TURKEYS— THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



67 



in their food each morning keeps them in excellent condi- 

 tion. 



I have my little poults so they will fly over a board a 

 foot high when but a week old. There are more turkeys 

 killed by overfeeding and lice and want of grit than all 

 other things combined. If you do not keep them near the 

 house so that you can run them under cover when a heavy 

 storm comes up you are liable to lose a large per cent. I 

 find a large shed with a board floor is fine to run them in in 

 case of sudden storms. Of course you must stay close at 

 home <to meet all these emergencies. It is not more con- 

 fining than other occupations. The merchant, lawyer, doc- 

 tor, mechanic and farmer have to confine themselves closely 

 to business, and the poultry raiser, whether for the fancy or 

 market, must make it a business and work on business prin- 

 ciples. 



EVILS FROM LACK OF EXERCISE. 



I learned something about exercise for very young tur- 

 keys this year. I hatched some under hens quite early; 

 it was wet and cold and of the two evils I decided I would 

 not turn them out to run through the day, so I kept them 

 cooped a week or more. When I went to feed them I found 

 one that did not seem to have the use of its left side. I 

 thought it had got hurt in some way and would soon be 

 all right. It got no better and I still kept them cooped, 

 as it was so cold and wet; then another got that way. They 

 would push themselves around with their righ : t foot as they 

 lay on their left side. When the third one was taken sick 

 I decided it was paralysis of the left side, brought on by lack 

 of exercise, and so I turned them out. Those that had been 

 affected died. It was still cold and wet when my other tur- 

 keys began to hatch, and I kept the first lot of chicks cooped 

 perhaps five days, when one of them acted in the same way 

 as the early hatched birds. I turned them out to run through 

 the day and that was the last of it. This convinced me that 

 it was paralysis brought on by lack of exercise. The pecu- 

 liar nair. of it was that it was always the left side affected. 

 My turkeys are making rapid growth out on the range. 

 I feed them a little grain when they come up at night, and 

 we have such quantities of apples that I put the small ones 

 in a box and chop them up with the spade and feed them 

 to all the poultry, and they do enjoy the cool juice these 

 hot, dry days, and the apples keep them in such good health 

 and' are so much better for them than green food or even 

 grasshoppers exclusively. 



The only road to success with turkeys is to keep them 

 healthy. Give them plenty of exercise, commencing to let 

 them run through the middle of the day at three or four 

 days old; keep the lice off and give a little grit in their 

 food every morning, with good, clean water to drink and 

 they will have very few diseases. Exercise they must have, 

 but very young turkeys can have sufficient exercise on an 

 acre or two, and a great many young turkeys can bs saved 

 by enjoying this exercise under your control. Coop at night 

 until they begin to want to roost. 



PUNCHING THE POULTS. 



I always mark my young poults when I put them out on 

 the range, as otherwise they would be forgotten or neglect- 

 ed. With care there will be found web enough to allow a 

 good mark and it will not grow together if, as sometimes is 

 the case, you cut into the edge of the web. It will do no 

 harm and will always show the mark. It is different with 

 ducks, the mark will grow together if made in the edge 

 of the web, but if several punch marks are made you can 

 always see the scars, as the webs of their feet are very trans- 

 parent. Sometimes I make so large a hole in a duck's foot 

 that it does not grow together and I often find them with 



a weed run through the hole. In their efforts to release 

 themselves they get twisted and hang there until they die if 

 not released. 



PULLING WING FEATHERS. 



I am asked if I pull the wing feathers of sick poults to 

 improve their health, and I reply — No, not to improve their 

 health, but to prevent too much strength being taken from 

 their systems by the extreme growth of flight feathers. I 

 usually pull the first flight feathers on the wing when the 

 turkeys are from three to six days old, as at that time they 

 come out so easily that it almost seems as if nature in- 

 tended those feathers to be pulled. Sometimes I cannot get 

 the time to attend to it, and I notice the quill feathers are 

 making such rapid growth that they hang down, almost 

 drag, and the turkeys appear much weaker than those that 

 have had their feathers pulled; after this period, too, they 

 are much harder to pull and the poults have lost all the 

 strength that it took to grow them. They should be pulled 

 almost as soon as they start to grow, then your turkeys will 

 put growth into the body and the other feathers. This 

 greatly increases our chance of success. 



A thought was suggested at the last Chicago Show. Does 

 the second growth of flight feathers make as finely marked 

 a wing as the first, or is the reverse the case? I had never 

 thought of it in that light before and shall experiment this 

 summer and let the readers know. This much I do know 

 after years of experience, the little turkeys certainly 

 are stronger and stand a better chance of living if 

 the first flight feathers are pulled when they are from 

 three to four days old, and they come out" so easily 

 at this time that it has no evil effect. 



LICE AND MITE DESTROYERS. 



Another correspondent asked about carbolineum, wish- 

 ing to know if it is the same as carbolineum avenarius. It 

 is the same article. It was originally manufactured in 

 Germany and sent over to this country in barrels. Some 

 claim it is still made there, but I am of the opinion that 

 what we use is an American product. Its original use was 

 as a wood preservative for painting fence posts where they 

 are set in the ground. It is claimed that if posts for corn 

 cribs are painted with it, it will keep rats out of the crib, 

 although I have heard this contradicted. She asks if it is 

 dangerous to use. The only danger is, it will cause the 

 face and hands to swell if it is used in strong sunlight. 

 She also asks if it is lasting in its effects on mites and lice. 

 It is a wood preservative and penetrates right through an 

 inch board in a very few minutes, and it is there to stay so 

 long as the board lasts. For this reason it has been fiund to 

 be one of the best preventives of lice and mites that is 

 known. I gave it enough of a trial to know it will do all 

 that is claimed for it. I painted all my turkey and chicken 

 coops with it and never had healthier birds. I painted my 

 coops only once. It costs ninety cents a gallon. I painted 

 all perches and intend to spray my houses with it, as it is 

 not expensive when used with a fine sprayer, such as can 

 be bought for $1. 



However, I do not trust entirely to any one thing. I 

 paint a box, which I keep for the purpose, with Lee's Lice 

 Killer, and put turkeys and chicks in it for an hour or 

 two, leaving sufficient provision for fresh air. I also use 

 Lambert's Death to Lice on the little chicks and turkeys. 

 Whether or not carbolineum avenarius or Lee's Lice Killer 

 is dangerous to use on old fowls in the way recommended 

 I cannot say, but there is one thing certain, it will not 

 poison them. Any strong insecticide will kill little tur- 

 keys or chickens if they are shut into a box which is painted 

 with it and allowed no fresh air. This I know by sad ex- 

 perience. For spraying houses and painting perches I pre- 



