TWELVE YEARS WITH BRONZE TURKEYS. 



A Successful Breeder Entertainingly Writes About His Experience In Raising Bronze Turkeys— For the Benefit of 

 Beginners He Tells How to Start In the Business, and How to Raise and Show Turkeys. 



By Ed. Isley. 



OU ASK for my experience in raising Bronze 

 turkeys, how I started in the business, and so 

 on. I have no inclination to air my opinions 

 in print, nor do I wish to get into any contro- 

 . versy or argument with those who differ with 

 me. They are entitled to their opinions, and I to mine. But 

 for the benefit of those who may like to know, I will give 

 my experience with the bird in question. 



I began twelve years ago by purchasing eggs from a reli- 

 able breeder, at what then seemed a fabulous price. I 

 risked so much and was rewarded with a poor hatch at the 

 end of four weeks. The few that did hatch made fine mar- 

 ket fowls only, and they were sold at market prices. So a 

 whole year was gone and I had no turkeys for my labor. 



Were I now to make a start in the business, having my 

 present knowledge to guide me, I should purchase a fine pair 

 or trio or breeding pen, as this would be much the quicker 

 way of getting into business. Do not understand by this 

 that I am opposed to buying eggs, for I am not. The choice 

 between eggs and stock must be governed entirely by one's 

 means. If the capital is very limited buying eggs offers the 

 cheapest way of entering the business, although I believe 

 the purchasing of stock to be the better plan and more satis- 

 factory to both buyer and seller. The buyer is able to know 

 positively just what he is breeding and his satisfaction de- 

 rived from this knowledge is greater than if he buys eggs 

 even though the poults hatched from the eggs prove to be 

 the equal of those bred from the stock. If one feels able to 

 do so he might invest in a sitting or two of eggs also. Then 

 when the poultry show season comes in the fall and winter 

 he would have both old and young stock to show. 



THE BREEDING STOCK. 



In selecting breeding stock give the preference to shape 

 and color, rather than size. My experience has proven to me 

 that abnormally large birds are unprofitable and disappoint- 

 ing except as show birds. A young torn weighing from 

 twenty-five to thirty pounds and adult torn weighing from 

 thirty-six to forty pounds are as large birds as can be used 

 without injury to the hens. Young hens weighing from fif- 

 teen to eighteen pounds and adult hens weighing from eigh- 

 teen to twenty pounds are more prolific and better mothers 

 than those which attain a great size. 



One torn and ten females make a nice flock, but if it is 

 desirable to keep more hens in one flock two toms may be 

 used by keeping each in a small yard on alternate days, 

 allowing the hens to have' their liberty, as they need the 

 range and variety of food which they obtain in that way. 

 Were the same food offered them while confined in a yard, 

 they would not eat it. Turkeys require range. They are 

 restless and will not eat nor lay well if deprived of their 

 liberty. 



I find that very early laying in this latitude is not desir- 

 able, because many of the eggs are liable to be chilled and 

 the poults cannot be hatched to advantage before the latter 

 part of April or the first of May. Sometimes we have a cold, 



rainy spring that lasts even later, and little turkeys seldom 

 live through a storm. The hens are less likely to lay early 

 if the quantity of food is lessened as the severity of the win- 

 ter decreases. Another objection to early laying is that it 

 entails late laying, and a hen sometimes will leave her brood 

 when half grown to raise a second brood — which is fatal to 

 both because the first poults need a leader and protector 

 until nearly full grown, and the poults of the second brood 

 are too small to stand the cold weather. It is natural for the 

 turkey hen not to lay until spring weather is certain, and 

 she never will desert her progeny. With our cultivation and 

 civilization we sometimes get too far from Mother Nature. 



RAISING YOUNC TVRKEYS. 



There is a great diversity of opinion in regard to the best 

 way to raise young turkeys. After twelve years' experience 



A Tail that Is Above the Average— It Belongs to a 96-polnt 

 Young Tom Shown by Ed. Isley. 



I am decidedly in favor of the turkey hen as a mother. I 

 use the hens for hatching, setting a domestic hen at the same 

 time, and give all the poults to the turkey because she makes 

 the best mother. If the hens are to act as brooders, never 

 clip their wings, because they will need them for protec- 

 tion of their young from dew and storm. 



Great care should be taken not to feed the young poults 

 too much at one time. This is the rock, if I may be permit- 

 ted to use this figure of speech, on which the frail harks of 

 thousands of poults have struck and gone down, together 

 with the plans and hopes of their zealous but misguided 

 owners. The natural habit of turkeys is to hunt for their 

 food .and they do it slowly and deliberately all the long day. 

 Thus the process of eating and digesting are simultaneous; 

 but when they are fed with a lavish hand they gorge them- 

 selves and in a few weeks fall victims of their own greed. 



