TURKEYS ON THE FARM. 303 
If the young birds have done well at six or eight 
weeks, they begin to ‘‘throw the red,” as it is termed, 
viz.: To develop the red carunculous formation about 
the head and neck, so characteristic of the turkey. If 
the turkey chicks be late hatched or weakly, it is re- 
tarded sometimes another month. Should the growth, 
from whatever cause, be checked when young, they will 
never make large and vigorous birds. After they have 
“thrown the red,” the sexes can be distinguished, and 
they are then termed poults. They should not be al- 
lowed to perch too early, but bedded down upon chaff, 
leaves, etc., or they will have crooked breasts. Later 
on, the fleshy appendage over the beak, and the billy or 
horsehair-like tuft on the breast, make their appearance 
in the male birds, which, with tail erected and outspread, 
and with the whole body inflated with pomp, can be easily 
distinguished from their more somber sisters. At the 
time of ‘‘throwing the red,” the young turkeys pass 
through their chicken molt, another critical period in 
their life. The birds lose their appetite and languish 
several days. They require now more stimulating food 
and a larger meat diet. Being insectivorous, the best 
range young turkeys can have is among shrubbery, 
bushes and such like. If the weather be open and fine, 
and the birds have a little extra care for a short time, 
they become as hardy, as adults, as they were delicate 
when young. 
MARKING TURKEYS FOR IDENTIFICATION, 
SAMUEL CUSHMAN. 
As previously stated, turkeys do not thrive unless 
allowed free range. If enclosed in a large park by woven 
wire fence, or kept on an island, they can be controlled, 
but when given full liberty they roam over adjoining 
farms. In a neighborhood where many keep them, the 
different flocks are liable to meet, run together and get 
