CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF TURKEYS 



From Shell to Market — Care of Adults — Setting the Hens — Care of Poults — Feeding for Market 



— ^Preparing Fine Specimsns for Exhibition. 



BY MRS. S. N. KING, BBEEPER 



THE first and greatest requisite to successful poultry- 

 raising is strong, vigorous stock. "Whatever variety 

 may be selected, be sure that your birds have not 

 been weakened by disease nor by repeated inbreed- 

 ing. Many persons engaged in this business select their besf 

 stock, male and female, year after year, and after a few 

 years of this close inbreeding find their flock deteriorated in 

 stamina, and with slight powers of resistance against the 

 encroachments of disease. Their birds may be beautifttl as 

 the type is more easily fixed by use of the same family, but 

 the chances are against a large per cent of the poults 

 I hatched reaching maturity.' ' 



On the other hand, a change of family or infusion- of 

 new blood every year is not necessary. If you have a male 

 bird that is satisfactory, it is quite safe and desirable to jse 

 him two years, keeping the finest of the pullets, but avoid 

 using a young tom and pullets of the same flock. Always 

 breed in line of descent. 



In selecting stock do it with a .view to shape and color, 

 rather than weight. My experience has proved to me that 

 abnormally large birds are very unprofitable and disappoint- > 

 ing, except for snow birds. A young tom weighing from 

 from twenty-five to. thirty pounds and an adult weighing 

 from thirty-six to forty are as large as can be used without 

 danger of injury to the hens. Young hens weighing fifteen 

 to eighteen pounds and adults eighteen to twenty are more 

 prolific and better mothers than those attaining a much 

 greater size. Hens weighing twenty-five pounds are not re- 

 liable for a full clutch of eggs. They usually lay a few at 

 irregular intervals and in different places, as though it were 

 a matter of unconcern to them whether their eggs were 

 cared for or not. These eggs are frequently soft-shelled 

 and infertile, so that they can not be depended on to add 

 greatly to one's flock. 



One torn and ten females is a good number for a flock 

 but if it is desirable to keep a greater number of females, 

 two toms can be used, beeping one in a, small yard each al- 

 ternate day, letting the hens have their liberty, as they 

 need the range and variety of food which they obtain in 

 that way, and which they would not eat if it were given to 

 them in a yard. 



TURKEYS REQUIRE RANGE. 



Turkeys are impatient of restraint and will fteither eat 

 nor lay well when deprived of liberty. One spring we built 

 an "ideal" turkey yard and I fondly hoped that the prec- 

 ious hours, spent in watching the turkeys to their nests could 

 be used to better advantage in other ways. We have a 

 grove of maple trees in our chicken yard — planted many 

 years ago, to afford shelter for my chickens. The rows of 

 trees are twelve feet ap^rt and we enclosed a space between 

 two rows with a base board and six-foot wire net- 

 ting. This we covered with two widths , of the netting, 

 fastening the edge of the side netting and securing the mid- 

 dle by guy ropes or wires attached to the branches of trees. 



At one end we had a door, also covered with netting, so 

 that it was as nearly as possible ''out of doors.'' We placed 

 barrels on their sides, half filled with straw, putting an egg 

 in each, and it was so delightfully "inviting" that I felt 

 quite sure my turkeys would feel at home iismediately, but 

 it was a vain exfl/BCtation: Bvsry morning they walked iiio 

 their new paA as if they thoroughly enjoyed it and seemed 

 content till 3 or 4 o'clock, when they would gather around 

 the door wishing to come out, but lay in those ready-"made 

 nests' they would not, except, perhaps, three or four, that 

 laid an egg apiece. I finally learned that they had nests 

 of their own, selected under brush piles and among torn 

 fodder, and as soon as they were released they went to them, 

 so I abandoned the plan that seemed so feasible and found 

 that a boy with sharp eyes, in anticipation of a coin for 

 every turkey nest found, was more satisfactory and prae- 

 ticeable than my fine new "summer house," and thus we 

 learn by our mistakes, though they are , often humiliating 

 and not always stepping stones to better things. 



I find that very early laying in this latitude (40 degrees 

 north) is not to be desired, as many of the eggs are liable 

 to be chilled and poults can not be hatched to advantage 

 before tlie 10th of May. Sometimes we have a cold, rainy 

 season even later than that and little turkeys seldom live 

 through a protracted, cold storm. I think the hens are less 

 apt to lay early if the quantity of feed is lessened as the 

 severity of winter decreases. 



Another objection to very early laying is that it in- 

 duces late laying as well and a hen will frequently leave 

 her brood when partly grown in order to raise a second fam- 

 ily, which is fatal to the interests of both, as the first poults 

 need a leader and protector until nearly full grown and the 

 last are too small to endure the cold weather. In her native 

 state the turkey hen does not lay till spring is assured and 

 never deserts her progeny; so with our cultivation and civili- 

 zation we sometimes get too far away from mother nature. 

 If your hens are to act as brooders never clip their wings. 

 They will need them in protecting their young from rain 

 and dew. 



There is great diversity of opinion as to the best way 

 to raise young turkeys, but after an experience of twenty 

 years I am unqualifiedly in favor of the turkey hen as a 

 mother. 



WHERE TURKEYS WILL SIT. 



It is generally supposed that turkeys must sit where 

 they have selected a nest in which to deposit their eggs, but 

 as they frequently choose a place wholly unsuited to the pur- 

 pose of incubation, either on account of location or because 

 other hens lay in the same nest, it is often desirable to move 

 them to other quarters. A few years ago I attempted to 

 have them sit in barrels (laid on their sides near a fence) 

 when their own selection was objectionable, but utterly 

 failed to induce them to return to their barrels after leaving 

 them for feed and water^ although they would remain con- 



