NATIONAL CITY, CALIFORNIA 17 



little success. Those confined to a pen eat heartily for two or three days, 

 but after this they lose their appetite and begin to lose flesh rapidly. On 

 allowing them free range again, they pick up rapidly and are soon eating 

 as heartily as ever. The better method is to allow them free range, as it 

 keeps them in good, healthy condition, and they are always eager to be fed. 

 Nuts of various kinds are a natural fattening feed picked up by the 

 turkeys on the range. Of these beechnuts, chestnuts, pecans, and acorns 

 are those most commonly found by them. 



MARKETING 



In killing and dressing turkeys on the farm they should first be de- 

 prived of feed for twenty-four hours, but given plenty of fresh, clean water 

 in order to clean the crop and intestines of all feed. When ready to kill, 

 the bird should be hung up by the feet; holding the bird in one hand a 

 sharp, narrow-bladed knife is used to sever the veins in the throat by 

 making a small cut inside the mouth on the right side of the throat, at 

 the base of the skull. After making this cut and bleeding begins, the knife 

 is thrust up thru the groove in the roof of the mouth and into the brain at 

 the back part of the skull. On piercing the brain the bird gives a peculiar 

 squawk, the feathers are loosened by a quivering of the muscles, and death 

 is instantaneous. In dry picking the feathers should be plucked imme- 

 diately, and if the bird has been properly stuck they come out very easily. 

 The tail and wing feathers are removed first, after which the body feathers 

 are pulled out. When the turkeys are to be marketed locally or are to 

 be shipped but a short distance they are cooled to a temperature of about 

 35 F. by hanging in the open air, provided the weather is cool enough; 

 otherwise they are plunged into ice water and kept there until thoroly 

 cooled. After cooling they are packed undrawn in boxes or barrels. It is 

 inadvisable for the producer without proper refrigerating facilities to ship 

 dressed turkeys, as. losses from improper cooling and from their being 

 exposed to warm weather during- transit are liable to occur. Aside from 

 this it is seldom profitable to ship turkeys any great distance except in 

 carload lots; when this is done the turkeys are cooled to 32 F., packed in 

 boxes or barrels, and shipped in refrigerator cars. 



DISEASES OF TURKEYS 



Turkeys are subject to most of the diseases and ailments affecting 

 fowls. Of these the most common diseases are blackhead, chicken pox 

 (sorehead), and roup. Limber neck and impaction of the crop are non- 

 infectious ailments quite often found among turkeys. 



Of the parasites lice are the most injurious, especially among young 

 turkeys, and unless some effective means has been taken to destroy them 

 they can usually be found on every turkey in the flock. 



BLACKHEAD 



Of the infectious diseases, blackhead is the most destructive among 

 turkeys. This disease first became serious in the New England States 

 many years ago; it is now found to a greater or less extent thruout the 

 Middle West, and occasionally in the South and on the Pacific coast. It 

 is notable that whenever the climate and range conditions are such as to 

 permit of the turkeys foraging for most of their feed from the time they 

 are hatched until they are marketed, cases of blackhead are infrequent. 

 Blackhead occasionally affects grown turkeys, but it mostly occurs among 

 young turkeys between the ages of six weeks and four months. 



The symptoms of blackhead are such that unless the bird is killed, and 

 an examination of the internal organs made it is difficult to tell whether 

 the disease is blackhead or some other ailment. The bird drinks a great 

 deal, but refuses to eat and grows steadily weaker until its death, which 

 usually occurs a few days or a week after the sickness is first noted. 

 Diarrhea commonly occurs, and the droppings vary in color from white 

 to brown, but. are usually a bright yellow. The head of the turkey some- 



