DISEASES AND PREDATORY ANIMALS 



clean board surfaces or other feeding places. Surplus 

 feed should not be allowed to lie around where it will 

 sour and spoil, as such material is very bad for turkeys. 

 It is likewise desirable both in feeding young and old 

 birds not to continue to feed on the same spot of ground 

 indefinitely but to change occasionally to fresh places. 

 Many turkey breeders feel that the feeding of sour milk 

 as a drink both to the young turkeys and to the mature 

 stock is a most valuable disease preventive. In case 

 there are indications of any disease developing it is a 

 good precautionary measure to place a disinfectant in the 

 drinking water where this is provided for the birds in 

 fountains or other receptacles. Potassium permanganate 

 is a good disinfectant to use, putting enough in the water 

 to give it a deep purple color. 



Blackhead. Undoubtedly, the prevalence of blackhead 

 throughout the New England and Middle Atlantic states 

 has been a great factor in reducing the number of turkeys 

 raised there to an almost negligible quantity, although 

 turkey raising in former years was quite an important 

 industry. 



An example may be cited of the condition which oc- 

 curred in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., a famous turkey 

 producing section, during the late summer and early fall 

 of 1914. At this time an epidemic of blackhead broke 

 out here which was more serious than had ever before 

 been experienced in that section. How serious this was 

 is well shown by a comparison of the number of turkeys 

 hatched and the number raised from the records of sev- 



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