TURKEYS— THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



37 



TURKEYS AS PEST DESTROYERS. 



Years ago I used to raise the old fashioned mixed tur- 

 keys, but my husband grumbled so about what they de- 

 stroyed that I gave up raising them when he said if I would 

 do so he would give me his note to pay me as much each fall 

 as a drove of turkeys would bring. So I did not try to raise 

 any for several years. Then a neighbor wanted to exchange 

 some turkey eggs for some pure-bred Buff Cochin eggs and 

 I made the exchange to accommodate her, besides I wished 

 to raise a few to have for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I 

 raised five very nice ones and killed two of them, but decided 

 I could not manage any longer without turkeys and so kept 

 a torn and two pullets to raise from the next year. The next 

 fall I sold them all and bought six pure-bred turkey hens 

 and a fine torn and went at it in good earnest so that the 

 next year I had a fine drove. 



Near the house we had forty acres in clover and the 

 grasshoppers were so plentiful that the turkeys seldom went 

 more than half way across the field until they had all they 

 wanted. The result was that when the clover was cut for 

 seed it was found that only the part where the turkeys had 

 ranged was of any account. The grasshoppers had ruined 



the other part. That convinced my husband that turkeys 

 were a good thing to have around, in grasshopper season at 

 least. It was wonderful how those turkeys grew. 



This season we had our clover for seed on another part 

 of the farm a mile or more from the house, and I had a 

 drove of over one hundred turkeys. The grasshoppers ate 

 up all the clover seed. Every day my husband would say, 

 "I do wish those turkeys could get to that clover field, for 

 the grasshoppers are ruining it, and I shall have to buy my 

 clover seed." And so he did and he had to pay a good price 

 for it. He said that after this experience he would try to 

 have bis clover for seed near the house. A prominent tur- 

 key breeder told me afterwards that I could have trained the 

 turkeys to go to the field if I had begun to do it when they 

 were first turned out to range. In a case of this kind again, 

 I am going to try it. 



I hope this article may help some farmer's wife, whose 

 husband, like mine did, does not think turkeys pay, and 

 who, like myself, has need of some loose change. Perhaps 

 the husband, like mine, will become convinced that turkeys 

 are the farmer's best friend. 



MRS. J. M. RANDOLPH. 



SOME PRACTICAL HINTS. 



By O. E. Skinner. 



HILE I have not had as much experience in rais- 

 ing turkeys as a good many others, I have had 

 continued experience with them for over thirty 

 years, but my remarks on the turkey will be 

 from a practical standpoint and I shall leave 

 the fancier's portion to some expert judge. 



In the first place, everybody knows that turkey eggs, as 

 a rule, hatch well, but the rock that wrecks all hopes is the 

 art of raising them after they are hatched. One of the most 

 successful turkey raisers I ever knew handled her young 

 turkeys about as follows: She never let them out while 

 there was the least particle of danger of getting their plum- 

 age damp, even if she had to confine them a whole day. I 

 was there once after a heavy rain and she had them closely 

 confined in a small box. I made the remark, "You will 

 surely kill every one of them confining them in such a 

 place." But upon visiting her a few months later she still 

 had every turkey that had hatched. I believe this is the 

 great secret in turkey raising — keep them absolutely dry 

 and free from lice and nature will do the rest. 



Another neighbor who is just about as successful han- 

 dles his the same way, only he uses turkey hens for mothers. 

 He follows the same plan about keeping them from getting 

 their plumage damp when young. He has domestic hens sit- 

 ting on the eggs, but he keeps giving them at night to the 

 turkey hens until they have some twenty-five or thirty each. 

 The cry nowadays is for as large turkeys as possible. 

 This is all right provided you retain the full breast and good 

 shape generally. If you will observe the daily market re- 

 ports, you will notice that the quotations say that scrawny 

 turkeys (poor shape) are either not wanted or will be taken 

 only at a big discount. So after all it is the shape that sells 

 the turkey rather than the overgrown size. I have always 

 made it a point to breed for full breast and good shape more 

 than for oversize. The cockerel shown in connection with 

 this article is five and a half months old. As an indication 

 of his size when grown, notice his throat wattles. This, if 

 large, is always a good indication for size when the bird is 

 matured. 



As to feed, I do not believe it cuts much figure if the 



other sanitary conditions, noted above, are closely followed. 

 Plenty of sharp grit I believe necessary for best results, 

 however. 0. E. SKINNER. 



Bred and Owned by 0. E. Skinner. 



