TURKEY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 



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with warm soapsuds in which are a 

 few drops of carbolic acid, and again 

 apply the salve. Add a little sulphur 

 to their food. This will hasten the 

 cure. They should be cured in a little 

 over a week. Be sure to separate all 

 the fowls affected from the flock. 

 This will prevent the spreading of 

 the disease. 



Turkeys Lame Will you kindly tell 

 me what to do for my turkeys? My 

 early hatches did fine, but of the late 

 hatch, four of them were troubled with 

 stiff legs, one died, and one got well, 

 but the other two are still lame, the 

 knee joints are swollen and kind of 

 pink color. Their appetities are good. 

 -K. C. 



Answer Your turkeys have rheu- 

 matism. This comes from their liver 

 being affected, by cold or damp wea- 

 ther. Give each of the affected tur- 

 keys a small liver pill, followed by a 

 one-grain quinine pill every day for a 

 week. Bathe the knee joints with the 

 following: One cup of vinegar, one 

 cup of turpentine, one heaping table- 

 spoon of saltpeter. Mix, keep in a 

 bottle, shake before using. I think 

 this will cure them. Be careful not 

 to give them any corn or corn meal, 

 and give plenty of lettuce. 



General Care of Turkeys I would 

 like to ask a few questions about tur- 

 keys. You mentioned raising them 

 in a brooder. 1. How warm should 

 one have the brooder when the poults 

 are first put in? 2. At the end of 

 the first week what should the tem- 

 perature be lowered to? 3. Is al- 

 falfa meal necessary or of any benefit 

 to little poults or to little chicks if 

 they have all the green barley they 

 will eat, cut fine? A Beginner. 



Answer The heat under the hover 

 should be about 95. The reason I say 

 "about" is that on a very warm, sun- 

 ny day it might be a little lower, but 

 should the outside temperature be 

 cold or the weather damp and 

 gloomy, it might be up to 95 for the 

 best results. 2. About 85, depend- 

 ing somewhat on the outside air and 

 weather. Gradually lower the tem- 

 perature till you get it to 70 or 80, 

 according to the weather. 3. No! 

 Little turkeys require the succulent 

 green, not the dried hay, ground up. 

 Give them lettuce chopped up at first 

 with every 'meal; then either lettuce, 



dandelion leaves, onion tops chopped 

 fine, or cabbage or the tender leaves 

 of beets. Any, green vegetable that 

 you would eat yourself will do and 

 also the green barley as long as it is 

 succulent and tender. Barley soon 

 gets tough and hard and then it not 

 suitable for the little turkeys. 



Keep Separate from Chicks Will 

 you kindly give me some information 

 concerning newly hatched turkeys? 

 We have two hens and a torn. Would 

 you advise keeping them away from 

 chickens? Mrs. C. B. 



Answer Little turkeys do much 

 better when kept away from chickens. 

 They require, or do better, on differ- 

 ent food, and when very young re- 

 quire to be kept quiet, whilst the 

 chicks like to scratch and rustle. 

 Turkeys move more slowly and need 

 rest and quiet. Then, again corn, 

 Kaffir corn and corn meal suit chick- 

 ens, but ferment inside the little tur- 

 keys and give them diarrhoea, which 

 is often fatal. Let the turkey mothers 

 take care of the little turkeys and 

 give them grass or alfalfa to run on 

 and they will do well. 



Turkeys I am glad if I have been 

 able to help you with your turkeys, 

 and will try to reply to your ques- 

 tions, but I wish you could give your 

 turkeys free range as they are the 

 Bronze, for that most beautiful breed 

 is nearer to the wild than any other 

 and, therefore, need more than any, 

 a good wide free range to keep them 

 healthy. A turkey on the range eats 

 a few seeds, then sees an insect, may- 

 be a grasshopper, and chases after 

 that, which is good exercise. After 

 a run he finds perhaps a nice little 

 pebble or a few green leaves or twigs, 

 and so on. He only eats a very little 

 at a time and exercises between each 

 mouthful and this is the way a tur- 

 key, should eat. The nearer we can 

 come to copying nature in feeding 

 turkeys, the better success we shall 

 have. Now, with this prelude I will 

 try to answer your questions to the 

 best of my ability. 



1. How much grain and what kinds 

 should I feed? 2. Should I give 

 them bran and beef scraps? 3. Or 

 do you prefer granulated milk? 

 4. How much of the milk should they 

 have? 5. Should I feed more than 



