MANAGEMENT OF THE BREEDING STOCK 



pings regularly, and to provide plenty of litter if the 

 health of the stock is to be maintained. Where only a 

 few turkeys are kept they are sometimes allowed to roost 

 in the chicken house with the chickens. It is best, how- 

 ever, not to allow turkeys to roost with fowls as they will '! 

 do better when they are kept separate. 



A satisfactory turkey house, built especially for that 

 purpose, is one 30 feet long and 16 feet deep. The front 

 wall is 9 feet high and the rear wall 6 feet, the roof being 

 of the single slope or shed roof type. The foundation is 

 concrete and the floor is board. The walls are a single 

 thickness and may be either of matched boards, of barn 

 boards with the cracks battened or of barn boards covered 

 with paper. The house is tight on all sides except the 

 front, where there is an opening 3 feet wide extending 

 clear across the house. This opening is placed 4 feet 

 from the floor and 2 feet from the roof. It is, 

 of course, covered with wire netting. A wide door is 

 provided in the middle of the front. A dropping board 

 runs along the rear of the house 3 feet from the floor and 

 roosts are j laced above this. The floor is covered with 

 a thick layer of straw which is changed weekly. During 

 the cold or stormy weather the turkeys are driven into 

 this house each night and if the weather is particularly 

 bad they can be kept there for a day or two, feeding them 

 inside. Ordinarily, the turkeys are fed outside the house. 

 A house of this size will accommodate 60 turkeys very 

 nicely and more can be kept in it for limited periods. 



