98 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. 



or corn and buckwheat. They are fond of cabbage, 

 apples or any raw vegetables, and breeding stock 

 should be well supplied with food of this kind. As 

 the laying season approaches they should have nitrog- 

 enous food in the form of ground raw meat and 

 bone or meat-meal, the former fed alone and the latter 

 mixed in a mash of bran and corn meal. 



When chickens and turkeys run together and are 

 fed together the former will get at least two grains 

 to the latter's one. For this reason, for fattening 

 turkeys as well as for breeding stock, it is advisaV)le 

 to have troughs so made that the turkeys can feed at 

 pleasure without interference 

 from chickens. The illustration 

 represents a cheap and handy 

 TURKKY TROUGH. feeder. It is made of six-inch 

 fence slats nailed together for a trough and elevated 

 to such a height that the other poultry cannot reach it. 

 The end pieces and the lid are made of a foot-wide 

 board, the lid being four or five inches above the trough. 

 Slats at the bottom of end pieces give it stability. 



For breeders it is best to select hens two or three 

 years old. If hens of the previous year are used they 

 should be from the early broods. An early-hatched 

 yearling male should be mated with old hens. When 

 yearling hens are selected it is better to mate them 

 with a two-year old gobbler. Young and undersized 

 birds should in no case be used. Large, heavy toms 

 should never be mated with small hens. One male is 

 sufficient for five to ten females. 



The turkey hen begins to lay in March or April, 

 according to season and latitude. Her marked traits 



