THE BREEDING STOCK. 45 



they are back In the yard, and the gates closed, at nightfall. When turkeys are confined only 

 during a part of the day, a yard 50 x 100 ft. will do for a flock of twenty hens or less. The 

 fence, If of wire netting, need not be over 5 It. high. A few turkeys might be kept per- 

 manently in an enclosure no larger than this, but when that is done higher fences are necessary,. 

 for Immature fowls and hens that are not laying fly much more freely than the mature hens do- 

 during the laying period. 



The Breeding Stock. 



For breeding turkeys for market extra large birds are not desirable, especially in the 

 Bronze, which sometimes attains such mammoth proportions. A medium sized turkey, plump 

 in body, fine in bone, and active and vigorous, makes the best breeder. For breeding exhi- 

 bition stock the largest birds are quite generally preferred, size being of great importance 

 In the show room. 



Turkeys mature slowly. The males do not reach their full growth until three years; the 

 females not until two years of age. The male under two years old is not considered desirable 

 as a breeder, and the male three years old should be at his best, and good for service for five or 

 six years. 



The usual proportion of males to females is one to ten or twelve, but sometimes a much 

 larger number of females Is given. A single impregnation fertilizes all the eggs in a litter, 

 and often all laid during an entire season. 



Turkey hens are not usually prolific layers. Some lay only a few eggs, perhaps not more 

 than eight or ten before going broody; few will lay more than twice that number during 

 a single period, and eighteen or twenty eggs per hen is about the average for the entire 

 season, though an occasional hen may lay fifty or sixty. 



The hens begin laying in March or April. If they are yarded, nests should be distributed 

 about the yard, preferably in somewhat secluded places. Sometimes boxes or barrels are uted ;: 

 sometimes a good sized coop is made. One grower makes his coops three feet square on the 

 ground, two and one-half feet high in front, and a foot and a half high in the back, witlt 

 board roof and a good sized opening in front for the hen to go in and out. The hen turkey 

 is sometimes very shy about nesting, and will avoid the nests provided for her. To aecommo- 

 date such hens the breeder sometimes simply puts a bunch of hay or straw in half concealed 

 places, leaving the hen to fix it up to suit herself. Even when the turkeys are given full 

 liberty it is a good plan to place nests for them near the dwelling house, and prevent the 

 hens wandering off until they have chosen one of these nests and laid in it. After having laid 

 once in a nest the turkey, like other fowls, generally returns to it, though some will change if 

 the eggs are taken from the nest. To avoid this, and still keep the turkey eggs from being: 

 chilled or broken, some put a few hens' eggs in the nests, and leave them there constantly,, 

 the turkey eggs being removed as laid. 



One of the most successful turkey growers of my acquaintance, besides putting nests near 

 the buildings to attract the turkeys, uses a coop as shown on next page to cover and protect the 

 nest a turkey makes for herself in the open, and when the turkey, as often happens, makes her 

 nest In an exposed place where the surface does not admit of protecting in this way, builds 

 such a cover over it as is adapted to the location. 



Such precautions as these contribute in no small measure to the success of the turkey 

 grower's work, a point which we will have to take up again and again before the end of this 

 lesson. 



When the breeding turkeys have full liberty on such a range as a farm adapted to turkey 

 culture usually affords, they will get the most of their living by foraging, and will require in 

 addition only a little grain. Many growers feed corn exclusively, but a mixture of wheat, 

 oats, and corn is generally preferred. Most of the authorities on turkey growing condemn the 

 use of mashes. I cannot say from personal experience just how far their views are influenced 

 by the effects of the use of poor mashes. In my own limited experience in turkey growing, I 

 found both old stock and young throve well on exactly the same mash grain ration I was feed- 

 ing to hens and chickens. 



