THE GREAT MARKET TURKEY. 



The Claims of the Narragansetts to This Distinction— Inbreeding— Care of Poults— Nine-year-old Breeders- 

 How to Begin. 



By Mr. S. T. Jones. 



BREED all varieties of turkeys, the Bronze, Narragan- 

 sett, Buff, Slate, White and Black. The Whites are 

 the easiest to breed to standard requirements on 

 account of their color and the Narragansetts are a 

 close second, because they breed so true to color. 



i find the Bronze are the hardest to breed up to the 



standard, as it is very difficult to get a good color through- 

 out and when the birds are under a year old they are not 

 matured. They are tall, leggy and look light in the breast. 

 If you breed What the public demands, and you must do 

 that, you have to breed the leggy kind, because four out of 

 five letters inquiring for young Bronze turkeys demand 

 size. That is the cry— size, size. "We want them good 

 in wing and tail color and great, big, heavy weight fel- 

 lows." If you breed the plump, early maturing kind you 

 cannot make forty or forty-five pound toms out of them. 

 You must breed the big, tall, leggy kind, and when the 

 toms are two and three years of age you will find that they 

 will weigh forty, forty-five and even forty-eight pounds, 

 and then, truly, you have the most magnificent bird in 

 America. But the Narragansett, Buff, White and Slate vari- 

 eties are the best market turkeys, for they mature early. 

 The Narragansett heads the list and is usually ready for 

 market at five or six months of age. The Buffs and Whites 

 are next In order. The standard weights for Narragansett 

 males (thirty and twenty pounds) are too high. The cocks 

 and cockerels should weigh the same as the Buff and Slate 

 turkeys, viz.: Twenty-seven and eighteen pounds, for they 

 are short legged, plump and mature early. 



INBREEDING— RANGE. 



I introduce new blood into my flock every two or three 

 years. I do not think it necessary to do so oftener, as I 

 keep from two to six flocks of each variety, but I never 

 inbreed turkeys, as I find it will not do. I breed all the 

 varieties for exhibition, and when getting new blood I aim 

 to improve in all sections, both in shape and color. The 

 breast, body and back are the most important sections in 

 shape and the wings and tail the most important in color. 

 We do not raise turkeys in confinement. They must have 

 a large range if we are to attain best results. I never house 

 my turkeys, as I think they do better when raised in the 

 open. The nearer we come to raising them in the natural 

 way the better it is for them. I do not try to fence against 

 them, but give them unlimited range. We keep only one 

 variety on a farm and give that variety the run of the en- 

 tire farm. Turkeys that are hatched in the spring will lay 

 the following spring, and different turkeys will lay a vary- 

 ing number of eggs. The Narragansetts lay more than any 

 other variety and the Buffs are next. I have had turkeys 

 that laid the entire season and did not offer to sit, while 

 others will lay from ten to fifteen eggs and become broody. 

 We keep from five to eight hens with one male, as we think 

 that we get better results as a rule than we do if we have 



a greater number of females, though we have had from 

 twelve to fourteen hens with one male and the eggs were 

 all fertile. Probably 90 per cent of all turkey eggs are 

 fertile unless the turkeys are overfed, and consequently are 

 too fat. Let them get their own food by roaming over the 

 pasture and stubble lands. 



CARE OF POULTS. 



It takes from twenty-seven to twenty-nine days to hatch 

 turkey eggs. We 'have not tried hatching them under hens. 

 For the first twenty-four to thirty-six hours after they are 

 hatched we feed very small grit or gravel, and then we feed 

 clabber cheese dry and some corn meal, a little millet seed 

 or small cracked wheat. We keep the hen and poults in 

 a small pen for eight or ten days and then put them out on 

 pasture land. They need very little food from this on, and 

 should not be fed more than once or twice a day for the- best 

 results. Turkeys get nearly all their food from the fields in 

 summer and fall. Pasture and stubble land are the best 

 places for them to run. In the fall begin feeding corn, or, if 

 you are feeding cattle or hogs, the turkeys will get all the 

 food they need, for they always manage to find the feed lots: 

 The main secret in successfully feeding turkeys is to give 

 them their food regularly, but be careful not to give too 

 much. More turkeys are fed to death when they are young 

 than die from any other cause. Nine out of ten breeders 

 feed their poults until they kill them. I have had persons 

 tell me what they feed young turkeys and then say: "My 

 turkeys do not seem to grow well, and I know I feed them 

 well." I do not see how they manage to raise any at all. 



1 am sure I could not if I fed as they do. Remember to feed 

 lightly, always using the best of food and never feeding 

 any damaged grain at all. A bushel of corn will feed a tur- 

 key from sixty to seventy days if it has the range of the 

 farm. Turkeys sell here on the market at from 8 to 12% 

 cents per pound live weight at Thanksgiving. The dealers 

 want turkeys weighing from ten to sixteen pounds and not 

 ovei twenty pounds. 



A PREMIUM ON NARRAGANSETTS. 



There is a difference in the quality of turkeys and I 

 claim that the Narragansett is king. There are turkeys that 

 can beat them on weight, but when it comes to quality, no 

 other breed can be compared to them. I sell most of my 

 market turkeys here at home, and sell them alive if I can. 

 One firm here buys most of my turkeys and they always 

 engage all the Narragansetts I have to spare and ask me 

 why I do not breed them exclusively. I get a premium of 



2 to 2% cents per pound on Narragansetts. The Buffs are 

 my next choice. 



Any turkeys that are off in color or the least bit out 

 of shape and all of the late hatched and under weight tur- 

 keys are classed with our market turkeys. Before market- 

 ing I feed all that they will eat in order to have them fat, 

 and market all that are ready at Thanksgiving time and the 



