EASY TURKEY RAISING. 



Perhaps the Soil and Climate of Some Localities Make It Possible to Leave Turkeys to Mother Nature's Kindness 

 While In Other Parts of Our Country They Need Much Fostering Care. 



By W. A. Moon. 



BELIEVE there is no branch of the poultry business 

 more profitable than the raising of turkeys- and for 

 the true turkey fancier I think there is no branch of 

 the business from which we derive more pleasure. I 

 take more delight in my beautiful flock of Bronze 

 turkeys than in any other poultry I ever raised. But I am 

 writing this article to give my experience in order to help 

 others if possible who are about to start, so I will begin 

 to talk business. 



I think the best way to start is to buy stock. It is better 

 than buying eggs unless the person who buys the eggs has 

 some kind of turkeys to hatch and raise the young poults. I 

 will state right here that I never was successful in raising 

 young turkeys with domestic hens. In buying stock buy the 

 best you can get. Do not make the mistake of buying in- 



A Superior Wing, as Crown on a 48-pound Winner, Bred by 

 Ed. Istey. 



ferior stock because it is cheap. I know the prices of any 

 leading fancier seem pretty high to a beginner, but his 

 birds are almost always worth all he asks for them, which is 

 also true of the cheap birds offered on the market. They 

 are worth about what is asked for them and no more. If 

 you start with inferior stock it will take you several years 

 to reach the point at which you might have started by the 

 payment of a few more dollars. 



HATCHING OF THE POULTS. 



In this latitude turkey hens usually begin to lay about 

 the first of April. One can usually tell when they are seek- 

 ing a nest by their peculiar call. I always have barrels laid 

 down around the yard fence and in the corners, with straw 

 placed in them for nests. Turkeys like a secluded place in 

 which to lay. Boxes laid down close to the fence bo they 

 can creep in between the box and the fence to enter the box, 

 make excellent nests. The turkey hen will usually lay 

 twelve to fifteen eggs before she offers to sit. I gather the 



eggs every day and keep hen or china eggs in the nests for 

 nest eggs. 



Along toward the last of the clutch the turkey hen will 

 begin staying on the nest at night, but don't trust her with 

 a sitting of eggs yet. She will frequently do that two or 

 three nights and then be off all day and perhaps all night. 

 She is just beginning to get broody. Let her get thoroughly 

 broody and then give her the eggs. I generally set them in 

 the same place where they get broody with this exception, I 

 always set them on the ground. If they have been laying 

 in a barrel, I remove the barrel, hollow out an ob- 

 long place in the ground about two inches 'deep, line 

 it nicely with the nest out of the barrel, make it 

 secluded by covering with boards in some manner, and 

 she is ready to go it alone. I frequently set a domestic hen on 

 she is ready to go it alone. I frequently set a chicken hen on 

 turkey eggs at the same time and then give all the poults to 

 the turkey hen, which plan usually gives her twenty or more 

 poults, which is enough. She should not have more than 

 this, for after they grow a few weeks it is difficult for her to 

 cover them. I have found that as a general rule, the greater 

 the number of poults with one hen the greater is the percen- 

 tage of loss, 



I used to put the turkey hen in a coop or pen and keep 

 her up for about two weeks. This last year I tried a new 

 plan. I just let them come off the nest with their little ones 

 and go, and I believe that is the better plan. I keep watch on 

 them that they do not stray clear away and let them range 

 in the fields all the time. Do not be alarmed every time it 

 rains a little for fear your turkeys will all drown. A turkey 

 hen hardly ever allows a little turkey to drown, unless she 

 has too many. She selects a suitable place and hovers in 

 such a manner that it is impossible for them to drown. 



Last spring I bought nine eggs from a leading fancier. 

 From them I hatched five fine poults. A small hole was. 

 punched in the web of the foot and they were given to a tur- 

 key hen with some others hatched the same time and 

 she was allowed to go with them. I did not know them 

 any more from my own turkeys until this fall when I caught 

 all my turkeys to put on leg bands and take a record of 

 them, and I found four with a hole in the web of the foot. I 

 only lost one of them. I paid $5 for the eggs, but those four 

 turkeys are easily worth $20. So it sometimes pays to buv 

 eggs. 



Young turkeys roost on the ground until about the time 

 the red begins to show in the head. They then fly into a 

 tree pr on a fence somewhere. Then if you will see to it 

 that they roost about the home you will not likely have any 

 trouble' with them straying away. 



They will get their entire living in the fields until about 

 September, when I generally begin to throw out some corn 

 to them morning and night. It is a pleasure to feed them 

 from this time on. They will meet you in the morning with 

 such a chorus of "Gobble, Gobble," and they grow so fast 

 that by Christmas the young toms weigh from twenty-five to. 

 twenty-eight pounds and the pullets from fifteen to eighteen 

 pounds. W- A ^ M ooN. 



