HINTS ABOUT MANAGEMENT. 119 
HOW TO GET LARGE BIRDS. 
Many purchasers of fine stock, or of their immediate 
descendants, fail to secure as fine birds as the seller raises, 
and are unhappy. They hear of eighteen-pound light or 
dark Brahma cocks, and twelve-pound hens of some noted 
breeder, or of mammoth bronze turkeys weighing sixty 
or more pounds to the pair. They order the eggs or 
young birds of such stock, hand them over to some ser- 
vant or neighbor, who is not skilled in breeding, feeds 
irregularly, or regularly stints them, and at the end of 
six months wonder that they have not first-class birds, 
equal to the advertisement. They think they have been 
cheated, and set down the breeder asa rogue. There 
are men, no doubt, in the poultry business who cannot be 
trusted, but there are also a large number of men who 
have brought capital, skill, and integrity to their busi- 
ness, and who would not knowingly let a poor fowl go 
from their yards. They sell, uniformly, stock true to 
name, but at so early an age that the development does 
not always answer expectations. A turkey does not get 
its full growth until the third year, but most of them are 
sold at from four to eight months. Ducks and hens are 
not fully developed until the second year, and yet most 
of them are sold under nine months old. While it is 
true that large stock is essential to the raising of large 
birds, another factor is quite as essential. This is abund- 
ant feed during the whole period of growth. The grand re- 
sults obtained by our skillful breeders are reached by care 
and feed, after they have selected their stock. ‘To make 
the most of a young bird, it should be fed with a variety 
of food at least five times a day, from daylight in the 
morning until the middle of theafternoon. It is well to 
omit late feeding, to give time for digestion. Slack or 
full feed will make a difference of six pounds in the 
