198 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



and this means that it must have range over which 

 to forage. Probably one difficulty most frequently 

 encountered here in California is that most peo- 

 ple are unable to give their turkeys the range 

 they need. When we say the turkey cannot bear con- 

 finement, we do not mean that it will thrive if it is 

 allowed to run on a lot or two, or that a good-sized 

 flock will have range enough on a few acres. Range 

 for turkeys means land enough to pick up their 

 living on and something there to pick up. Five 

 hundred turkeys to forty acres is the lowest estimate 

 I have seen of the land actually required for raising 

 these birds. That would be about twelve birds to 

 the acre. Is it any wonder people who try to raise 

 a flock of a dozen or so on a town lot do not succeed? 

 I have raised ten fine turkeys this summer on three 

 lots, but they have eaten up the lawn, the alfalfa 

 patch and all my tomatoes. 



And even an acre to twelve birds is not always 

 enough, for there is a good deal of land in this state 

 that would not support six birds to the acre. We 

 have the rocky hillsides, to be sure, which make a 

 good ranging place for turkeys, but we lack the 

 shady woods where bugs and worms grow in abun- 

 dance, and we are not even well supplied with grass- 

 hoppers. The best turkey range in California is a 

 field of newly cut wheat or oat stubble. 



Again, in the question of shelter the wildness of 

 the turkey asserts itself. Chickens will thrive in a 

 well-ventilated house ; turkeys must have the big out- 

 doors for their bedroom, the sky for their roof. It 

 is a question whether turkeys need a roof in any 

 part of the United States. Certamly they need 

 no protection in California except perhaps some 

 shed where they may go in heavy storms. This is 

 adult birds, of course. Poults need to be well pro- 



