44 



TURKEYS— THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



business, and through their abiliLy and inclination to extend 

 credit to the small dealers, have crowded out the men who 

 formerly made the handling of poultry a special business. 

 Like changes have come in the larger city markets. Time 

 was when the poultry dealer in the large markets handled 

 only poultry and game, beef dealers handled beef products, 

 while mutton, pork, fish and other food products were 

 handled by dealers in each line as a specialty. Of late years 

 the lines have not been so closely drawn, and at the holiday 

 season it is no unusual thing to And turkeys for sale in all 

 kind? of places, and by dealers in all sorts of goods. It is 

 sometimes said that there is only one more step to be taken 

 and without doubt within the next few years the Thanks- 

 giving and Christmas seasons will find turkeys and a mis- 

 cellaneous assortment of poultry for sale in the large dry 

 goods and notion stores and that poultry 1 ,' shoes, patent med- 

 icines and corsets will vie with each' other as to which meets 

 with readiest sale. At the holiday seasons many old toms are 

 shipped to market with their plumage intact. They are hung 

 by the heels at doors and windows and used as signs by re- 

 tail and wholesale places alike. Occasionally, in the more 

 reckless sections, they serve to invite the attention of the 

 passers by to some raffle or game of chance which is being 

 carried on within. This custom used to be more common 

 than it is at the present day. 



There has been a choice lot of turkeys grown on Block 

 Island, which is some thirty miles off the coast of Rhode 

 Island. So many fish are shipped from this place that the 

 term "Block Island turkey" is more generally understood to 

 apply to cod fish than to the feathered biped to which it be- 

 longs. In most parts of Rhode Island at least a man calling 

 for a Block Island turkey would find that a salt cod fish 

 would be promptly weighed out and charged to his account. 

 This concrete application of the joke has dimmed the gen- 

 eral knowledge of the value of the genuine turkey crop of 

 the island. 



A NEW ENGLAND TURKEY FARM. 



Probably more good turkeys are shipped from Westerly 

 than from any other point in New England. While the 

 numbers which are now sent out from this place do not by 

 any means equal the quantities shipped in past years, yet 

 they far exceed those from any other single point of Rhode 

 Island or Connecticut, and probably of New England as well. 

 In this little section of southwestern Rhode Island and ex- 

 tending across the line into southeastern Connecticut, which 

 is hilly and rocky and looks altogether like a sample of New 

 Hampshire dropped into the lap of Rhode Island, the turkeys 

 seem, to be unusually thrifty and to develop the best flesh 

 and flavor to be found anywhere in this country. Why this 

 should be so is a puzzle for the wise men of the poultry busi- 

 ness to solve. Whether it is the climate, the quantity and 

 abundance of the insect life or something pertaining to the 

 quality of the soil is unknown to the producer. Perhaps, in- 

 stead of speaking in a general way of the customs and meth- 

 ods in use in this section it will be better to take an example 

 from the custom of one of the best known breeders, allowing 

 it to stand as a fair illustration of the way the business is 

 conducted by practically all. Of course different producers 

 vary in detail, as do producers of other varieties of poultry, 

 but in the main, each locality follows pretty much the same 

 neighborhood routine with about the same results. 



For purposes of discovery we visited the plant of Mr. H. 

 D. Miner. Mr. Miner is one of the oldest turkey dealers and 

 raisers in this turkey country, and is known far and wide for 

 his success in producing, not only market birds, but show 

 birds as well. The house and other buildings of this place 

 are situated near the center of the 300 acres which go to 

 make up this farm. Situated in a hollow surrounded by hills 



c:i all sides except the south, and with a live stream fed by 

 springs back in the hills and flowing freely at all seasons of 

 the year, the conditions and situation are the most ideal for 

 all kinds of poultry raising of any plant we have ever seen. 

 The Bronze turkeys are kept exclusively with the exception 

 of some wild birds, which are imported to breed with the 

 native turkeys, thus giving an infusion of new blood and 

 adding stamina to the flocks. White Holland turkeys and 

 Narragansetts are also kept in the neighborhood, but 

 Bronze, either pure or grade, is thought to be on the whole 

 best suited to the conditions and to produce better poultry 

 than other breeds. Turkeys have been bred continuously on 

 this farm for over fifty years, and very little trouble has 

 been had from sickness or disease. An occasional fox comes 

 down from the hills and works havoc among the young, but 

 otherwise little trouble is experienced, although the birds 

 have free range of the whole 300 acres, and besides some 

 hundreds more acres are available as extra play grounds if 

 desired by the birds. 



The females generally lay from fifteen to twenty eggs in 

 a litter and commonly lay two litters in a season, though 

 occasionally a bird goes one better and lays three litters, 

 with a less number of eggs in each successive litter. The 

 birds are mated, as a rule, with one male to ten or twelve 

 females. Mr. Miner thought that females in excess of these 

 numbers were too many, and that where only one male was 

 mated with eighteen or twenty females, low vitality was apt 

 to crop out in the young from such mating. 



The breeding birds have free range at all seasons of the 

 year, and have no house shelter whatever, roosting on poles 

 or tree branches, even in the worst blizzards and the severest 

 cold nights. No pains are ever taken to shelter them in the 

 least from the inclemency of the seasons, and their roosting 

 place is the same whether in July or January, in heat or 

 cold. They naturally take no hurt from the storms and cold 

 except in rare instances a heavy sleet storm may come up 

 and sleet gathering and freezing on the plumage of the birds 

 makes them very heavy and awkward, and in case the wind 

 is very high at such times, there is a possibility of their be- 

 ing blown from their roosting places and suffering injury 

 from the fall which they get. When we remember that the 

 males weigh from twenty-five to forty-five pounds it is easy 

 to see that this weight encumbered by an added weight of 

 sleet and ice would come to the ground with one of the dull 

 and sickening thuds with descriptions of which story writ- 

 ers are wont to grace their pages. It is not strange that such 

 falls frequently result in the death of the bird. 



The breeding birds are fed through the winter consider- 

 able quantities of corn. This is a measure necessary from 

 the fact that young and old run together until the surplus 

 birds are marketed and all have free range and are fed alike. 

 After the market birds are culled out and only the breeders 

 are left, the rations are changed more to oats and wheat and 

 less corn is fed. Too much corn leads to over-fatness in 

 the breeding birds, and this tends to unfavorably affect the 

 breeding. Roughly speaking, about four quarts of feed 

 would be given to twenty birds at both the morning and 

 night feeds. Considerable cabbage is fed in the winter time. 

 This is all the green food which is used and it is very much 

 relished by the birds at seasons of the year when it is impos- 

 sible for them to pick up grass in their ranging. 



DISEASES. 



The old birds are seldom sick. Whenever there is any 

 trouble in this direction it is generally from colds, or roup, 

 or black head. Black head is the common name for the 

 complaint which carries off more turkeys than all other 

 causes combined. It is most prevalent among young poults. 

 Its cause is not well understood. Much attention has been 



