PROGRESSIVE POULTRY RAISING 



Turkeys 



OF THE six varieties of turkeys recognized in Amer- 

 ica the Bronze is by far the most widely bred. It 

 is also the largest and is usually the most desirable 

 for market purposes in spite of its dark feathers. The 

 standard weight of the young torn is 25 pounds, yearling, 

 3-3 pounds and adult 36 pounds. The standard weight 

 of the young female is 16 pounds and the mature female 

 20 pounds. Next in popularity comes the variety known 

 as the White Holland, which is a somewhat smaller bird. 

 The standard weights for the males of different ages is 

 20, 24 and 28 pounds and for the females 14 and 1 8 pounds. 



It is unnecessary to provide a house for turkeys though 

 it is the part of wisdom to have a shed handy into which 

 they may be driven on extremely stormy nights. As a 

 usual thing they will do better roosting out in the open 

 even in quite severe weather Where only a small flock 

 is kept 1 5 females may be mated with one male if he is 

 unquestionably vigorous. If a flock of about 25 or 30 

 is kept, two males will be needed but they should not 

 be allowed to run with the flock at one time. One should 

 be allowed to run with the flock one day and the other the 

 next. The reason for this is that where both are allowed 

 to mingle with the flock at the same time, they will fight 

 until one of them becomes boss, after which he will do 

 most of the mating and the flock will be very little better 

 off so far as the fertility is concerned than if it had a 

 single male. 



When one experiences difficulty with having the laying 

 hens hide out their nests during the hatching season, 

 this can usually be overcome by shutting the birds in a 

 pasture or better still, the orchard, until they are through 

 laying, when they may be let out for exercise. They may 

 be driven in at night-fall if there are suitable roosting 

 quarters, or allowed to roost out all night and driven in 



Page Thirty-Eight 



