Tlie Country Geiitlcmaiis Magazine 



REARING TURKEYS. 



LAST season, says a correspondent of a 

 trans-Atlantic contemporary, we tried 

 our first experiment in raising turkeys. In 

 the spring we bought a gobbler and four hens, 

 and from these we raised nearly one hun- 

 dred young turkeys, by setting the early eggs 

 under common fowls. Later in the spring, 

 we allowed each turkey hen to produce a 

 brood of her own. We practised placing 

 two or three broods, of nearly the same age, 

 with one hen, having in one flock thirty, in 

 another nearly forty, &c. For the first four 

 weeks we kept the young turkeys confined 

 but not crowded, and were very careful to 

 have them under shelter when it rained, and 

 during the night. We fed them mainly, 

 while small, on the curd of sour milk, made 

 by boiling the milk and draining off the whey 

 until the curd was quite dry. With this we 

 mixed about one-third its bulk of corn meal 

 for one feed each day, feeding the curd alone 

 the remainder of the time. They were well 

 supplied with water. When the young were 

 four or five weeks old, they received more 

 grain, and had their liberty except at night 

 and in stormy weather. We found that at 

 all times, but especially while quite small, 

 the young turkeys needed their food very 

 frequently, not less than five or six times 

 daily. 



By the time our wheat harvest was over, 

 our young birds were nearly half-grown and 

 well feathered, and I shewed them the way 

 to the stubble, where they would eat their 

 fill, and then return to their quarters. Later 

 in the season, the grasshoppers became very 

 numerous in the pasture fields, and on these 

 the turkeys fared sumptuously every day 

 while they lasted, which was until heavy 

 frosts came, late in the fall. AVith a little 

 practice, we trained our feathered herd so 

 that two persons could drive a hundred or 

 more of them where they would, as easily as a 

 flock of sheep. 



Early in the autumn I bought of a near 



neighbour a few over loo yonng turkeys. 

 They were about half-grown when I got them, 

 and the two flocks together made us out just 

 200. It began to look like being overrun with 

 turkeys about this time — turkeys in the door- 

 yard, turkeys in the garden, turkeys in the 

 corn-field, turkeys everywhere. As the 

 grasshoppers, stubble fields, and other out- 

 side supplies began to fail, I had to increase 

 the feed of our turkeys ; and for two months 

 I fed them 2 bushels of ears of corn each 

 day. Corn was at that time worth about 25 

 cents per bushel of ears. 



Early in December we commenced killing 

 and marketing our earliest broods. The 

 latest we kept till about the first of January. 

 We killed them by hanging them up by the 

 feet and opening the large veins in the throat 

 with a small knife. 



I sold to a dealer in Ionia who shipped 

 ■them to New York. He paid me 10 cents 

 per lb. All he required in the line ot 

 dressing was to have the feathers carefully 

 taken off. The head, legs, and intes- 

 tines went to market with the rest. Four 

 persons, two women and two men, would 

 kill and dress about sixty in a day. The 

 gobblers averaged about 14 lb. each, and the 

 hens about 8 lb. This may seem like small 

 weight to the men who shew turkeys at the 

 fairs weighing from 30 to 40 lb., but it is 

 about as well as common turkeys will do at 

 seven months old. 



After my season's experience, I think that 

 if I were near a good market where I could 

 get the full value of my fowls myself, I could 

 make a profitable business of raising poul- 

 try, and particularly turkeys. As it is, I 

 think there is not profit enough to pay for 

 the trouble and for being deprived of sweet 

 corn, tomatoes, peas, and cucumbers, all 

 which they will surely eat up unless they are 

 confined. We tried shutting in, but they will 

 not bear confinement after they are four or 

 five weeks old, without becoming sickly. 



