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TURKEYS— THEIR CARE AND ■ MANAGEMENT. 



THE SHOW ROOM. 



Preparing Bronze turkeys for the show room is a very 

 simple matter if the birds have had good care during the 

 summer and fall. I do not mean by this that they should be 

 fattened, but they should be kept in a thrifty condition — just 

 such condition as you would like to have them in if you were 



buying instead of selling.. Washing their feet if they are 

 dirty, and putting a numbered leg band on the leg, is all the 

 preparation that is necessary. On no account attempt to 

 wash the plumage, as the brilliancy will be greatly injured 

 by soap and water. A turkey takes perfect care of his own 

 feathers. ED ISLBY, 



Proprietor Cherry Grove Poultry Farm. 



THE WATCHWORD OF SUCCESS. 



Experience, Watchfulness and Common-sense Are Necessary to Raise Prize-winning Bronze Turkeys — Something 



About Coops for the Mother and Her Poults — Do Not Overfeed. 



By Mrs. Nellie Bullock. 



WERE I to begin the breedingof fancy turkeys 

 and could have the benefit of my present 

 knowledge, I think I should buy stock, the 

 very best my purse would allow, even if I 

 had to limit my flock to a pair. We bought 

 eggs at different times from three noted fanciers, but 

 something went wrong each time, either the eggs were in- 

 fertile, or not strong enough to hatch, or the poults would 

 manage to die. So I think the quicker way to secure a good 

 flock would be to purchase birds. Turkeys are hardy after 

 they are half grown, and most persons would sell cheaper 

 then than after they are grown. It would not be a bad idea 

 to invest in half-grown birds. 



Raising the poults is the hard task for most beginners, 

 and some of the more experienced ones have their hands full 

 when they try to raise a large per cent. Practical experi- 

 ence, watchfulness and plenty of common sense applied to 

 the varying circumstances, are necessary to success. Our 

 plan is somewhat as follows: First, we require a roomy coop 

 with a dry floor, covered with timothy or clover chaff. Con- 

 fine the mother, either a chicken or a turkey hen, on rainy 

 days. On dry, sunshiny days, tether her to an apple tree 

 limb, having the coop near. Clean the floor twice a week at 

 least. If the earth is dry, it will serve very well as a floor, 

 otherwise, a raised board floor would be beUcr. Dust both 

 the mother and the poults thoroughly twice a week with 

 Persian insect powder. For dusting the poults, I keep a two 

 gallon, flaring earthenware crock. We put a handful of 

 powder in the crock, then hold the poult by the feet over the 

 crock and dust it until it looks yellow all over. I do not 

 have so much trouble with lice as I did when I put the pow- 

 der on in spots. Keep the water dishes clean and full. 



We try not to overfeed, and neither do we starve them, 

 for one is as bad as the other. We console ourselves if occa- 

 sionally a poult dies, or several of them die at one time, with 

 the thought that our neighbors, too, lose poults and that 

 very few, no matter how much knowledge they have on this 

 subject, can raise all that hatch. 



TURKEYS AS HATCHERS. 



There was an interesting item in the Reliable Poultry 

 Journal some years ago over the initials C. H. A., which we 

 reproduce: 



"A great deal is being said lately about 'using turkeys 

 for hatching hen eggs, so I will give my experience. It has 

 been really comical to see the look of doubt on the faces of 

 people when told that we had turkeys which had never laid 

 any eggs, sitting. Too polite to dispute the statement, their 

 looks plainly said, 'Does he expect me to believe that story?' 



"When I first read in an English poultry book of the 



French method of using turkeys to hatch and care for chick- 

 ens, I had no incubator and concluded to try the plan. Late 

 in the fall I sent out in the country and bought a late 

 hatched hen turkey for very little money. In February we 

 prepared a box (with plenty of chaff over a layer of horse 

 manure) that could be shut up to exclude the light. Did not 

 give either wine or whisky, but in two or three weeks she 

 was sitting quietly on the china eggs and when taken off the 

 nest to be fed, would voluntarily return. I then filled the 

 nest with hens' eggs, removing them as soon as they began 

 to pip to keep the turkey from wanting to leave the nest and 

 putting in other eggs. After sitting three months she was 

 put in a yard with chickens for the rest of the summer. We 

 put chickens of different ages with her and she received 

 them all with equal kindness. 



"This year we have two turkeys, besides an incubator, 

 and after hatching three sittings of eggs we thought best to 



Ideal Turkey Coop for Hen and Poults. 



take them off the nest, but one watched her chance and went 

 back on the nest till I filled it with eggs again, so I let her 

 stay. The other is laying and will be ready for work later 

 if needed. 



"They make careful, patient mothers, are equal in that 

 respect to any hen, and it is a wonder that farmers do not 

 make more use of them than they do." 



We have a coop for turkeys and poults which we find 

 almost ideal. It is two feet high in the back and three feet 

 in front; six feet long and three feet wide. The door is 

 large enough to allow a turkey hen to walk in and out with- 

 out inconvenience and the coop is large enough to allow a 

 turkey hen and twenty poults to walk around when they are 

 confined during a rainy day. We use two doors, one made 

 of lumber for stormy times, the other of inch mesh wire net- 

 ting for warm nights. Thus plenty of fresh air is admitted 

 and small rats or larger animals are kept out. 



MRS. NELLIE BULLOCK, 

 Woody Rill Poultry Farm. 



