18 



TURKEYS— THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



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8" 



Rhode Island Pattern. 



they may be confined to one field as easily as sheep. This is 

 better and surer than clipping one wing. The only objection 

 to it is that turkeys thus hampered are almost at the mercy 

 of dogs. When the board is first adjusted the turkeys try to 

 free themselves, but they usually accept the situation in less 



than an hour and do not 

 seem to mind it afterward. 

 Various shaped boards are 

 used. The diagrams show 

 two styles and give the di- 

 mensions. 



"The strings are usu- 

 ally tied on the top of 

 the board. In fastening 

 th? western style the string is passed down through one 

 ho!e in front of the wing close to the body and around 

 under the wing and up through the other hole and is tied 

 on top of the board. Mr. Barbee uses a board ten inches 

 long and five inches wide and fastens the strings under the 

 wings. An ordinary shingle is strong enough for most hens, 

 but large gobblers require something stronger and light bar- 

 rel staves are often used. In those that we have seen three- 

 eighths-inch augur holes were used. Some use a large gim- 

 let for making the holes." 



Mrs. B. G. Mackey, the well-known Bronze Turkey 



breeder, has the following to offer in regard to this subject: 

 "It is quite a problem training the turkeys to stay at 

 home. Last year I tied a man's large straw hat on the back 

 of my turkeys with young ones. I made a hole on each side 

 of the rim at the crown, ran cloth strings through the holes 

 and tied the string around each wing. It was laughable to 

 see the hens at first. They tried to fly, they jumped up in 

 the air, ran forward and backward, but when they found 

 themselves securely fastened to the hats they finally accepted 



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Western Style. 



the situation. Living on the public road, I had to answer a 

 good many times the question, "Why do you put hats on 

 your turkeys '!" The hat is much better than a board. The 

 crown prevents the hen from going through the fence, and 

 in a rainstorm the brim is a protection to the poults." 



TURKEYS ON FISHERS ISLAND. 



Turkey Raising Profitable—They are Not Difficult to Breed under Proper Conditions— Wide Range Essentlal- 

 Half-wlld Turkeys— Selecting Breeding Stock— Hatching and Raising Poults— Profits. 



By E. M. & IV. Ferguson. 



*1 — PT ALWAYS gives us great pleasure to write anything 



1^, pertaining to Bronze turkeys, and especially to our 



W turkeys, for our work with them has been produc- 



five of much satisfaction, not to speak of a very con- 



J L, siderable profit. 



While we shall make this article chiefly a history of 

 efforts in turkey breeding, rearing and exhibiting and a brief 

 treatise upon our methods, we realize that all turkey raisers 

 have not the same environment and will endeavor to write in 

 such a manner as will be interesting and instructive to every 

 breeder wherever he may be and by whatever conditions sur- 

 rounded. 



It seems to be an established fact that turkey raising in 

 this country, particularly in the east, is on the decline; 

 where years ago a flock numbering one or two hundred was 

 a profitable adjunct on the majority of country farms, now 

 these birds are found but rarely and then in flocks of a dozen 

 or less, tolerated rather than fostered. The cause is hardly 

 apparent; the thickening settlements have not yet en- 

 croached upon the solitude of many a back-lying farm where 

 green pastures and sheltering woodlands offer ready for use, 

 the best possible food and shelter. True, they may damage 

 to some extent the growing crops, but they will render ser- 

 vices much more valuable than what they destroy, in the 

 wholesale destruction of bugs and insects which threaten 

 the farmer on every hand and which they incessantly pursue 

 as the principal article of their diet. 



We are sometimes told that turkeys are difficult to raise 



and lack a strong constitution, but common sense, backed 

 by our actual experience, tells us that such is not the case. 

 In fact if they be allowed to indulge their natural desire for 

 a wide range and outdoor life the year round, and are prop- 

 erly bred, anything but strength and hardiness in their 

 make-up would seem well-nigh impossible. But where such 

 cases exist it seems to us that the cause must be found in the 

 absence of one or other of these conditions. 



We believe that a wide range is very essential and that 

 although turkeys can be reared and kept in an enclosure of 

 moderate area, a much less percentage will reach the highest 

 development in size, shape or color. With this condition 

 provided and a lack of vigor prevailing an inherent weak- 

 ness must be present in the blood of the parent stock. This 

 may be traceable to indiscriminate inbreeding or unwise 

 mating. In no other domesticated fowl does deterioration so 

 closely follow careless breeding, and for a farmer to breed 

 the same small flock year after year with no further atten- 

 tion than is required to select the largest and fattest for his 

 Thanksgiving dinner, is to invite failure by the most expedi- 

 tious course. 



Mistakes in adding new blood may prove equally demor- 

 alizing; in fact, we can cite cases that have come within our 

 own observation where a breeder has sadly depreciated the 

 value of his stock by adding a bird which, apparently strong 

 and healthy in itself, had an inherited weakness caused by 

 poor breeding. We speak of these matters not to discourage 

 the prospective breeder or the disheartened farmer, but to 



