CO TURKEY CULTURE. 



best to have an extra gobbler to fall back on, should the 

 lord of the flock be lost by disease or accident. Many 

 western breeders agree that one can seldom obtain thrifty 

 chicks from a young gobbler, and that a three-year-old is 

 better than a two-year-old. Many successful turkey grow- 

 ers also maintain that to change gobblers every season, or 

 every other season, as was suggested, is to make a mis- 

 take, but we don't think so, if you know the bird you buy. 

 I. K. Felch maintains, that if one procured the finest gob- 

 bler that could be found, and mated him with extra-choice 

 hens, they could be kept and bred from as long as they 

 Jived; not until the gobbler failed should another be 

 procured, and he should be kept with the same hens. 

 The progeny should be disposed of yearly and not bred 

 from, unless mated with a strange gobbler. Of course, the 

 breeding birds should not be too large, as hens weighing 

 pyer twenty pounds are apt to lay soft-shelled eggs. 



Mr Barber adds this note upon the Kentucky method : 

 For breeders, select broad-backed, full-breasted and 

 ehort-legged ones of any variety you decide to raise. 

 Twelve hens mated to one torn is the correct number, and 

 some prefer young hens to adult ones, as they will lay 

 more eggs, and if they are heavy-weight varieties, when 

 incubating, they will not break so many, or mash so many 

 of the young poults, as the old hens would do, while the 

 old ones lay larger eggs, and will hatch from them 

 stronger and hardier poults." 



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