TURKEYS— THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



29 



sible to raise them. You will find at times a large blue tick 

 on turkeys and turkey poults; they are on the neck and head 

 only. If you should find any ticks on your poults, pick them 

 oil, then use clear lard on the head and neck. It will kill the 

 nits that would hatch if you did not use some preventive. 

 For the two other varieties of lice, use any good insect pow- 

 der, but always be careful that none gets in their eyes. 

 Hen turkeys generally keep free from lice if they can find 

 any place to dust themselves, but some are very lazy and if 

 these hens have poults they will be sure to be infested with 

 lice, too. In looking for lice it is best to examine the little 

 wings, as generally you will find them at the base of quills, 

 also around vent. For the terrible ticks, which are almost 

 sure death, look upon the neck, push back the v feathers care- 

 fully until you reach the top of the head. You can easily 

 see them, as they are good sized, and the older ones are dark 

 blue in color, usually full of blood. If you keep your poults 

 free from lice you will have overcome almost all danger of 

 loss. 



Stale bread moistened in milk should be fed to the 

 poults for three or four weeks, then gradually get them to 

 eat wheat and line cracked corn. This grain should be 

 scalded, as it will then assist digestion, but do not feed it 

 until it has thoroughly cooled. Indigestion is very prevar 

 lent among turkeys, both young and full grown. 



]f your poults should have diarrhoea from any cause, one 

 feed of boiled rice will usually stop the trouble. Another 

 common but sure relief is to give them red pepper, say one 

 tablespoonful. Mix it with about two tablespoonfuls of 

 wheat middlings, then moisten it with water, but do not wet 

 it enough to make it sticky. Cut it up in about four to six 

 parts and roll the parts into pill shape, put them in an oven 

 and bake them hard. It is well to have a few always on 

 hand, as after baking they will keep for a long time in a 

 dry place. If I have a turkey, either old or young, with a 

 bad case of diarrhoea, I give one pill three times a day until 

 the droppings are improved. Then give a tablespoonful of 

 castor oil if the turkey is full grown, or a teaspoonful to a 

 young poult. It is very seldom that I cannot stop a case of 

 diarrhoea with this treatment. 



FALL FEEDING. 



I commence to feed all turkeys the first of October to 

 get them ready for Thanksgiving, as we all know there is 

 more demand for turkeys at that time than at any other. 

 They should be fed morning and night, but never more than 

 they will eat within a, few minutes. Most of the trouble 

 we have in the fall is caused by overfeeding. At the time 

 you commence to feed for fattening use common sense and 

 feed lightly for the first ten days, gradually increasing the 



food. The principal food from October to January first 

 should be corn, not cracked, and the older the corn the bet- 

 ter, as new corn will cause bowel trouble. I have seen large 

 flocks of turkeys knocked out by feeding new corn. If you 

 get their bowels out of order, it takes weeks to get them 

 in good condition again. As a rule, most of your turkeys 

 will be fat and in good condition to dress at Thanksgiving. 

 There may be a few late hatched broods that will be im- 

 proved if carried over to Christmas. 



Many people advocate putting turkeys in a closed pen 

 to fatten. I have given this method a good trial many times 

 and under all conditions and find it a . failure. Let them 

 have all the range they want. The results will be better 

 and you will avoid the sickness they will have if you con- 

 fine them. Many persons do not understand why their tur- 

 keys are not so fat as they should be, but almost invariably 

 you will find that they have fed them in confinement and 

 the turkeys could not stand it, especially for a period of sev- 

 eral weeks. They get off their feed and will not eat. In the 

 fall when the weather is cold, turkeys will not' range far' 

 from the farm buildings. They will eat their morning food, 

 then roam around after a little grit to help them digest it 

 and then lie down in a warm place out of the wind. Drive 

 all the turkeys you wish to kill in a barn or shed so as to 

 confine them twenty-four hours before killing with no food 

 of any kind. To look well when dressed, their crops must 

 be entirely free from food. 



THE BEST ROOSTING PLACE FOR TURKEYS. 



Many persons who keep turkeys think they need shel- 

 ter in the way of a building. That idea is entirely wrong. 

 The best possible way of keeping turkeys in good health is 

 to have them roost away from buildings, in trees if you have 

 them. By roosting in trees they will not be in draughts, 

 as they would be if allowed to roost in sheds or buildings. 

 I have known turkeys to roost in trees with the thermom- 

 eter fifteen to twenty degrees below zero, and be much 

 healthier than turkeys that were inside a building. A tur- 

 key can stand any weather we have in the United States if 

 they are roosting in trees that are partly sheltered from the 

 wind. I have seen turkeys in trees during a snow and rain 

 storm with the wind blowing sixty miles an hour, and they 

 did not appear to mind it in the least. 



A great improvement has been made in the size of tur- 

 keys, especially Bronze, in the past twenty years. The ordi- 

 nary turkey of some years ago, as bred by the average farm- 

 er, would weigh about as follows: Toms, twenty pounds; 

 hens, eight to ten pounds. To-day Bronze turkeys will 

 weigh: Toms, thirty-five to forty-two pounds; hens, eigh- 

 teen to, twenty-five pounds. This shows what proper mat- 

 ing will do. J. F. CRANGLE. 



