TURKEYS— THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



53 



fore maturing, and they may rot under hens which sit 

 well, but do not have sufficient body heat to hatch them. 

 Again they may be set where there is too much dampness, 

 which causes them to rot. 



We are often asked if fanciers do not sell eggs too 

 high. We think not, for several reasons. First, customers 

 often write that from five dollars' worth of eggs they sell 

 ten dollars' worth of turkeys and have a good breeding 

 pan left. Second, fanciers are at great expense to hold 

 stock enough to supply egg orders, and run much risk in 

 holding over so many turkeys which could be sold in the 

 spring. Third, the customers build their reputations on 

 the fancier's work, and certainly this is worth something. 

 You are not simply buying eggs from the fancier, but you 

 are buying the experience of years. 



CARE OF POULTS-FEEDING— LICE. 



I would by all means prefer a . turkey hen to carry 

 the turkeys. The natural mother is the turkey hen. She 

 seems to understand turkey nature better than the domestic 

 hen. There is only one advantage gained by letting the 

 domestic hen carry the poults; they do not wander so far 

 from home, though I think this is counteracted by 

 the disposition of the domestic hen to wean them when they 

 need a mother's care as much as when first hatched. And 

 the turkey hen never begins to wander so far until the 

 poults are as old as they are when domestic hens wean them. 

 I find that it is the poults which lead the mothers away; 

 they go and the mother follows. 



It is a mistake to give a turkey so many poults; of 

 course she may raise them all, but the chances are much 

 better for her to raise all of twenty than they are for her 

 to raise thirty to thirty-five. 



When the poults hatch be careful in your management 

 of both the young and, the hen. I try to have the nest, 

 fastened very securely so that the little ones cannot get 

 out, for they will get out of the nest and get chilled. 

 Sometimes they hatch a day ahead of time. I look in the 

 nest the night of the twenty-seventh day and if there are 

 any poults I take out the shells and if there are only three 

 or four poults I leave them in the nest; if there are six or 

 eight I take them out and keep them in a flannel cloth in 

 a basket in the house, as so many left in the nest will cause 

 the hen to sit off the eggs in a hovering position. If you 

 take out only a very few they may get chilled. In the morn- 

 ing I go again and remove the dry poults and egg shells. 

 By night she will be done hatching, but as some of the 

 poults are weak I just put a few of them in the nest with 

 her so she will not refuse to take them in the morning. In 

 the morning I have a quiet place ready for her and I give 

 them to her. 



I think I have at last gotten the ideal turkey coop. I 

 found that the large coops with divisions in them were all 

 right when the poults were very small, but when from five 

 weeks old to the time of going on roosts, they were too 

 crowded in the division coops. I now have coops four 

 feet square, with height of back four feet and height of 

 front five feet. The sides are of screen wire, the back and 

 front of plank, with a tight board roof. These are set in 

 the orchard and are moved to a fresh grass plot every 

 week when the poults are very small, and every two or three 

 days as they grow older. I have board roosts put in them 

 as the poults want to go on roosts, and let them roost in 

 these coops until all danger of drowning from heavy rains 

 is past. Turkeys must have plenty of air. They cannot 

 stand confinement in close coops. These I now have are, 

 so far as air is concerned, as good as if they sat out, and 

 thoy are safe from "varmints." 



FEED FOR POULTS. 



I have tried almost every plan I ever heard of and 

 have finally settled down into one way of feeding. I be- 

 lieve the nearer we imitate nature the more successful we 

 will be in poultry culture. I feed very little of anything 

 to poults, especially very little bread. 



I never feed my poults until they are from twenty- 

 four to thirty-six hours old. Then I put them out in a 

 grass pasture in a large, roomy coop, with grass runs 

 attached. The first feed I give is milk curd with onion 

 tops and tongue or pepper grass cut very fine, seasoned 

 with black pepper. I give this morning, noon, and night. 

 As they grow older I add other things to the food. Table 

 scraps are splendid for them. If I have infertile incubator 

 eggs later experience teaches me the raw egg broken in the 

 food from the first is good food, better than hard boiled 

 eggs. I never use a fresh egg, simply because I do not 

 consider it at all necessary. I give milk instead of drink- 

 ing water when it is plentiful. Milk has all the elements of 

 food for the huma^. or poultry race, hence I feed all I can 

 spare to my poultry. Heat the milk, but do not boil. 



I keep grit constantly before them. Wheat is one of 

 the finest of foods for young turkeys, but it must be pure 

 wheat, not cheat. Cracked corn is splendid when they are 

 older. My rule has been to mix grains of wheat in the 

 food from the first, so that when they are old enough to 

 change from curd to grain it will not be hard to change 

 foods. 



I have used corn chops and ship stuff, equal parts, put 

 in the stove and made very hot, then pour cold water over 

 it and have found it very good. Still I believe I must have 

 some wheat mixed in. Lime should be kept where they 

 can get it at will, but it should be lime that has been 

 slaked a long time. I believe fresh lime will kill old and 

 young turkeys. 



As soon as they are old enough to eat whole corn give 

 it to them, for nothing makes them grow faster and gets 

 them ready for the show room quicker. 



It is very hard to get a young turkey to change its 

 habits of eating. If you commence feeding them in a plate 

 it is hard to change to a pan or on the ground. The same 

 holds true of the diet. Whatever they learn to eat at first 

 is what they want until they are grown. If the food could 

 be scattered. and the turkeys allowed to hunt for it, it would 

 be much better for them. 



The groat trouble is not so much what to feed as 

 what not to feed. Turkeys should not be overfed; this is the 

 mistake made by so many amateurs. They think the more 

 they feed the faster the little ones will grow. If it were 

 possible to raise the turkeys and keep them from the 

 clutches of ''varmints" (there is nothing more expensive), 

 the very best way to raise them would be to give them to 

 the hen and let her take care of them during the day and 

 feed them just a little in the evening to keep them gentle 

 and make them come home. 



Do not allow your poults to become wild. If when 

 you go to feed them you will call them and talk to them, 

 they will learn to come to you anywhere. My turkeys and 

 my Leghorns are gentle, and will come to me whenever they 

 hear my voice. If possible, let none but a gentle hen carry 

 young turkeys. A mild mother makes mild turkeys. "Like 

 mother, like daughter" is certainly true of turkeys. 



I find that cracked wheat put into the stove and 

 browned as we used to brown our coffee, with just enough 

 cold water or sweet milk poured over it when taken out 

 of the oven to dampen it thoroughly, makes a very fine 

 food for poults. I grind the wheat in a coffee mill. This I. 

 mix with milk curd and fine chopped onions. 



