FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 445 



to grain feeding, they may be fed once or even twice a day on ground oats 

 and cornmeal mixed with milk. This should be given in addition to an 

 abundance of wheat and corn. They should be fed each time just what they 

 will eat up clean with a relish. Feed the grain mornings and evenings, and 

 the mixture at noon or twice between morning and evening, as best suits 

 your convenience. See that plenty of sharp grit is always at hand for their 

 use and provide a constant supply of fresh water where they may help them- 

 selves. 



FEEDING STOCK TURKEYS. 



Separation from market stock. — Fe-^ growers separate their stock or 

 breeding turkeys from those intended for market. Entirely too many 

 growers feed them all together, sell the most thrifty for market, and keep 

 the least matured for producing stock. This is a great mistake; the very 

 best should be selected for producing stock, and the rest fed for market. 

 Those selected for use in breeding, however, should be separated and fed 

 by themselves if possible. The best food for stock turkeys is boiled oats 

 drained of all moisture, some wheat, and a little corn. This will keep them 

 in a good, healthy condition and quite full enough of flesh. It is a mistake 

 to keep as producers fowls poor or thin in flesh. They must be in good 

 condition, plump, but not overfat. 



Prime condition and how to secure it. — For the best results in egg laying, 

 hens should neither be too fat nor too lean. The yolk of the egg is 

 normally one-third fat, about one-sixth protein, and the remainder water. 

 The hen must have enough substance to her body to insure the production 

 of the eggs. An excess of fat in the body arises from too much fattening 

 food during the season of no egg production. Hens actively engaged in egg 

 producing seldom become overfat. If kept in prime condition out of laying 

 season, they may be fed on boiled oats, wheat, and some corn, when the 

 laying season is at hand. The main point in feeding stock turkeys out of 

 laying season is to feed them enough fully to sustain their physical condi- 

 tion and health, so as to have them in proper condition for egg production 

 when the time arrives. Then a suitable ration for egg production may be 

 adopted. 



MARKETING. 



After the turkeys are grown and ready for market, quite as much care 

 and attention should be given to the killing and shipping as to the proper 

 growing. Where these things can not be done to good advantage, it is better 

 to sell them alive. Buyers who are prepared to kill, dress, pack, and ship 

 turkeys, and to save the feathers, should be in position to pay what they 

 are worth alive; and should be able to handle them at a profit, better than 

 can the grower, who may not be prepared to do the work to advantage. So 

 much depends upon marketing them in the best condition that small growers 

 should either dress and sell to their home market or, providing it can be 

 done at a fair price, sell alive to someone who makes a business of handling 

 such stock. 



