SUCCESSFUL TURKEY RAISING 



With the Minimum of Labor— Laying House for Turkeys— Hatching the Poults— Housing Turkeys with Poults- 

 Feeding Young Turkeys— Roosts for the Young Birds— Shipping Crates for Pairs, Trios and Pens. 



By Mrs. M. L. Singleton. 



AM AWARE that no two breeders manage their tur- 

 keys exactly alike, in fact, there are no iron-clad 

 rules in turkey raising. Our surroundings differ so 

 from those of others, that it is useless to formulate 

 rules that would be impossible for them to follow, but 

 there is one safe rule for beginners. No matter what 

 your environments may be, start with the very best stock 

 you are able to buy. If you have money enough to buy 

 a good pair only, do not spend it for a trio or pen. If you 

 can spare the money for first-class birds, of course a trio 

 or pen is desirable. To the thoroughly equipped breeders 

 who have years of experience behind them, my methods 

 will appear crude, doubtless. It is not for the breeder of 

 experience that this article is written, but for those whose 

 advantages are not great and who must struggle perhaps 

 for years to gain the knowledge that will make them suc- 

 cessful turkey raisers. 



I learned several years ago that I had neither the time 

 nor strength to follow the hens around and hunt their eggs 

 in fence corners and hedge rows, so I had a laying house 

 built for them. It is not a very elaborate affair, but it 

 accommodates them very comfortably. A week or two be- 

 fore I think it time for them to hunt nests, I have them 

 driven every morning into this house. In this way they 

 become accustomed to going in and usually "by the time they 

 begin to lay they will go without being driven. When the 

 turkeys lay from twenty-five to thirty eggs, I set them under 

 domestic hens, putting nine - or ten under each hen. We find 

 that there will be as many poults as one turkey hen ought 

 to carry. Of course you have to use a great many domestic 

 hens where there are many turkey eggs to hatch, but it pays, 

 I think, as they hatch so much better for me than do the 

 turkeys. I do not set the first turkeys that get broody, but 

 break them up and let them lay a second clutch. By the 

 time the first turkey eggs have been incubated two or three 

 weeks, the last hens will probably be getting broody. 



SETTING THE TURKEY HEN. 



In the meantime, I arrange my turkey nests, which are 

 empty barrels, as I consider them among the very best nests. 

 I saw out two or three of the staves about half the length of 

 the barrel, that is, just below the middle hoop. I stand the 

 barrel in the corner of one of my poultry houses with the 

 open end up, because : I think setting the eggs on the ground 

 causes bad results. By making the nest on the closed end 

 of the barrel the eggs do not come in direct contact with the 

 damp ground, and 'they are yet near enough to obtain suffi- 

 cient moisture. Tack an old piece of carpet or gunny sack 

 on the barrel over the opening and another over the top. Put 

 in a lot of new straw and shape it into a solid, but rather 

 shallow nest, and it is ready for the turkey. In the evening 

 I remove her from her old nest and putting her gently in the 

 barrel, drop the curtain over the opening. I have previously 

 put a few chicken eggs in the nest so if she is restless and 

 inclined to stand up at first, there will be no harm done. The 

 second day I raise the curtain and put food and water near 

 the barrel, but if she does not come off, I let her alone for a 



day longer, and if she still refuses to come off, I lift her out. 

 After she has eaten, I see that she goes back on the nest. 

 When she has become accustomed to it, I lift the curtain up 

 so that she can come out into the poultry yard and dust and 

 pick around, always being careful to see that she goes back 

 on the nest. I arrange a number of these nests in the dif- 

 ferent houses to accommodate the different broods that come 

 off. A day or two before the little ones are due to hatch, I 

 remove the eggs from one of the chicken hens, putting them 

 under the turkey hen. When the little poults appear she is 

 just as proud of them as though she had done all the work 

 of incubating. As the little poults get dry and strong, I 

 remove them to a flannel lined basket in the house. When 

 evening comes, if the turkey is a very gentle mother, I carry 

 them back and let them remain with her, as the warmth 

 from her body strengthens them, but if she is a foolish old 

 hen, I wrap the basket warmly and keep them in the house. 

 When they are all dry and strong enough, I remove the 

 mother turkey and her little ones to' their future home. It 

 is this home I wish to tell you about most particularly. 

 HOUSING THE TURKEY AND POULTS. 

 I do not remem'ber to have read an article on turkey 

 raising in which the writer did not suggest that a nice, shady 

 orchard was a desirable place for turkey coops. Now I 

 admit an orchard is all right, provided it is located where 

 you can run out and look after the young turkeys at all 

 times, but when one has all the work of a large house on 

 one's shoulders and cannot get any help that is worthy the 

 name, then I say most emphatically, don't. Here at Elm- 

 hurst is a large, shady yard at the west side of a build- 

 ing which has a porch almost the full length of the dining 

 room and kitchen. A door opens out of each of these rooms 

 on the porch. At the end of the porch is the pantry, which 

 has a window in the west side, so if I am in either the dining 

 room or kitchen, I can step out on the porch and see my tur- 

 keys, but if T am in the pantry, I can look through the win- 

 dow and see them, for it is in this side yard under the elm 

 trees that my turkey coops are placed. "Turkey coops in 

 the yard!" I hear some housekeeper exclaim. Yes, for my 

 turkey coops are very neat affairs and do not detract very 

 much from the beauty and neatness of our yard. The coops 

 are renewed each year, that is, I turn the last year's turkey 

 coops over to the chickens and get new ones, because for 

 some reason my turkeys always thrive better in new coops. 

 These coops cost only twenty-five cents each and a little work 

 for they are dry goods boxes sawed slanting, so that they are 

 only about half as high at the back as they are in front. 

 There are boards nailed on to extend over the front and rear.- 

 The lower boards are taken off the front of the coop and bat- 

 tens nailed on for the door, which slips back in place and is 

 fastened with a wooden button which is just above the door. 

 About six inches above the door another board is removed 

 and screen wire nailed on to ventilate the coop. 



FEEDING AND CARING FOR POULTS. 



Now we have the turkey hen and tyer brood in a nice new 

 coop under the elm trees where just enough sunlight filters 



