REARING YOUNG TURKEYS. 



545 



statements of that kind. Lastly, the really largest 

 and most successful rearers, even in America, 

 employ more moderate and domestic methods, 

 which keep the broods more under control, 

 while carrying out the same general principles. 

 Differences in race also have to be borne in 

 mind, and it is interesting to observe that in 

 America also, where the more domesticated 

 " White Holland " turkey is largely bred, and 

 by many preferred for profit to the Bronze, 

 this breed is found to require far less range 

 than the wilder race. 



While therefore the beneficial effects of real 

 freedom and exposure deserve the attentive 

 study of all rearers, there is more to be learnt 

 from the general American methods, which 

 have reduced such principles to application on 

 farms, and we have been interested in collating 

 more than a score of accounts furnished by 

 different breeders concerning their systems of 

 rearing and management. One lady already 

 referred to, Mrs. Charles Jones, who raises 

 turkeys on a farm in Illinois, has for years 

 raised 95 per cent, of all she hatches in con- 

 siderable numbers, and in fact finds that trifling 

 mortality considerably less than amongst her 

 chicks, is still of opinion, after trying the other 

 plan, that " if you do not keep them near the 

 house so that you can run them under cover 

 when a heavy storm comes on, you are liable to 

 lose a large percentage." She uses for this pur- 

 pose a large shed with a board floor, and watch 

 is kept in showery weather against all such 

 contingencies. As birds grow they are put in 

 flocks of about fifty, which she finds enough for 

 one yard or field of two or three acres, till 

 about two months old, when they are driven 

 out to their summer liberty. Her hens are 

 cooped for a few days, and then let out in a 

 home lot, except for showers as just mentioned. 

 A considerable majority of the breeders 

 just mentioned adopt a plan which is more or 

 less general throughout the United States, and 

 in a dry season is found to answer well. Three 

 boards, each twelve to sixteen feet long and 

 twelve to fifteen inches wide, are fastened to- 

 gether on their edges as an equilateral triangular 

 pen, on a piece of grass cut very short, and 

 quite fresh. The turkey chicks are put out in 

 this, in the sun, and the hen put down close by 

 to step into the pen, when she will gather them 

 together. For about a week the boards will con- 

 fine the chicks, and when they can get over them 

 they are strong enough on their legs to be left 

 at liberty. About three such pens, each with a 

 hen and her brood, is considered enough for a 

 five-acre lot or field, and gives ample range, 

 while keeping all under control. Care has to 



be taken that there are no hollows in the pen, 

 else the turkey is very apt to choose just that 

 spot for brooding, and if it rains the water col- 

 lects there and the chicks come to grief : with 

 this precaution many of the Bronze mothers are 

 found to shelter their broods with great care 

 and certainty during a storm, and bring them 

 up in safety, the White mothers being less to be 

 relied upon in this respect. Some prefer to 

 choose a spot for the pen which is bare of grass ; 

 and a great many move the pen every two days 

 to fresh ground. By far the greater number 

 agree that in the dry seasons of America, the 

 young ones do best if given full liberty (i.e. in 

 their field) with their mother after the first 

 week or ten days. 



On the other hand, some of the largest 

 American breeders who have tried the " three- 

 board " system, have given it up in consequence 

 of losses ; and we find this chiefly, as might 

 be expected, in those States which have the 

 most spring and summer rainfall. Some of 

 these tether the mother by the leg under a 

 shed, where she has a considerable amount of 

 liberty : others coop her in a large slatted coop 

 under such a shed : others confine her in a large 

 covered coop, and give the chicks their liberty, 

 as countless English breeders do with their hens 

 and chickens. Much depends on whether grass 

 is long or short, and upon the season. All 

 agree that too many must not be allowed in 

 one field or lot, and that it is better if there 

 have been no turkeys in that lot the year before, 

 when the birds are reared in great numbers ; of 

 course a brood or two ranging over the whole 

 farm produce no ill effects. 



The best English practice, it will thus be 

 seen, does not really differ in any essential point 

 from the best American, and so far as it does 

 so at all, that difference is necessitated by the 

 far greater liability to rain-storms in this 

 country. A few people may still roost their 

 breeding stock in close houses, and shut over- 

 crowded broods into close coops on foul ground, 

 and such folly must of course be often followed 

 by disaster. But the more intelligent and 

 successful English breeders either use open- 

 fronted coops or open sheds, get their broods 

 " out " as soon as possible, to roost out of doors, 

 and so far as practicable try to rear each year 

 upon a fresh field or part of the farm, taking a 

 crop before young turkeys are turned upon it 

 again. This cannot, however, always be done 

 in a thickly-populated country like England, 

 and in some places a system of disinfection is 

 practised which appears to be effectual. Un- 

 slaked lime is scattered freely over the grass 

 on a dry day, and left for about a week. Then 



