quirements gn account of their color and the Nar-
ragansetts are a close second, because they breed
so true to color. I find the Bronze are the hardest
to breed up to the standard, as it is very difficult
to get a good color throughout and when the birds
are under a year old they are not

entire farm. Turkeys that are hatched in the spring will
lay the following spring and different turkeys will lay a
varying number of eggs. The Narragansetts lay more
than any other variety and the Buffs are next. I have
had turkeys that laid the entire season and did not offer
to sit, while others will lay from ten to fifteen eggs and
become broody. We keep from five to eight hens with
one male, as we think that we get better results as a

rule than we do if we have a greater

matured. They are tall, leggy, and
look light in the breast. If you breed
- what the public demands, and you
must do that, you have to breed the
leggy kind, because four out of five
letters inquiring for young Bronze
turkeys demand size. That is the
ery—size—size—size. “We want them
good in wing and tail color and
great, big heavy weight fellows.” Jf
you breed the plump, early maturing
kind you cannot make forty or forty-
five toms out of them. You must
breed the big, tall, leggy kind, and
when the toms are two and three
three years of age you wil find that
they will weigh forty, forty-five and
even forty-eight pounds, and then,
truly, you have the most magnificent
bird in America. But the Narragan-
sett, Buff, White and Slate varieties
are the best market turkeys, for they
mature early. The Narragansett
heads the list and is usually ready
for market at five or six months of
age.. The Buffs and Whites are next
in order. The standard weights for
Narragansett males (thirty, twenty-

number of females, though we have
had from twelve to fourteen hens
with one male and the eggs were all

fertile. Probably 90 per cent of all
turkey eggs are fertile unless the
turkeys are overfed, and _ conse-

quently are too fat. Let them get
their own foecd by roaming over the
pasture and stubble lands.

CARE OF POULTS

It takes from twenty-seven to
twenty-nine days to hatch turkey
eggs. We have not tried hatching”
them under hens. For the first
twenty-four to thirty-six hours after
they are hatched we feed very small
grit or gravel, and then we feed clab-
ber cheese dry and some corn meal.-
a little millet seed or small cracked
wheat. We keep the hen and poults in
a small pen for eight or ten days and
then put them out en pasture land.
They need very little food from this
on, and should not be fed more than
once or twice a day for the best re-
sults. Turkeys get nearly all their
food from the fields in summer and

five and twenty pounds) are too high.
The cocks and cockerels should weigh
the same as the Buff and Slate tur-
keys, viz.: Twenty-seven and eighteen pounds, for they
are short legged, plump and mature early. :

An excellent illustration of the Narragansett turkey
appears on page nine of this book.

INBREEDING—RANGE

I introduce new blood into my flock every two or
three years. I do not think it necessary to do so oftener,
as I keep from two to six flocks of each variety, but I
never inbreed turkeys, as I find it will not do. I breed
all the varieties for exhibition, and when getting new
blood I aim to improve in all sections, both in shape and
color. The breast, body and back are the most im-
portant sections in shape and the wings and tail the
most important in color. We do not raise turkeys in
confinement. They must have a large range if we are
to attain best results. I never h6use my turkeys, as I
think they do better when raised in the open. The
nearer we come to raising them in the natural way the
better it is for them. I do not try to fence against them,
but give them unlimited range. We keep only one va-
riety on a farm and give that variety the run of the

A Young Mexican

fall.

Pasture and stubble land are
the best places for them to
run. In the fall begin feeding corn, or, if you are feed-
ing cattle or hogs, the turkeys will get all the food
they need, for they always manage to find the feed lots.
The main secret in successfully feeding turkeys is to
give them their food regularly, but be careful not to
give-too much. More turkeys are fed to death when
they are young than die from any other cause. Nine out
of ten breeders feed their poults until they kill them. I
have had persons tell me what they feed young turkeys
and then say: “My turkeys do not seem to grow well,
and I know I feed them well.” I do not see how they
manage to raise any at all. I am sure I could not if I fed
as they do. Remember to feed lightly, always using the
best of food and never feeding any damaged grain at
all. A bushel of corn will feed a turkey from sixty to
seventy days if it has the range of the farm. The dealers
want turkeys weighing from ten to sixteen pounds and
not over twenty pounds.

A PREMIUM ON NARRAGANSETTS
There is a difference in the quality of turkeys and
I claim that the Narragansett is king. There are turkeys

82 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

that can beat them on weight, but when it comes to
quality, no other breed can be compared to them. I sell
most of my market turkeys here at home, and sell them
alive if I can. One firm here buys most of my turkeys
and they always engage all the Narragansetts I have to
spare and ask me why I do not breed them exclusively.
I get a preminm of 2 to 24% cents per pound on Narra-
gansetts. The Buffs are my next choice.

Any turkeys that are off in color or the least bit out
of shape and all of the late hatched and under weight
turkeys are classed with our market turkeys. Before
marketing I feed all that they will eat in order to have
them fat, and market all that are ready at Thanksgiving
time and the balance of them at Christmas. As a rule,
yearlings make the best breeders, but I have kept some
breeders until they were eight or nine years old.

A turkey is most delicate from the time it is hatched
until it is six or seven months old. If I were to name
the two principal causes of the mortality among turkeys
I should say overfeeding and lice. They should never be
allowed to live on low, swampy ground. It is not fit for
turkeys or any other kind of poultry. We raise from
three hundred to a thousand.

If I were to embark in the business of raising tur-
kys and had the benefit of my present experience, I
should buy from some reliable breeder a tom and four
to six hens and should insist upon getting good ones. I
should not begin by buying eggs. I should also insist
that the tom and hens be not related, and I should never
inbreed.

Writing for the Reliable Poultry Journal on the sub-
ject of turkeys, a prominent eastern poultryman said
the following about our favorites:

“We have always had a particular liking for the Nar-
ragansett turkey. It is nearly as large as the Bronze
and equally as good for the table. Its plumage is very
striking, giving one the effect of a black and white
barred plumage; and as a resident of Rhode Island, the
writer feels that the state which has the beautiful Nar-
ragansett Bay ought also to breed quite largely the
beautiful Narragansett turkey. But it does not. Patri-
otic as Rhode Island is in other respects it does not let
its patriotism extend to any great extent to its selection
of turkeys.

“The Narragansett took its name from the Indians
who once dwelt here, and was at one time more ex-
tensively bred in Rhode Island than now. We are reac-
tionary to the extent of wishing for a return of the good _
old times in turkey raising when the Narragansett tur-
key was the favorite breed, although, gentle reader, we
will confess that any Rhode Island turkey, once bred and
fattened here, if stuffed with Providence River oysters
and nicely roasted, has a very satisfactory effect upon
our palate. It may not equal a genuine Rhode Island
clam-bake, but it comes when clam-bakes cannot he had,
and it is so good that one can say, after eating of such
a dish:

“Let the world do its worst,
I have dined today.’ ”

A Wild Tom

_This bird is believed to be the largest wild turkey in existence,
weighs thirty-eight pounds and was two years old at the time the
photograph was taken, Note the perfect wing. See page 80.

MONEY IN TURKEYS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Great Magnitude of the Business—How the Commission Men Obtain the Birds—The Care of Turkeys on the Farm—Methods of
Fattening—Steady Rise of Prices in Recent Years—The Methods of Killing and Dressing

FRED HAXTON

tHE turkey is king. In November the “Great
’ American bird” holds undisputed sway in
every butcher shop from Maine to Oregon
and from Canada to Mexico. Not until a
week after New Year’s day does his rule
expire.

There is money in raising turkeys for
the holiday, trade—lots of it. Going into
South Water street, Chicago, on an after-
noon as early as November 1 and seeing drayload after
drayload of turkeys unloaded, with seemingly no end in
sight, the spectator departs with the impression that
enough tirkeys are grown in the middle west alone to
supply every man, woman and child with one for every
meal and leave a few thousand for the Fiji Islanders and
other benighted heathen.

MAGNITUDE OF THE BUSINESS

During the holiday rush or preceding it 678,000 tur-
keys, valued at $1,356,000, are received in Chicago, accord-
ing to estimates made by a number of prominent poultry
dealers. The bulk of the business is so great that exact
figures are impossible, but an idea of its magnitude may
be secured when it is stated, in the words of the largest
buyer, “The cars required to contain the turkeys shipped
to Chicago for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s
dealers, ete., would make a train seven miles long.”

“Tt will surprise some people to learn that on hun-
dreds of farms in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri turkeys
constitute almost the principal ‘ecrop,’” said a large
dealer. “Trips of buyers through the turkey country
show that it is common for one farmer to have 300 tur-
keys, and flocks of 700 or 800 are not extraordinary. As
high as $1,000 has been paid for a single consignment of
turkeys. Nearly 25,000 have been disposed of in Chicago
-in a single day.”

While warm weather lasts a large part of the ship-
ments of turkeys received in Chicago are live birds, but
when the temperature becomes low enough to insure the
safe keeping of the meat, the fowls come dressed and
packed in barrels. The production in the middle west is
about equal in all the states near Chicago, but Missouri
is the greatest producer in the world. During recent

years Texas has made remarkable advances in turkey
raising, the climate during the spring season being espe-
cially favorable. Marketmen are depending on this
source of supply for a large increase during the next few
years.

Chicago is a strategic point in the turkey trade, for a
large proportion of the birds sold in New York and other
eastern cities as “Vermont” and “Rhode Island” fowls
are shipped from the west. Desperate campetition rules
among the fourteen firms which ship stock east, as each
is trying to “corner” the market. One of them. almost
sueceeded a few years ago by a novel plan. To each
dealer or farmer who shipped to him he allowed a guess
on the highest price which turkeys would bring at any
time before New Year’s and to the winner he awarded a
$70 wagon. Many of the commission men offered prizes
for the same sort of contest later, one of them putting
up as stakes checks for $100, $75 and $25,

HOW TURKEYS REACH THE MARKET

“How do we get the turkeys?” repeated the proprie-
tor of a store in front of which were stacked coops con-
taining nearly 500 birds. “I'll tell you: We have a couple
hundred regular shippers, some dealers and some farm-
ers, in country towns. Each spring we write them letters
pointing out to them that the raising of turkeys is the
most profitable business a farmer can engage in, and
urging them to be sure to hatch more turkeys than ever
before. ‘Then late in the summer we write to the men,
asking them how many turkeys they can provide for the
holiday trade, and to be sure we will have our fair share
of the birds we send our buyers out on trips, some of
them 800 miles long.

“The buyers visit certain towns where the turkey
production is enormous, contract wherever possible for
dhe purchase of all the fowls, and then drive to the
farms and see the farmers themselves—or rather the
farmers’ Wives, for we have found that the women are
the ones who really have the ‘say’ as to when and where
the stock will be sold. My head buyer the other day
handed a Missouri woman $563 for her flock, and she
said she was saving the money to buy another farm to
raise more grain to fatten more turkeys with, so as to

84 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

buy another farm, etc. She finds there is more money
and less trouble in turkeys than in hogs.”

METHODS OF REARING

Letters received by commission men from some of
their largest growers of turkeys tell the story of their
success. Some of the hints gleaned from them are:

Do not try to raise the fowls in small quarters.
Wherever possible turkeys should have free range. An
excellent place for the fowls is an orchard,
with a high fence. They will keep the trees
almost clear of insect pests and secure a
good deal of their food in this way. An or-
chard is an excellent place to keep them
when the grain is ripening and they would do
damage. Be sure thebreeding stock is large
and healthy. To avoid close breeding exchange
toms with a grower who has different stock,
or buy fine males. Have one tom for every
dozen fowls or less.

Turkeys should be allowed free range the
year around,if possible,except when the grain
is ripening, or even then if they can be kept
out of the fields. Turkeys like to hide their
nests, and if they do this there is a strong
chance that a sudden rain will catch the
poults and kill them. For this reason the
hens should be set where they can be kept
shut in after the poults are hatched. Many
breeders let the fowl select the place for her
own nest and then, to protect the turkey
from rains and the young birds from storms,
place a V-shaped roof over the nest. In early
spring the eggs should be removed daily while
the bird is laying, to prevent chilling, but a
nest egg should be left.

After the eggs are hatched care should be
taken to prevent the chicks from being wet
or going ont in the wet grass, until they have
grown considerably. Many make runways
about eight feet long and four feet wide, with
the top and sides covered with wire netting.
With these a coop four feet long and two feet
wide is used, having a wooden bottom to prevent the
poults from being flooded out in case of sudden storms.
As the runway keeps the mother from wandering it also
protects the young chicks. This device is in general use
in the “turkey country.”

back.

Most of the growers permit the turkeys to roost the
year around, principally because the birds never were
taught to roost in sheds or houses, but the most suc-
cessful erect lean-tos against the sides of barns and
place roosts under them. ‘These are shelters without
fronts, attached to the buildings at an angle a little
greater than the middle line of the letter Z.

When turkeys are allowed free range they do not re-
quire a great deal of grain or other food in summer, as
they eat thousands of grasshoppers and other insects.
The process of finishing them for market generally is
begun along in August, when some grain is fed. The
grain feed gradually is increased, until in September the
birds are given all the corn they will clean up twice a
day.

“The finest turkeys we get,” said a dealer who makes
a specialty of fancy birds, “come from farms in Missouri
where they are penned up about the first of October and
just stuffed with corn, skim milk and any other feed
they will relish until about a week before Thanksgiving

Fig. 1.—Method of twisting _.
the wings of a turkey onthe WINDS.

when they are dressed. The yard is about a quarter of
an acre in size and from 300 to 500 turkeys are fattened
in it annually. The owner tells me that the corn he
puts into the turkeys brings him about three times what
it would fetch in the market; this is in added weight
alone, not counting the extra price per pound paid him
because of the fine condition of his stock.”

Comparatively little of the turkey crop is killed and
dressed by the farmers. Most of them actually drive
their stock to market, taking a flock of a
couple hundred or more turkeys and con-
ducting them to the wholesale purchaser in
the nearest village or to a point where crates
are waiting to take them to the nearest large
city. When the grower is ready to market
his stock he generally notifies his dealer in
Chicago or elsewhere, and the latter imme-
diately sends by express enough coops to
contain the shipment. These are taken any
distance by the express companies for only
10 cents apiece, which is much cheaper than
the making of new coops’ for each shipment
would be.

HOW PREPARED FOR MARKET

In late November and December most of
the turkeys are dressed in the country. Each
of the dealers demands that the fowls be pre-
pared to suit him; if they are not, he some-
times refuses to purchase them atall. Follow-
ing is the “letter of instruction” sent to each
large turkey grower by Geo. McCutcheon & Co.:

“Keep from food twenty-four hours. Kill
by bleeding in the roof of the mouth or by
cutting a vein in the neck; never take off the
head. Hang by feet until through bleeding,
and leave the feet on. Never scald a turkey.
Dry-pick while the fowl is still bleeding. Do
not wait until the body gets cold. Be careful
not to break the skin; do not draw entrails
or crop; remove all the feathers from the
Remove pin feathers thoroughly.

Hang in a cool place until the animal heat is
entirely out. This is very essential.

“Wrap head of turkeys with clean light brown paper.
Pack snugly (to prevent moving about) in boxes or bar-
rels lined with clean paper. Boxes holding 100 to 200
pounds are best for all fowls.

Turkeys show up best if the body and legs are
straightened out. Mark weight plainly on cover, and se-
eure box carefully to avoid breaking open in transit. It
should be noted that dry picked turkeys or other poultry
is best for shipping in warm or doubtful weather. Poul-
try frozen will not command as good prices as that
which is not. Old and heavy tom turkeys should be mar-
keted before the holidays, as later the demand is for
round, fat hen turkeys only.” ;

Another dealer gives this advice:

“Turkey feathers should be pulled out with a twist.
A straight pull will ‘set’ them. Dressed turkeys, when
dry-picked, always sell better and command a higher
price, as the appearance is brighter and more attractive.
Broken ice should be placed all through the barrels—that,
is, a layer of turkeys and a layer of ice broken to the
size of a fist. Fill the barrels in this manner and then
on top of the turkeys place a large cake of ice. If tur-
keys are shipped alive, strong coops should be used, as
they get especially rough handling during the holiday
rush, and they should be high enough to allow the tur-
keys to stand up. (Be careful not to overcrowd).

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 85

FEafHERS HAVE A VALUE

“Save the feathers. They are valuable. We offer the
following prices per pound:
Turkey body, dry and choice’ .......0..50:-0+eeesee 6
Green and) Little damp) ceccccc cae sececinec etic vee eines 1@
White turkey body, dry prime .............+...545 50
ae CHOICE AI “CLEA mois njaysicis crcvelsis eye eyleis saree cee cle e 40
Tail mixed with skirt feathers ..............--+45- 20@25
Wing, from first two joints .0....0.... ss. eee ee ee 20
Winter tall ands pomnters’ Scceccces cw ce cs cess sieecci rls 17
Wine tang) Gail clear .c. cs. cccmeccersisccrcrscsvcvcecs 27
SVT Rea OUNGOLS cfore/orerersinele cle oleae viele ce wiale nieis-eruisie}e 13
EACAT EET Soret etetatetefetteter sfateveteotelstolaletels/ocsialelelereletel=ie] sjataietele¥ets 7

“Despite the fact that all dealers agree more turkeys
have been raised this year than ever before, the prices
are unusually high. The ten pound Thanksgiving dinner
that $1.25 would buy a few years ago at a shilling a
pound was retailed at $2.25 to $2.75 this year. The high
prices are explained by a turkey expert as follows:

“For some time before the Thanksgiving demand
came the retail butchers catering to select trade were
placing their orders for turkeys at 23 cents a pound,
dressed. This means the wholesale price, and as the re-
tailers figure out a profit for themselves of 2 or 3 cents
a pound, the consumer had to pay 23 cents a pound for
turkeys delivered on these orders. Only the finest birds
were pre-empted at this high figure, but the average
range of prices was around 21 or 22 cents.

“There is an obvious reason for the ‘kiting’ of the
price of turkey meat. The current explanation in South
Water street is that the big stockyards packers and
other large purchasers go into the country early and
succeed to a large extent in ‘cornering’ the turkey mar-
ket by the expedient of buying up the entire visible
supply through agents in the choicest turkey raising dis-
tricts. This is declared to have happened in many states,
especially Kentucky, Missouri and southern Illinois. It
is common gossip among the South Water street com-
mission merchants that the leading packer in the so-
ealléd Chicago ‘big-four’ combination sent his agents
into Kentucky a few years ago and purchased virtually
all the ‘turkey futures’--the Thanksgiving crop—in the
great turkey-producing district known as ‘the territory
north and south of the Ohio river.”

The great Thanksgiving rush begins the Monday be-
fore Thanksgiving, but preparations for it are made for
weeks, the birds being killed as fast as received, the sur-
plus after the daily sales going into coolers. One hundred
and sixty men were engaged last year in dressing tur-
keys alone, several large establishments being in the
business of killing and dressing poultry for other
dealers. These are known as poultry slaughter houses.
More than 500 turkeys a day are dressed during the rush
season for each of the large commission houses.

The grower of turkeys is sharing in the prosperity
brought by high prices, but investigation shows the
wholesale dealer and the retail butcher get a large share
of the profits, together sometimes making almost 10
cents a pound, although their profit generally is around
6 cents. One of these dealers, talking of the high price
of poultry, said:

EXPORT TRADE INCREASING
“The export trade has grown to immense propor-
tions in the last few years, turkeys leading in the foreign
demand. The home trade has grown by leaps and
bounds at the same time with the foreign business.
“All the finest American poultry goes to Europe.

The big packers are the great exporters of American
turkeys.”

The immense business done in poultry by the “beef
trust”—amounting to millions of dollars a year—has a
great effect on the turkey market. Swift & Co. filled a
contract for 55,000 pounds of turkey for the United
States army.

The price of turkeys varies more than any other kind
of poultry. In summer the birds sometimes sell as low
as 13 cents a pound, live weight, and in winter they occa-
sionally reach eighteen cents, alive. Immediately after
the New Year’s demand is supplied there is a slump in
prices, and it is then that the speculators buy their stock
of thousands of birds to be placed in cold storage and
sold the next summer. The “good prices” for turkeys,
as the dealers call them, begin to come around No-
vember 1, when the birds bring about 16 cents a pound,
live weight. The prices will keep up well this year, prob-
ably equalling those of last winter. Even last August,
when turkeys generally are at about their lowest point,
live birds brought 15 cents a pound.

During November and December there is a great
demand for young turkeys, which dress about three to
five pounds. These bring faney prices, and the demand
is not filled. Tew are seen in the wholesale markets be-
cause the growers generally contract directly with
butchers to take off their hands all they can raise. Such
stock has sold for 22 cents a pound, dressed. The smal-
ler of the baby turkeys, as they are called, were used
as “fryers,” and those that weighed four pounds or more
were roasted. The bulk of the old turkeys that come to
the market weigh about 12 to 15 pounds apiece, but sey-
eral that tipped the scales at more than thirty-five
pounds were seen in the stores last fall. The extremely
large turkeys, however, are not in great demand, as they
are too heavy for family dinners and difficult to roast
when bought by hotels.

A FAMOUS GROWER

The most famous grower of turkeys in the United
States is Horace Vose, of Westerly, Rhode Island. Mr.
Vose last year followed his annual custom of sending a
Thanksgiving turkey to the president of the United
States, a custom which he began in Gen. Grant’s first
term. He has autograph letters of thanks from all the
presidents since then. Mr. Vose goes to a great deal of
trouble to get the president’s Thanksgiving dinner. Be-
sides growing turkeys he deals in them, and after the
chicks have been hatched a month or two he makes a
tour of the farms for miles around. If he sees a particu-
larly fine chick he secures an option on it, and directs
that it be given special care. He makes other visits later
in the season and bids for every fine turkey that he
sees. When Thanksgiving approaches the Rhode Islander
has control of practically all the finest birds for miles
around. He is the largest shipper of turkeys for the
New York market. This is Mr. Vose’s philosophy:

“The object of fattening a turkey is to produce firm,
finely flavored, luscious flesh. Therefore it should be fat-
tened on whole corn—not meal—as the corn gives a
firmer consistency to the flesh. It should never be stuffed
artificially or confined in close quarters. If sweet apples
are available they may be fed, as nothing will give a
nicer flavor to the flesh.”

“In July and August growers near fashionable re-
sorts sometimes sell turkey ‘broilers,’ weighing from 114
to 4 pounds each, for $3.50 to $4 a pair,” writes Helen W.
Atwater, government food expert.

The last government report shows there are 6,599,-

86 TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

367 turkeys in the United States, of which only 529,993 are
in the North Atlantic states—Rhode Island, Maine, Ver-
mont, ete. The bulk of the turkeys in the country are
in the north central states, which have 3,072,456, while
the far western states have only 304,950.

MACHINE FATTENING TURKEYS

The London Board of Agriculture reports great suc-
cess in fattening turkeys with a cramming machine. A
mash of equal parts of
ground barley, corn and

nk Sy, oats, with a small
Lj
amount of melted fat
and linseed meal was

used, enough skim milk
being added to make it
the consistency of
cream. At first there
was difficulty in feeding
the turkeys,
their size and strength,
but the operator finally
overeame this by plac-
ing the fowls on a low

owing to

stand so that their
heads were on a level
with the nozzle of the

eramming machine. It
is stated that “after a
day or two the turkeys
became accustomed to
this manner of feeding,
and when meal
came they showed much

times

eagerness to mount the
stand and receive their
share of the food.” ‘The
feeding period
three weeks; the birds
were hatched in the
spring and weighed an
average of

covered

seventeen

; : pounds apiece, and

Fig. 2.—Breast view showing method of I a 3
tying legs and pushing head under wing. made an average gain
of four pounds four

ounces. This was done at a cost of 41 cents per head.

Proof that turkeys fatten much better when kept in
pens has been secured by the Manitoba experiment sta-
tion. It took two lots of birds, exactly alike and gave
them the same rations for six weeks, two parts of wheat,
one of oats, and one of barley. At the end of the test it
was found the turkeys in the pens had gained an average
of a trifle over four pounds each,
their liberty added only
each to their weight. Most of the gain was made in the
first three weeks. The penned turkeys when dressed
shrank 5 per cent less than the others and were more
attractive in every way.

TURKEYS SENT TO ENGLAND

while those allowed
a little more than 134, pounds

Canada does an immense amount of business in ex-
porting turkeys to England. The Canadian commis-

sioner of agriculture gives the following description of
the proper way to prepare the birds for the British mar-
ket, which is extremely exacting in its requirements:
“The bird is hung up by the legs, the wings being
erossed to prevent struggling.
blow on the of the head with a_ stout piece of
wood, which renders it insensible. The knife is then in-
serted into the roof of the mouth, so as to pierce the

Next it is given a sharp
back

brain, cutting it along the entire length. The bird is left
hanging by the legs for a few minutes to allow the blood
to drain out. Pluck at once, while still warm. Feathers
should be left on the neck for about 3 inches from the
head; also a few feathers on the tail and tips of wings.
Do not tear the skin in plucking, and do not under any
cireumstances dip the bird into water. Remove the in-
testines from the rear. Care must be taken not to break
the gall bag. All the rest may be left inside. Twist the
wings on the back of the bird (1111). A string, which,
however, should not encircle the body, may be used to
keep them in place. As soon as the feathers are off, hang
the bird up by the feet to cool. Do not Jay it down or
hang it by the head. The blood should drain toward the
head and become coagulated there. One dealer says to
lay the birds on their breasts on a setting board, pressing
the rumps square, letting the heads hang down until the
body is set, when the birds will always retain their
plump shape. Cleanliness is necessary. The feet and legs
of the birds should be clean also. The legs of the
dressed birds are often tied up as in illustrations 2 and
3. If the birds are to be displayed in a shop the head
should be pushed up under the wing. The birds should
be thoroughly cooled (not
frozen), and they should be

cold through and _ through
before being packed in cases.
“Pack im any one case

only birds of nearly the same
weight, graded to within two
pounds. In no ease should
any bird be lighter than the
lightest weight or heavier
than the heaviest weight
mmarked on the package. Pack
the cocks and hens in separ-
ate cases. Mark the cases at
both ends plainly. Wrap every
bird neatly in paper. The
head of each bird should be
wrapped with a quantity of

thick paper, to absorb any
blood. Spread a small quan-
tity of wood pulp or dry,

clean straw in the bottom of
the case. Put paper on the
bottom and top of the birds
to keep them clean. A small
quantity of wood pulp or dry,
clean straw may be put on
top, directly under the cover.
Pack the birds with backs
down, with heads at one side.
Put from twelve to twenty-
four birds in a case. -Every case
should: be packed quite full
and close to prevent damage

during transit. Do not export
any old, tough birds.

a Fig. 3.—Side view showing
Every method of tying legs and pushing

bird should show a_ good, head under wing.
plump, white, broad breast.”

TURKEY GROWING PROFITABLE

There is more money in raising turkeys now than
there ever was before and there will be more next year,
for the trend of prices is irresistibly upward, market ex-
perts declare. The figures for several years, furnished
the Reliable Poultry Journal by Howard, Bartels & Co.,
official the Chicago poultry dealers,
point out clearly the great advance in the wholesale mar-

statisticians for

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 87

ket prices of turkeys in the last ten years. In the table
below the prices from April to October, inclusive, are for
live birds, as hardly any dressed turkeys are shipped in
summer owing to the danger of spoiling. Where there
is a wide variation in prices during the month the bulk
of the birds were sold nearer the higher figure than the
lower. Prices quoted for January, February, March, No-
vember and December are for dressed turkeys:

The quotations in the accompanying table are for the
common run of stock, fancy turkeys being disposed of at
special prices. The following table will show the yradual
rise in prices for a ten year period. The figures for 1907-8
were unobtainable:

nearly all of the 4,000,000 pounds went to the New Eng-
land markets and to the smaller eastern cities.

As a rule the birds grown in Kentucky are not of
large average size, W. 'T. Seibels of the Packer says, and
for this reason they are most desirable for buyers of
large lots for holiday distribution by commercial con-
cerns and large factories, to their employees. The average
size of the hen turkeys is about 8 pounds, and toms run
from 10 to 12 pounds. Ten thousand pounds are put in
a refrigerator car, and whole trainloads are shipped at
once.

The Kentucky association each year meets to. fix the
price which it will demand from the wholesale buyers,

Month 1906 1905 1904 1903 1902 1901 1900 1899 1898 1897 1896
January .0<1: -tseeeee: 17 tol8 |17 tol9 |16to174/17to18 | 84tol2 |74to 9 |9 tol10 |8 toll |10 toll4|8 to124/ 8 tol12
February............- 18 tol9 |19 to20 |16to174 18 | 94to144|74to 94|84to10 |S toll | 94tol2 |8 to124) 9 to134
Marchis.«c-2a6 ..|16 tol7 19 |16to17 |16to18 |10 tolS5 |7 tol2 |8 tol2 |8 to13 | 94to124/8 to13 13

lltol2 |12to13 | 9 tol24|/64to 8 |74to10 |8 tol0 | 8 tol2 9 | 8 tol2
1lto12 |10to12 | 9§to124/6 to 84/6 to 9 |7 tol0 | 6 to 9/6 to 9 | 7 tol0
10to12 |10to12 |10 tol2 |54to 74/5 to 7 |6 to 9 | 5 to 8 |5 to 7 | 6 to 9
10to114/10to1l |114tol2 |6 to 74\54to 7 |7 to 84) 6 to 8/6 tol0 | 7 told
12 tol7 11 |12 to124/6 to 8 |6 to 74|74tol0 | 6 tol0 |7 tol0 | 8 toll
September.........../13 tol6 |15 tol6 |12tol4 |10toll 13 |7 to 9 |7 to 8 |8 tol2 | 7 toll |74tol0 | 8 toll
October............../13 tol6 |13 tol7 12 |1ltol4 |11 tol3 |7 to 84/6 to 9 |84tol10 | 7 toll |8 tol0 | 74to 94
November...........- 164to21 (16 tol8 165tol8 |16to18 |10 tol6 |7 tol10 |6 to104/9 toll | 8 tol1?24/8 tol104| 9 tolls
December............ 16 tol74 14to17 | 16to174/13 tol8 |9 to1l4/8 to 94/9 to104/] 8 toll |8 tola |104to114

Think of live turkeys selling in the Chicago market
at 514 cents a pound, after express had been paid on them
for hundreds of miles, and figure out what would be left
to the grower! This was done in June, 1901. Think of
dressed turkeys bringing only 7 cents a pound, which
occurred in November, 1900, and figure how much less
would be left to the shipper! In fact, 1901 was a “black
year” for turkey men, the highest price on dressed stock
being only 11% cents, and the average for the year not
more than a dime a pound. ‘The prices given in the table
are those paid to shippers, and not those at which the
wholesalers sold the stock to dressers and meat mar-
kets.

The change from 6-cents-a-pound dressed turkeys
was especially marked two years ago, when on November
13—before the Thanksgiving demand was hardly more

than started, dressed turkeys were bringing the country |

shippers 16 to 18 cents a pound when even in fair condi-
tion, while choice stock commanded its own price. A 20-
cent market was expected by many, and this means that
the butchers would have to pay 23 cents upward for their
turkeys and the city consumers from 26 to 29 cents a
pound.

“Baby” turkeys were in especial demand that fall,
and not one-tenth of the call for them could be met.
These weighed around 5 pounds, some even reaching nine
pounds, and found a ready market at 20 cents up, at
wholesale.

KENTUCKY TURKEY ASSOCIATION

One thing that is increasing the price of turkeys was
the formation of the Kentucky Turkey Association, in
1906, with headquarters at Lexington. This is composed
of about fifty of the largest dealers in turkeys in the
southern “turkey country.” a single one of whom handles
more than 250,000 each Thanksgiving season and the
smallest one of whom handles 65,000 pounds each fall.
From meagre proportions the turkey industry has grown
to such size in the country around Lexington that 4,000,-
000 pounds of the birds were contracted for to supply the
holiday trade in 1906. Dressing in Kentucky for the
Thanksgiving demand was begun November 10, and

and during the year of 1906 disposed of the entire lot to
Armour & Co., of Chicago. The association also tries to
fix the price to be given the farmers, a frank admission
of this fact being made in this statement after the meet-
ing:

“The association met also to set the price that the
buyers should pay for the turkeys. Nothing definite was
given out, but the principal line of talk was that the
farmers would be paid 10 cents a pound, live weight. With
a stronger demand this might be increased to 11 cents in
the country, which would mean about 12 or 13 cents at
the pens (the points where the turkeys are confined until
they are shipped alive or are dressed.)”

The farmer gets it in the neck every time, even from
the “turkey trust.’”’ Oklahoma is coming to the front as
a turkey raising state, the crop of 1907 amounting to
5,000 head, for most of which the farmers got 12 to 13
cents a pound, live weight.

“Poor stock is what keeps the market down on all
kinds of- poultry, but especially on turkeys,’ said Mr.
Seibels. “If a shipper sends a lot of poor birds in with a
large shipment of extra fine ones, the whole consignment
will bring 2 or 3 cents a pound less than it would if he
had kept the bad stuff at home. Dealers lay stress on
the point that only good stock would be marketed, and
agree that it is best to keep the poor, stringy birds in
the country and fatten them up until they are fit to ap-
pear in the best markets and meet the highest class
demand. Most of the regular shippers know this and act
accordingly, but some lose their better judgment and
send stock that has no business being shipped.

LIVE POULTRY PREFERRED

“The whole poultry business is being revolutionized,
I believe, by the present cold storage trouble. Within a
short time, present indications are, the bulk of the
poultry sent to market will be shipped alive and will be
bought alive by the butchers, who will kill the birds to
order thus proving to the customer that they have not
been in cold storage. Owing to fear that the city health
commissioner, Dr. Charles J. Whalen, would cause trouble
for them, few of the dealers put turkeys in storage this

88

year, and as a result nearly all the stock sold for the
Thanksgiving market came directly from the farms.”

A commission of 5 cents on the dollar is charged by
dealers in almost every city for selling stock for country
shippers, and if the birds are sent alive a charge of 10
cents a crate is made for hauling them from the train to

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

is nailed round both ends and the middle of the coop to
keep the other strips from loosening,

For packing turkeys to go into cold storage or for
the eastern market the style of box which is most in
favor is 24 by 26 by 15 inches. This will hold twelve young
toms, or six young toms and eight hens, or 16 hen tur-

Methods of Killing and Plucking Turkeys

2—First stage in the operation of dressing. Operator holds the bird between his legs, pulls neck upward and back, and cuts a vein in the

neck with a razor-edged knife. 3—Another way of killing by wringing the neck.

by long practice.

The birds wings are drawn together over 1ts breast and the body is held between the knees,

This to Sz done successfully requires a knack that comes only
A sudden twist and jerk dislo-

cates the neck and the fowl is dropped to the floor. 4—This operation follows that shown in illustration 3. The dresser is dry-plucking the tur-

key. Great care is required in the operation in order that the appearance of the fowl be not damaged. 5
birds are dropped two at a time into a metal vessel holding a barrel of water.

of the feathers.

the wholesale market. The standard poultry coop, used
in all the markets in the country, is four feet long, 30
inches wide and a foot high for chickens and ducks, and
15 to 18 inches high for turkeys and geese.
it is two feet wide and 10 inches high.
be built. substantially.

For broilers
The crates must
Pieces two inches square should
be used for the corner posts, and half inch boards should
be nailed on the bottom, which is tight. Strips of lath
a half inch thick and two inches wide are used for the
sides, top and ends, being placed an inch and a half apart.
Two laths are left loose on the top for a door, and lath

Dressing a turkey by scalding. The
This method is quicker than dry-picking but destroys the value

6—The dressing tables to which the turkeys go after being scalded.

The
parchment

keys. boxes should be lined with clean white or
paper and the stock should be carefully
graded, and classified as No. 1, No. 2, Faney, Culls, ete.
For storing poultry a quarter of a cent a pound is
charged for the first sixty days or less and after that
time an eighth of a cent a pound for each month. Eighty
per cent of the value of the goods put in storage will be
advanced to the owner by the warehouse company or by
banks.

Baby turkeys, 3 to 6 pounds each, should be marketed
from August 1 to Oct. 15.

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 89

PLUCKING AND DRESSING

The pluckers of turkeys are paid high wages, some of
them earning $20 a week. Many of them are paid regular
wages, but most work by the piece, getting generally 5
cents a head. ‘here were only twenty-five women,
against two or three hundred men, dressing turkeys in
Chicago the season of 1907. The women are all Italian or
Bohemian immigrants or negresses. Several years ago,
Z. E. Stewart stated, it was customary to employ women
altogether, but when the Poultry Pickers’ union came
into existence it issued a dictum against it and every man
refused to work with a woman picker. The union’s exist-
ence has ceased, but women are not wanted. As the
president of the union said:

“Dressing poultry by wholesale is no fit work for any
woman. Where scalding is done none of them can endure
it. Standing in water all day in a room filled with steam
and then going on the street in the cold is not exactly
what you would call health promoting. The men all get

sick at it, and they’re a pretty tough lot of fellows, too.
Nobody can stick to it more than two years.”

In the room where the turkey plucking was done in
one of the largest plants the women wore wooden shoes
to protect their feet from the water used in scalding
other poultry, and their dresses and hair were covered
with feathers. The women were Italians and said they
were paid $14 a week each and handle 800 chickens or
200 apiece daily, although they do not do all the work.
The men, called tippers, take off all the heavy feathers
and pass the fowls to the women for finishing. The lat-
ter do the “pinning,” as it is called, taking off all the
down and small feathers. If they find it impossible to
remove a refractory feather without tearing the skin,
they cut it off close with a razor-edged knife. For pin-
ning a dry picked turkey the employees get 3 cents each,
and often finish 100 in a day. For pinning a chicken, if
they are not working by the week, they get 1% cents
each.

KILLING, PLUCKING AND MARKETING TURKEYS

The Money Value of Attractive Appearance in Market—Manner of Killing and Plucking—Saving the Feathers for an Added Profit—
Cooling and Cleaning the Carcass—Packing for Shipment to Dealers— Dressing and Packing for the Family Trade—

High Prices Obtained from Private Customers—Advantage of Knowing the Market

H. A. NOURSE,

GREAT deal depends on the manner in which
turkeys are killed and prepared for market.
Frequently it makes the difference in price

, between the highest and lowest quotations.
, Be the live specimen ever so fat and well
fleshed, if it is carelessly picked and im-
properly packed it is often passed by for a bird not quite
so well fattened, but presenting a better appearance
when it reaches the market stalls. Obviously no pro-
ducer can afford to send to market any bird that is not
in good condition.

It is not difficult to properly flesh and fatten healthy
turkeys. If they can be confined in a covered pen of
good size, without becoming worried and losing their ap-
petites, they will take on the most flesh, for the grain
fed, in the shortest time. But young ones that have
been accustomed to a wild life upon a large range do
not take kindly to confinement and can seldom be im-
proved if enclosed.

As the supply of bugs and other food gets short in
the fields the old hens will lead the young birds to the
feeder and a good ration of whole corn each day for two
or three weeks will put them in good flesh, with sufficient
fat to give the meat and skin a bright, attractive appear-
ance.

There is a flavor belonging to the meat of a range
fed and fattened turkey that cannot be found in one
raised in confinement or one that has spent its days near
the buildings eating with the chickens. The diet of
grass, roots and berries not only produces flesh at less
cost per pound, but improves the quality.

Before killing, the stock should be kept for eighteen
hours in a clean, airy place where no food can be ob-
tained. They may have water up to within eight hours
of the time of killing, for water gives a healthy look to
the skin and assists in cleansing the digestive organs of
matter which would become sour and taint the flesh. A

short, stout club, a long, sharp steel blade, a strong arm
and a quick hand are required for the operation of
killing.

THE MANNER OF KILLING AND PLUCKING

The bird should be suspended head downward with
its feet in a noose of strong cord, far enough from the
walls of the house and other objects so that it cannot in-
jure its wings when it struggles—as most of them do at
some time. After stunning by dealing a sharp blow at
the base of the skull with the club, pass the left arm
around the body of the fowl under the wings, which
usually drop down when the bird is stunned and the
muscles relax, holding the side of the breast towards
you. Grasp the head in the left hand and forcing the
bill open with the thumb and fore fingers, thrust the
knife blade in through the mouth to just back of the
brain and make a sharp cut directly across the roof of
the mouth, severing the arteries. Then holding the bird
firmly with the left arm and hand in the same position,
begin at once to remove the feathers with the right
hand, beginning at the juncture of neck and breast and
working up over the breast and body, then giving the
bird a turn which presents the back to the operator,
begin at the neck or between the wings and pluck to-
wards the tail. The short feathers of wings, tail, shanks
and neck are picked next and the long feathers of the
wing's and tail, if removed at all, are plucked last. As a
rule the feathers of the last joint of each wing are left
on and are much appreciated by the purchaser of the
bird to use about the kitchen in place of brushes. The
long feathers of the tail are removed or not as the
market for which they are intended requires.

While the skin of a turkey is less likely to be torn
when removing the feathers than that of a chicken or
duck, it is needful to be careful and none but exper-
ienced pickers can safely attempt to hurry the work.
The thumb and forefinger do most of the work by firmly

90 TURKEYS—THEIR

grasping a few feathers and removing them by a quick
jerk toward the tail and ter-
minates outward, which movement is accomplished by a
quick twist of the wrist. This motion first loosens the
feathers in their sockets by starting them the way they
grow and then removes them at an angle which is least
likely to tear the skin.

A well grown turkey is very powerful and requires
to be held firmly yet with due care, for if the wings are

which begins upward

MoKinley

A Superb Bronze Turkey, that was sent to President McKinley by Horace Vose, who for more than thirty-five
years has each season presented the President of the United States with a Thanksgiving Turkey.

grasped by their extremities or are held too firmly in
any position the bird may struggle and break or wrench
for sale.

them out of joint, making the carcass unfit

Careful handling after picking is very desirable, for
a bruise will cause discoloration which is very detrimental
to the appearance of the flesh in market.
SAVING THE FEATHERS
If many birds are killed it pays to save the feathers,
Those of the tail
proper and the two lower joints of the wings are salable

especially those of the tail and wings.

at fifteen to thirty cents per pound and can be saved by
no more extra labor than is required to toss them into
a clean receptacle when picking and later dry them by

spreading upon the floor of a loft where there is a good

circulation of air. ‘The shorter and body feathers seldom
command more than 4 to 6 cents per pound and most
turkey men do not care to save them for so little re-

muneration.

CARI

* AND MANAGEMENT.

COOLING AND CLEANING THE CARCASS

Marketing is usually done in the cold weather of late
fall and during the winter the cooling can be done by
hanging the picked turkeys in the open air, out of the
sun, long enough to allow the escape of all animal heat,
but not long enough to freeze or become stiff if the
temperature is low.

Most markets do not require the turkeys to be
drawn, while some will pay iess per pound for stock so
prepared. It is always best
to find what your market
wants before killing, for if
drawn turkeys are shipped
stock is
a con-

Where undrawn
wanted the
signment is considerable.
Feet and heads should be
washed clean and wiped dry
and all blood removed from
the mouth and throat. If
care is used when killing and
handling it will not be neces-
sary to wash the body of
the bird and the skin will re-
tain its bright, yellow ap-
pearance longer than _ it
would if dampened or if
cooled in water rather than
by the air.

loss on

PACKING TO SHIP

Packing is as important
an operation as picking, but
not so tedious. All consign-
ments should be packed
tightly, not jammed, in clean
.boxes and sufficient packing
put in before the cover is
nailed on to prevent shift-
ing enroute. Birds of dif-
ferent sizes, but not of dif-
ferent qualities, may be
packed in the same box and
the contents of the package
should be correctly de-
seribed on the outside of
the cover. If the descrip-
tion says “Ten young toms
and ten hens” and
the dealer, on opening
the box finds one old tom and perhaps some old hens,
he of course loses confidence in the shipper and does
not dare to recommend his goods. But if the contents
of the package never fail to tally with the description
the goods are satisfactory to handle and the returns as
a rule are better. Large boxes are inconvenient to handle
and less desired by small dealers than boxes weighing
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds and
the smaller packages require to be packed less solidly
and the contents show less evidence of hard pressure in

young

the box. If the market catered to favors drawn stock it
is easiest done before the bird is hung up to cool. The
incision made should be as small as possible. A sharp

knife should be eut the skin close around the
vent and cut away the fat around the intestine, making

used to

an opening into the cavity.

Through this the entrails must be drawn carefully,

the operator reaching with his fingers into the eavity to

TURKEYS—THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 91

free the upper end from its attachment. Nothing else

need be removed.

DRESSING AND PACKING FOR PRIVATE TRADE

If the stock is intended for a high price family trade,
all the birds should be picked and handled with extreme
care, the intestines drawn and the shanks and feet and
the head removed. When cutting off the heads consider-
able blood will frequently be found clotted in the neck
and unless removed it will turn black and show through
the skin. If it happens that there
is any food left in the crop it is
wise to remove it before cooling.
This is accomplished by
back the skin of the neck
working the crop out under it with
the thumb and fore finger, taking

pushing
and

care not to tear the crop in separ-
ating it from the tissues surround-
ing it. Removing the crop does not
leave the breast looking quite so
well as when the
and left in because its absence al-
lows the skin to sink
front of the breast
the food remains it will
black through the skin and mar
the appearance of the bird. The
skin should be drawn well over the
end of the
clean string. Each

thoroughly cooled
wrapped in clean wrapping paper
and packed in excelsior in a clean,
new wooden box to be shipped to

crop is empty

deeper in
but if

show

bone;

neck and tied with a
careass when
shotld be

the consumer’s kitchen door. Pa-
per without much color should be
used or at the end of the journey
the color will be found to have de-
serted the paper to cling to the
skin of the turkey, which will give
it more the appearance of the “tat-
tooed man” in a cireus than that
of the mainstay of a family feast. =

The family trade is usually
very profitable, paying well for the
extra labor and other expense in-
One establishment,
for the show room quality of its

volved. noted

turkeys, has been furnishing private customers in sey
eral states with Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys of
the finest grade for several years.
and shipped in the manner deseribed above, the weight
is taken as soon as the feathers are off and the bills for
them call for thirty-five cents a pound.
ability is needed to figure that there is money earned

These are prepared

No exceptional

by properly growing and fattening, and carefully pick-
ing, packing and shipping turkeys at that price.

FINISH KILLING AT NEW YEAR’S

It is well to kill all stock unsalable for breeding or

exhibition at or before the New Year. Occasionally,

however, the poultryman will be caught with a few very

late hatched poults presented by some wily old hen that
hid her nest so well and was so cautious in her “comings
and goings” that it was not discovered until she brought
off a brood contrary to her owner’s wishes and inten-
these late hatched
sight, believing that it is nothing but time wasted to

tions. Some breeders kill ones on

look after them. Others allow them to run with the hen
until cold weather and then house them with the chick-
ens, giving them the same care. They appear to do bet-

but

than in warm,

ter when confined in cold weather

The Thanksgiving Turkey

Illustrated on the opposite page, dressed and ready for shipment to President McKinley. Mr. Vose, the
donor, is holding also another choice specimen, which he has just dressed, to
assist in balancing the weight of the larger one.

them seem to breed lice faster than chicks and must be

continually dusted for body lice and their heads and
necks greased frequently to discourage the head lice. If
the kindly to confinement they will
make very good grewth and seli readily in the spring to
the trade calling for small sized turkeys. ‘These birds

should never be kept for breeding, for they seldom make

youngsters take

very strong birds and do not molt in the proper season.

Every raiser who markets any considerable

number each year can well afford to study his market

turkey

closely; to find just what it wants and when it will pay
most for it, and then bend his energies to furnishing the
right stock at the right time.

Marketing often determines the profit.

CATCHING, HANDLING, AND SHIPPING TURKEYS

Building a Trapping Pen for Separation of the Flock—Using the Catching Net—Training for Exhibition— Coops
for Local and Foreign Shipments

H. A, NOURSE

1 IS wise to separate from the flock in the fall the
birds intended for sale, as constant raiding of the
flock for birds to ship not only keeps the breeders
wild and suspicious, but makes it extremely diffi-
cult to make an intelligent selection.

The best device for “rounding up” that I have
seen is a covered yard or trap about thirty feet long and
twenty feet wide. Sometimes this may be built between
two of the farm buildings, using the buildings for the
two sides, thus avoiding the necessity of setting posts
and erecting sides of the enclosure. The poultry netting
which forms the top and one end of the trap may be
stretched between the buildings and fastened to them,
supported by several pieces of heavy single wire drawn
tightly from one building to the other. The other end,
which is the entrance to the trap, is left open and pro-
vided with a drop which will be described later. The tur-
keys will not distrust the farm buildings and will more
readily enter a trap between them than one separate
from them. A wing should be constructed of poultry
netting five feet high to extend from one corner of the
entrance to a distance of fifty feet outward or away
from the trap, to form an extension of the side, unless
one of the buildings happens to be so extended. ‘The
turkeys may be driven gently along the side of the build-
ing towards the entrance and wing, and an occasional
handful of corn may be thrown down to occupy their
attention until they are at the entrance to the trap.
Here the wing on the far side of the entrance prevents
them going beyond and they may be quickly turned into
the enclosure.

Constructing a trap in an open lot with no building
is quite different. Four strong posts should be set up
to form the corners of a space say thirty feet long and
twenty feet wide and no other wood should be used. The
posts may well be old ones, or those not carefully
trimmed, and with the bark left on, so that there will
be little about them to attract attention and arouse the
turkeys’ suspicions. It is not best to use bright wire or
to turn up much earth for the same reason. The posts
should stand five feet above the ground and haye a heavy
single wire like stock fence wire, stretched around
their tops and also diagonally across the tops from
corner to corner to support the wire netting which is
stretched over it in forming the top of the trap.
More netting is stretched around the sides and
one end. This is tightly wired to the top and its lower
edge is firmly pegged to the ground. One end is left
open to serve as an entrance and is rigged with a drop. A
piece of netting large enough to cover the open end is
loosely wired to the strand of heavy stock fence at the
top of the entrance. At the opposite side of this netting,
which reaches to the ground, a heavy cord is attached,
put through pulleys at the base of the entrance posts
and carried to a distance of sixty or seventy-five feet di-
rectly in front of the entrance. By pulling these cords
the drop will be hauled from a position on top of the

trap down over the front, closing the entrance. Two
wings will be required for this trap, for there is no
building to assist in guiding the turkeys in. These

wings, or leaders, as fishermen would call them, sheuld
extend from each side of the entrance, spreading lat-
erally to form a sort of funnel into the large end of
which the turkeys may be toled and then driven into the
trap.

The posts supporting the structure must be set
deeply in the ground and all the wire stretched very
tightly or it will be pressed out of shape by the flock
running against it when trying to get out. Sometimes
the trap may be built in a grove of trees and the trunks
of trees used in place of posts, at the same time secur-
ing the benefit of the branches and possible low brush
as a screen to partially hide the trap. If it is convenient
the turkeys should be given their daily allowance of
grain in this pen and when it is necessary to handle
them the drop can be closed and the flock confined, thus
avoiding the necessity of driving them in; but if they
are trapped too often they will not go in, and cannot be
driven or coaxed. Three times in a season should be
enough to do all the selecting necessary.

CATCHING THE BIRDS
For the actual capture a net of heavy twine eighteen
inches deep hung on a stout iron ring eighteen inches in

diameter, which is attached to a handle seven or eight

feet long, is the best contrivance I know of. This if put
suddenly over the head of the bird and quickly drawn
back will hold it so securely that it cannot struggle and
damage its feathers. Always grasp the turkey by the
shanks. If by mistake you take hold of the thigh almost
every feather will be stripped off. After obtaining a
firm hold, quickly remove the net and swing the bird
clear of all objects until it stops struggling; then, re-
taining the hold on the shanks, take the turkey under
one arm in such a way that its wings will be held tightly
against its sides. This has no application when the bird
is tame enough to be easily handled, which, however, is
not often the case with turkeys on wide range.

PREPARING FOR EXHIBITION

The preparation of the turkey for the show room
consists principally in taming and training the subject to
appear to the best advantage in the coop. If the birds
are wild it requires some days to teach them to pose.
For this purpose large coops covered with canvas, or in
some manner constructed so that the bird cannot cut
or bruise its head trying to get out, should be provided
in a light, well ventilated room, without drafts, where
the temperature ranges but few degrees higher than out-
side.

Fronts of strong slats or rods having no sharp edges
or rough surfaces, with doors of generous size, are bet-
ter than those of wire because they offer more chance
to make friends of the birds confined and less oppor-
tunity for the occupants to injure themselves by dashing
against it, as they frequently do when introduced. A
little patient work with the birds will win their con-
fidence, but the attendant should be careful not to
frighten them when feeding or when cleaning the coops
or the good work will be undone. If the specimen will
allow the handler to turn it around in the coop with the

TURKEYS—THEIR

hand or judging stick, without becoming nervous and
retreating to the far corner of the cage, it is fairly well
trained and will show for what it is worth under the
judge. Too long confinement tires the bird and detracts
from its appearance, if it does not make it actually sick.
The wisdom of this coop training is evident to any one
who has studied the turkey exhibit at the large shows.
Frequently a bird is so frightened at any person ap-
proaching the coop that it will crouch in a corner or
dash against the top of the cage, making it practically
impossible to fairly estimate its quality. Young toms
are more prone to nervousness than females or old toms.

COOPING FOR TRANSPORTATION

Coops for shipping to exhibitions should be large
enough to allow the bird to stand upright, without rub-
hing its head against the top, and either so narrow that
the occupant cannot turn around or wide enough so that
it can turn without breaking its tail. I believe in the
wider coop, for it is less likely to damage the plumage
by constant friction. Coops for this purpose can be used
season after season and should be solidly constructed of
three-eighths inch lumber over frames of inch square
stuff; it need not be heavy, but it must be strong. The
top may be hinged and provided with hasp and staple to
be hooked or locked. Ventilation may be provided in the
‘back of the cover by an open space one inch wide and as
long as the coop, and another space of equal size along
the front of the coop two or three inches below the top.
These will admit plenty of air for birds shipped in cool
weather, will not make a draft and the turkey cannot
get its head out and get hurt. Handles conveniently
placed should be on all large coops of this kind to facili-
tate handling by the expressmen and in a measure pro-
tect the birds from the rough handling to which large
coops not so equipped are sometimes subjected.

CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 93

For shipping breeding stock to points within a few
days’ journey a wood coop, with solid sides and slat top
for cold weather and slat sides and top for warm
weather, three feet long, three feet high and fifteen
inches wide, is right for toms and large hens, and one
six inches less in height and length will suffice for small
hens and pullets. Coops of this size allow the birds to
stretch to their full height and they arrive in much bet-
ter condition than when closely hemmed in. Shipment
to long distance points and to foreign countries should
be in more roomy quarters. Foreign consignments
should be forwarded in coops three feet long, three
feet high and three feet wide for each bird, with a little
extra length added when large toms are to go in them.
These coops should be made with solid sides if they are
to go on deck when crossing the water, with a space an
inch wide left for ventilation near the top of the front,
but may have slatted sides if to go below decks. The
only door should be at the bottom of the front, just wide
enough to admit the turkey turned down on its side, and
should extend the length of the side and be hinged at the
top to open outward. Cleaning and feeding may be done
through this door with but slight chance for the turkey
to escape. The water dish should be placed well up in
the coop with provision made for filling it through the
sides.

Unless special arrangement is made, a bag of grain
and a few heads of cabbage should be forwarded, marked
the same as the coops. Very good care is accorded con-
signments on board vessels and if the shipper supplies
food and utensils he may rest assured that the caretaker
will do his part. These instructions apply only to con-

signments forwarded in cold or cool weather; it is not
safe to attempt long distance
weather of midsummer.

shipments in the hot

HOW TO DRY-PICK TURKEYS

Good Turkeys Properly Dressed Always Sell Themselves—Badly Butchered Ones Hard to Sell

GEORGE SIXEAS

HIS article deals with the method I use in
handling dry-picked and dry-packed tur-
the

I have handled as

keys for express shipments to
eastern city markets.
many turkeys as any one of my age and
have a record of never losing one pound

of dressed poultry by spoiling in transit.

Good turkeys properly dressed always sell themselves—
badly butchered turkeys are hard to sell at any price.

I pen the turkeys for twelve that their
crops will be empty; if they are killed with full crops they
quickly sour and turn black.
But I do not starve the turkeys
so that they will lose weight or
have a gaunt look. When ready
to kill, I hang the turkey by
the legs in a string attached to
the ceiling so that the turkey’s
head comes within about four
feet of the floor. Then I lock
the turkey’s wings so that one
can have better control over it
in sticking and picking. To
lock the wings bring one over
the other and catch the tip of
the upper wing under that of
the lower. I always aim to
bleed the turkeys well so that
they will show up bright and
yellow and keep long.

To. stick the turkey I
‘use a long, keen, sharp-pointed
knife. I open the turkey’s mouth and quickly plunge
the knife down its throat, drawing it twice towards the
bill so that I sever the jugular vein on each side of the
throat, then quickly push the knife up through the roof
of the mouth into the brain, giving the knife a slight
twist. In making this thrust I aim to slightly touch the
turkey’s brain with the point of the knife so as to par-
alyze the turkey and make it loosen its hold on the
feathers. If you cut too much of the brain away it will
tighten its grip on the feathers and you cannot pick it
without tearing the skin. I had stuck ten thousand tur-
keys before I learned the art of sticking, and often in
the holiday rushes when the picking gang is getting
tired and their fingers are sore they have begged me to

hours so

do the sticking, saying that when I stick they can blow
the feathers off.

As soon as the turkey is stuek I begin pulling the
feathers off, and the quicker the better. Aim to get the
turkey picked before it is dead. The pickers are not al-
lowed to remove a turkey from
clean, and they are never allowed to scrape the pin feath-
As soon as the turkey is picked I

the string until it is

ers out with a knife.
plunge it into a barrel of cold water for about an hour.
Then take it out of the water, catch the turkey by the
feet and hold it so that its head reaches nearly to the
Give it a quick jerk so that the blood that has
Place a

ground.
accumulated in its throat will be jerked out.
string around its feet and hang it up to dry and cool. It
is then ready to pack for shipment as soon as it is thor-
oughly dry and all the animal heat has left its body.

needed.
Method of Sticking Turkeys It is a question, however, if
on the whole there was
much gain to the wholesale handlers, as there were

supply the want.

Ten years ago most turkeys were shipped in boxes
of all sizes, shapes and conditions. No attention was paid
to uniformity, and second-hand shoe, hat, coffee and
canned goods and such other boxes as were available
were used, together with barrels of varying sizes and
conditions, from the little western apple barrel up-to the
coffee and sugar barrels. The result of this method of
packing was not altogether inviting to the eye of the
buyer. Gradually more attention was given to the matter
and a steady improvement has been made until at the
present time boxes are made especially for the purpose.

Barrels to some extent
used at the present
time, but not nearly so com-
monly as in years past. The
size of the packages has also
changed. The rule used to
be to get as large a box as
possible, cramming in as many
turkeys as it would hold with-
out splitting.

are also

In some ways this made
business good for the whole-
sale and jobbing houses, as

there were many small dealers
who were unable to handle full
packages, who had to pay an
extra profit for the privilege
of selecting such birds as they

generally enough odds and ends left to seriously detract
from the profits as a whole. The demand for smaller
packages came to be felt by shippers as well as whole-
and commission men and steps were taken to
At the present time the boxes rarely
weigh more than 150 to 200 pounds each, and great
numbers are packed in boxes holding from ten to fifteen
selected birds, while a less number hold from eight to
twelve. This makes it possible for the small marketmen
and provision dealers to buy a full package without any
extra cost for breakage or selection, and at the same
time does away with a great deal of work and with much
of the waste which was prevalent in the old method of
packing and shipping.

The common method of packing birds is to make one
layer of tom turkeys in the bottom of the boxes, while
the upper layer is made up of females. ‘This gives a
selection of sizes, and is better for the retailer than where
they run pretty nearly one size throughout. The best
shippers are known by their private shipping marks
and it is understood just how the birds may be expected
to turn out. Generally the case is marked so many hens,
so many toms, and if any old hens or old cock birds are
in the package, they are specified on the outside so that
the buyer may know just exactly what he is getting. In
the long run honesty in packing makes returns in dollars
and cents and there is no other one thing which tells
better for a shipper than a reputation for honest
methods of boxing.

salers

TABEE OF CONTENTS

Mammoth Bronze Turkeys to Date

Introductory - -

How the Turkey Got Its Name
Turkeys and Their Management
Standard-Bred Bronze Turkeys
Turkeys—Their Care and Management

Successful Turkey Raising

Breeding Mammoth Bronze Turkeys

Turkeys On Fisher’s Island

A Typical Forty-Pound Bronze Turkey Cock
Care and Management of Turkeys
Hatching and Rearing Bronze Turkeys

Some Practical Hints -
Points on Turkey Breeding
In Nature’s Way -

Turkeys Raised Without Housing
Mating Standard-Bred Bronze Turkeys

The Farmer's Best Friend
Success With Turkeys

The Method of a Successful Breeder

The Popular Bronze Turkey
Turkeys For Profit -
The Watch Word of Success

Down-To-Date White Holland Turkeys

White Holland Turkeys

Advocates White Holland Turkeys

White Holland Turkeys

Breeding White Holland Turkeys

Raise More Turkeys -
Wild Turkeys -
‘The Great Market Turkey

Money in Turkeys for the Holidays -

Killing, Plucking and Marketing Turkeys -

Catching, Handling and Shipping Turkeys

How to Dry Pick Turkeys

Page
F. 1. Sewell - Frontispiece
. : - ets
Dee. talewe - 5
Chas. McClave - alee |
Dae Haley - 11
S. B. Johnston 18
Mrs. M. L. Singleton - 20
James E. Lord - - 22
E. M. and W. Ferguson - 24
Illustration - - - 26
W. J. Bell - - 27
Ralph S. Mosely - 31
O. E. Skinner - - 32
J. F. Crangle - - - 33
B. F. Ulrey - - 36
B. F. Hislop - - - 388
J. T. Thompson : - 42
Mrs. J. M. Randolph - - 43

Mrs. Bettie Glover Mackey - 45
Mrs. H. R. Schlotzhauer - 61

Emmet F. Pullin
Mrs. Charles Jones
Mrs. Nellie Bullock
Illustration = -
John R. Garbee

J. A. Leland -

A. E. Blaker -

C. C. Herron -
Mrs. W. N. Jewett
Robert Lee Blanton
S. IT. Jones’ -
Fred Haxton -

H. A. Nourse -

H. A. Nourse -
George Sixeas

4 - 62
: - 63
: Beil
ee Le:
E Sere

OCT 22 190"

The End

ICOPY, MEL. TO GAT. DIV,

= et j 909

MONEY-MAKING
POULTRY INFORMATION

It does not make any difference how you are conducting the poultry
business—on a town lot, farm or special plant—

RELIABLE’S POULTRY LIBRARY

contains valuable ideas for you. You are in danger of losing money if you do
not know how the business of the most successful poultrymen is conducted, how
the fowls are selected and fed to produce an extra supply of eggs during the
winter, how their houses and appliances should be built, how the chickens,
ducks, geese and turkeys are reared on a money-making plant of similar size to
your own. All this valuable information and more is contained in the thirteen

reference books of Reliable’s Poultry Library.

Successful Poultry Keeping - - - - $1.00
Artificial Incubating and Brooding - - - - 50
Barred, White and Buff Plymouth Rocks - - - 1.00
Wyandottes - - - 2 oye he 2 1.00
Leghorns - - - = - “ © - .50
Aslatics - - - » 2 = . 3 .50
Eggs and Egg Farms - - - = - - - .50
Poultry Houses and Fixtures - - - - = -50
Chick Book - - - 2 - S - ay 1}
Ducks and Geese - - - - - = g 75
Turkeys - - - - - - - : POU ait
Bantam Fowls - . - - - pi A 50
Reliable Poultry Remedies - - - - - - .25

Reliable Poultry Journal Publishing Company,
QUINCY, ILLINOIS, U. S. A.

tus

@ 002 856 618 9