NATURAL LAWS 47 



This is so, but if they would stop to think and study 

 their natural habits they would be successful. I lost hun- 

 dreds of turkeys before I studied nature and understood its 

 natural laws. 



I have seen turkeys in their wild state in the southwest, 

 and watched them, their habits and nature, and noticed a 

 great many things, how to feed, where they roost and a hun- 

 dred other important points. 



A turkey is a wild fowl which has been domesticated and 

 improved in size and color. A turkey above all will not bear 

 confinement, yarding or handling at any age, but especially 

 the young. 



How to Start. 



Above all start with old stock. They must be three 

 years old, at least the hens. Never try to raise turkeys 

 from young, hens, they are poor mothers and their egg are 

 not very fertile. The young are weakly and you positively 

 must not fence them or keep them around the dwelling 

 house. Build a high shed for them, say sixteen foot high, 

 and it depends how many you are going to raise as to the 

 size of the house. The best place for turkeys is in a timber 

 country. Have the house away from all other poultry. 

 There are a dozen reasons for this. They will not do well 

 among poultry, and they overeat themselves with grain. It 

 is not natural for them. They in their wild state look for 

 their food and it is not thrown to them. There never was a 

 sick wild turkey, nor a wild bird. They are never overfed. 

 Nature provides bugs, seeds, etc., and they don't have to 

 stay in poorly ventilated houses with a bad smell of manure. 

 They will do best on trees the year around. If you can 

 make them go in the sheds or a house sixteen foot high with 

 poles up high, they will like this better than if in a low 

 house. In the spring let them go in groups of say ten to 

 twelve in a bunch, and have a house for each bunch. Make 

 the houses say one-fourth mile apart, or the gobblers will 

 fight and kill each other. Get them used to their own sheds 



