60 



TURKEYS— THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



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 nor whiskey, 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 sum- 

 mer. 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 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. C. H. A." 



FARMING OUT TURKEYS. 



I am often asked if I find it satisfactory to farm out 

 my turkeys. It is perfectly satisfactory, because I have no 

 one to raise turkeys for me who is not in all respects reli- 

 able; besi des they hatch them earlier than I can, as the 

 twenty-five or thirty hens kept at home do not lay eggs 

 any faster than I have calls for them from the time they 



begin laying until the first of June. I have young turkeys 

 now out on the farms that one has to look at the second 

 time to be sure whether they are hens or young turkeys. 

 Farm-bred turkeys do not get very fat, consequently do not 

 weigh as heavy when I take them as I would make them 

 weigh to please those who 'demand the pounds of flesh, but 

 the frame is there. Be sure you know with whom you are 

 placing your stock and you will have no difficulty. 



Bach season teaches us some lesson that is profitable to 

 us for the next. I have learned to take only one flock of 

 hens and pullets and another of toms on the place at one 

 time. When two or more flocks are brought in at the same 

 time they fight so they will not eat and do not fatten. I 

 find it better to pay board for a few flocks on the farms 

 than to bring them together on the home place. I could 

 not raise all my stock at home and furnish pairs and trios 

 not related, nor could I ship as I now do to the same cus- 

 tomers every year and insure a change of blood. 



To those persons who have written me, asking if I think 

 it will pay to raise turkeys, I can only say that I have never 

 heard any one who has given it a fair trial say that it 

 does not pay. Still I would not advise one to undertake 

 to raise turkeys who is not willing or physically able to 

 expose himself to all sorts of weather, both hot and cold. 

 Turkeys must be kept dry while young and gotten home 

 early in the afternoon. 



I-Iow shall you succeed with turkeys? The best way to 

 succeed is to keep on trying. If you fail this year, get more 

 in earnest and try again next year. 



MRS. BETTIB GLOVER MACKBY. 



RAISING TURKEYS. 



By J. C. Clipp. 



HE laying stock should be the first thought. It is 

 best to use rather old hens mated with young 

 but matured gobblers, or old gobblers mated to 

 young hens. We prefer the first mentioned mat- 

 ing. As it nears the laying period more care 

 should be devoted to the food. We use little corn 

 and give a soft mash with one part meat and bone to six 

 or eight parts mixed food. Give the turkeys full liberty 

 and give only half rations. If the range is good feed 

 morning and night. Give soft food in the morning, 

 wheat and oats at night. Care should be used not to 

 have the young turkeys too fat, and keep a constant 

 lookout for lice. Be sure to have a tight board bot- 

 tom to the coop. This bottom should be cleaned and then 

 dusted with dust or sand, or sprinkled with bright wheat 

 straw every day. 



Cut the grass short where the coops are located, and 

 for some distance around. Always place the coops on 

 ground that fowls never run over; keep everything very 

 clean. Always feed on a clean board, and never feed more 

 that the turkeys will eat up clean. Keep a supply of good 

 drinking water and wash out the drinking vessel every day. 

 It is best to keep sharp grit and coarse ground bone in 

 dishes close to the feeding boards. 



Keep the young turkeys confined close to the coop the 

 first week, then let them run at will, but never lei, them 

 get caught in a shower or run in the dew. If a young tur- 

 key once gets wet and chilled it is hard to restore it again. 



The first week we feed hard boiled eggs, into which is 

 mixed a little ground black pepper. As soon as we remove 



the young from the nest we give each a grain of black 

 pepper. When they are one week old we remove the board 

 pen and let them run at will, but always train them to come 

 up morning, noon and night for meals. We prepare soaked 

 bread in a little sweet milk, with onion tops cut fine and 

 mixed with their food, just enough to flavor nicely, and we 

 enjoy that noon feed as much as the turkeys, to see them 

 coming through the wood pasture meeting us, and we notice 

 that they always clean up the onion tops first. 



When lice make their appearance dust the turkeys with 

 insect powder and grease their heads with lard, using grease 

 carefully. We hav» been told not to give the young turkeys 

 any drinking water, but this is all nonsense. We give our 

 turkeys all the fresh water they will drink, but care is used 

 that the vessels are clean and a few drops of carbolic acid 

 is used to each gallon of water. 



In the spring we purchase a few sittings of eggs from 

 the best heavy weight and laying strains of Mammoth 

 Bronze turkeys that we can get, in order to build up our 

 stock and keep them hardy and never inbred. We prefer 

 the Mammoth Bronze turkeys because they grow larger and 

 are very hardy. 



We always raise with domestic hens, as they do not 

 wander far from home and always bring their flocks up at 

 night. 



The secret in raising turkeys successfully is in having 

 strong, healthy fowls, using clean food and fresh water and 

 keeping the young free from lice and out of storms. 



J. C. CLIPP. 



