TURKEYS— THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



17 



as the male is always broader across the back. Make it just 

 wide enough for them to rise up and sit down comfortably. 

 When putting them in the crate, place the torn with head to- 

 ward the wide space at one end and the head of the hen 

 toward the wide space at the other end, having their heads 

 at opposite ends. There is no danger of fighting, and the 

 space being wider at one end and narrowing down at the 

 other, there is no chance for them to turn around, which 

 I have seen them do in a narrow crate that is the same 

 width. In shipping a trio, follow the same general direc- 

 tions, having the wide end of the wide compartment and the 

 narrow ends of the side compartments at one end of the 

 coop, and at the other end, the narrow end of the center 

 compartment and the wide end/3 of the side compartments. 

 Have the middle space somewhat larger than the side spaces 

 and place the torn in it, with a hen on either side. I believe 



the same plan could be followed in shipping a pen, making 

 the crate wider and adding two more partitions. The crate 

 must not be lined until the partitions are put in, because 

 there is no room to nail. 



No matter how you raise or ship your turkeys, be honest 

 in your dealings with your customers. In corresponding 

 with ithem, describe your birds honestly, sending a tail, wing 

 and covert feather. If your birds are well marked, the cus- 

 tomer can tell it by the feathers, but they have to depend on 

 you for correct weight, shape, etc. Remember always, the 

 golden rule and judicious advertising are the only safe rules 

 to follow in poultry culture. If you do not sell all your birds 

 this year or next, you will some time, and if you do, you 

 will not be ashamed to look your customers in the face if 

 you should meet them. 



MRS. MARY SINGLETON. 



UNSUCCESSFUL TURKEY BREEDING. 



Frequent Causes of Lack of Success May be Traced to tfAe Parent Stock— Introduction of New Blood Often Dis- 

 misses Disease from the Flock — A Device to Prevent Turkeys Flying Over a Fence. 



From Rhode Island Experiment Station Report, 



, E HAVE been surprised to find how great a Pro- 

 portion of those who attempt to raise tur- 

 keys use small and immature birds for 

 breeders. Many kill their earliest and best 

 birds for the market and keep for breeding 

 those !that~are too small or too late to be salable. They kill 

 the goose that lays the golden eggs. In buying a new gob- 

 bler or a few hens to change the blood they choose late 

 hatched, immature turkeys because they cost less. The rea- 

 son sometimes given for this is that old hens are too cunning 

 about stealing their nests and that young turkeys lay earlier. 

 This practice is not confined to the poorest and least intelli- 

 gent people, as would be expected, but is followed by those 

 well informed and who appreciate and pay for a well-bred 

 horse or cow. If such a course were followed with horses 

 and cattle the best stock in existence would be ruined in a 

 few generations. Many who know that turkeys two years 

 old or older give the strongest and largest young, continue 

 to kill off the young hens for market after breeding from 

 them one season. There seems to be a dread of having some- 

 thing too old or unsalable left on their hands. To breed 

 from immature or poor specimens is to violate one of the 

 first laws of breeding. Selection of the best for generations 

 has given us the improved and most profitable breeds of 

 stock. The hereditary influence of such selection is of great 

 value. The most inferior bird out of a flock of such blood 

 may 'throw back' and breed very fine stock and do better 

 than a much finer specimen from a poorly bred strain, but 

 the repeated selection of inferior birds for a number of gen- 

 erations makes this inferiority hereditary. 



"The future stock depends almost entirely on the parent 

 birds or their ancestry. If valuable birds are used for breed- 

 ing, their offspring will be like them and amply repay the 

 extra expense. The best are none too good and are the 

 cheapest. 



"Crandall Brothers, previously mentioned as having used 

 western gobblers furnished by Mr. Vose, raised so many 

 more turkeys in consequence that they estimate the benefit 

 derived the first season at $100. It would have been econ- 



omy for them to have paid $50 for the two gobblers rather 

 than use the kind of stock they had previously bred from. 

 This expenditure would have paid the first season, to say 

 nothing about the improvement in their breeding stock for 

 the future. Many breeding turkeys are over-fat in the 

 spring — have been overfed or given too fattening food. Quite 

 frequently they die at this time as the result of over-feed- 

 ing. The progeny of over-fat birds are less vigorous. Late 

 hatched hens that are growing all the time need more food; 

 cannot store up a surplus and lay earlier oecause they are 

 thin. Feed the old hens clover and less carbonaceous food 

 in the latter part of winter and they will give better satisfac- 

 tion. Corn is all right when turkeys can find their own 

 green food and insect ration to go with it, but when they get 

 little exercise and can get nothing else to eat they become 

 abnormally fat. 



"If a turkey becomes sick and is allowed to roam with 

 the others, and eat, drink and roost in the same places, the 

 others will probably have that trouble very soon. If a flock 

 becomes diseased, the land which they wander over may be- 

 come contaminated and infect other flocks that occupy the 

 same ground. Therefore stamp out disease when it first ap- 

 pears. Let every turkey raiser be a board of health; quar- 

 antine or kill and bury deep all sick fowls and disinfect 

 what they have contaminated. Prevention of the spread of 

 disease is possible. Doctoring very sick turkeys is rarely 

 practicable. If turkeys are kept where they may drink from 

 stagnant pools in the barnyard, near the pig pen, privy 

 vault, or from the sink drain, sudden and fatal attacks of 

 bowel trouble should be expected among them. A running 

 stream is of great value on a turkey farm. If brine is poured 

 out and they drink it or they pick up pieces of salt, salt meat 

 or salt fish, death usually follows. 



"In shingling or 'boarding' turkeys a thin board or 

 shingle, in which holes are bored, is fastened across the 

 shoulders of the bird by soft cords, tapes or strips of cloth. 

 When of the proper shape and the holes are in the right 

 place, if the cords are not tied too tight, they may be worn 

 twelve months without injury to the turkey. By this method 



