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THE RURAL EFFICIENCY GUIDE STOCK 



putting on weight. If new corn must be fed it should be introduced gradually 

 into the ration. 



2. Corn, Wheat, Oats, Corn Meal, Milk. Feed a grain mixture of corn 

 and wheat, and a mash of corn meal and ground oats mixed with milk. Give 

 the grain feed morning and night; the mash at noon. If more convenient the 

 mash may be fed twice between morning and evening about 10 o'clock and 

 2 o'clock. Feed all they will eat up clean with a relish each time. 



3. Chestnuts and Celery Seed. If one is near a market where he can 

 get an extra big price, it may pay him to feed the fowls chestnuts and celery 

 seed during the last few weeks of fattening. Feeding these gives the flesh a 

 splendid flavor and quality. They are rather expensive, however, and it will 

 not pay to feed them unless a much higher price can be obtained for them on 

 the market. 



Grit and Water. See that a fresh supply of grit is before the fowls at 

 all times and plenty of good clean water. 



Marketing. 



It requires quite as much care to kill and prepare turkeys for market as 

 it does to raise them. If the proper time and attention cannot be given to the 

 killing, dressing and packing for market, the birds should be sold alive. A 

 great deal depends upon the proper marketing, so much so in fact that small 

 growers should either dress and sell to their home market or sell to some 

 person making a business of handling such stock. Carelessly dressed stock 

 never commands the highest quotations, no matter how well fattened it is. 

 Stock with bruised or torn skin or scalded stock is not wanted, except at low 

 prices. For instance, if a box of a dozen turkeys contained just 2 or 3 damaged 

 birds, the whole 12 would be sold at a lower figure than they would otherwise 

 bring. Dress the birds well or sell them alive. 



Killing. It is hard enough to kill turkeys at best, so the most humane 

 methods should be used. No food should be given the birds for 24 hours 

 before killing them. This permits the entrails and crop to become emptied 

 and lessens the danger of spoiling. 



Methods Used. 



1. Stunning and Sticking. The most common method of killing and 

 we believe the most humane method, is as follows : Suspend a cord or wire 

 from a beam or some object above the head so that the lower end comes 

 about even with the shoulder; hang Jhe bird to this by his shanks head 

 downward; hit a sharp blow on the back of the head to remove all sense of 

 pain ; reach the knife through the mouth and cut crosswise to sever the arteries 

 in the throat and allow the bird to bleed. The head can be held downward 

 by a weight with a short cord and a hook to fasten in the beak or nostrils. 

 When the blow is delivered properly, the muscles of the bird will relax im- 

 mediately and the feathers can be removed. 



Breaking Neck with Backward Jerk. Another plan is to break the neck 



