436 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



CARE OF BREEDING STOCK. 



Range for turkeys. — Turkeys may be yarded successfully when desirable 

 The larger ihe area available, however, the better the development. Young, 

 growing turkeys, to do well, must have a range. It is not advantageous to 

 keep turkeys on a small, confined place. Some have done well with them 

 on eight to twenty acres. Only a few can be grown in this way, and it 

 shows the results of excellent care and consideration when success is attained 

 in such limited quarters. 



A wide range of territory for them to go over undisturbed is of vital im- 

 portance; here they will select the kind of food most to their liking. In the 

 early spring and summer season such a range furnishes plenty of food and 

 exercise for the breeding stock, and later the finest feeding grounds for the 

 growing poults. 



Best condition for breeding stock.— \n caring for the breeding stock .-void 

 having them too fat. When they can go about the barns and granaries they 

 may become overfat. Boiled oats should be fed to them when they have a 

 tendency to become so; wheat and some corn may also be fed to advantage. 

 They should not be allowed to become teo fat during the winter months, nor 

 should they be allowed to go hungry or underfed. Where they have the run 

 of the farm there is but little danger of their lacking food, if any stock what- 

 ever is fed on the place. They are untiring foragers, and at times greatly 

 reduce their condition by hunting unsuccessfully for food. Wheat, oats, 

 barley, and corn should be scattered about on the ground where they may 

 pick the grains up a kernel at a time. They must have plenty of fresh 

 water, also grit and shell-forming material of some kind. They will travel 

 quite a distance to visit a spring or stream of. water, and eagerly devour bugs 

 and beetles during the summer months. 



One cause of inbreeding . — In mating it is quite unusual for the male to 

 pair with the female more than once for a clutch of eggs, and hens will 

 wander miles if necessary for this opportunity. Through this very natural 

 cause has come the danger of destructive inbreeding in localities where grow- 

 ers who keep but few turkeys depend upon the one male in the neighbor- 

 hood, who too often pairs with his own descendants, thus causing a lack of 

 vitality in the young poults. 



Roosting places.— l^Mi\i^^^ diOht.XX.QX when they can roost in the open. 

 If well fed, they will thrive more in the shelter of the trees than in a close, 

 confined house. The trouble that arises from allowing them to live in the 

 trees are that they become wild and frequently are stolen. If housed, their 

 quarters should be airy, roomy, and perfectly clean. It is not wise to have 

 them roost with other poultry. If found necessary to confine them, all that 

 is needed is a shed or house that will protect them from the elements and 

 marauders of all kinds, and at the same time not be too confining for them. 

 Place the roosts well up from the floor, and keep the interior perfectly clean 

 and free from vermin. 



In localities where it is not too cold during the winter months, it is better 

 to allow the breeding stock to roost out in the open, either in the trees, or 

 upon roosts prepared for them by planting posts that project about eight 

 feet above the ground. Upon these place long poles about two or two and 

 one-half inches in diameter for roosts. Roosting places of this kind are 



