208 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



and they will not overeat; they will 

 roam away and only go to it when hun- 

 gry, but in a yard with nothing to oc- 

 cupy or interest them, I think the bran 

 would be better. Give them at least 

 three or four times a week, onions 

 chopped up and mixed with dry bran. 

 The onions are a wonderful tonic to 

 liver and kidneys and will do more to 

 help you keep the turkeys healthy than 

 anything. They are also a preventive 

 to intestinal worms and roup. Fresh 

 clean water as cool as possible is also a 

 necessity. 



A Lack of Green Food — I have a torn 

 turkey that is sick. He was a year old 

 last May and about six weeks ago he 

 would not eat. He did not look sick, 

 and would strut and gobble a little, but 

 did not eat. I gave him Carters' liver 

 pills and he soon got all right. About a 

 week ago he began to get off his feed 

 again, and I at once began to doctor 

 him. Have given him liver pills and 

 germazone, but he has not eaten any- 

 thing since last Wednesday. Can you 

 tell me what ails him and what to do 

 for him? He is a very valuable bird and 

 I am anxious to have him get well. His 

 usual feed is bran, barley meal, alfalfa 

 meal and beef scrap in the morning and 

 wheat and karfir corn at night, with 

 plenty of grit and oyster shell. — Mrs. 

 G. H". B. 



Answer — I think your turkey requires 

 more green food than you are giving 

 him, as you only mention alfalfa meal. 

 Give him now, a quinine pill (two 

 grains) every night for a week. Add 

 charcoal and chopped onions to his mash 

 in the morning, and plenty of green food 

 once or twice a day. Give him as large 

 a range as possible, or if you cannot 

 give him range, let him out on your own 

 lawn for two hours before sundown. 

 What he needs is fresh green food and 

 chopped onions for the liver tonic. 



Turkey's ChickEn-Pox — I have some 

 young turkeys several months old. On 

 the heads of some are round things 

 like warts ; on one they are sore looking 

 and are also on each knee joint of the 

 legs. The . turkeys don't appear sick. 

 We have rubbed the heads with axle 

 grease, as once before that seemed to 

 help. What is the cause of this disease ? 

 How can one cure or prevent it and are 

 the fowls good for food if they recover? 



My turkeys have free range and have 

 plenty of animal food in the shape of 



bugs, etc., all summer, also of course, 

 green food in as large a quantity as they 

 cared for. I have only fed them wheat. 

 Chicken ticks, these flat bugs are bad 

 here, but the turkeys roost outside, so 

 should not be bothered much. — M. A. 



Answer — Your turkeys have chicken- 

 pox. It comes from a microbe which 

 gains entrance under the skin from some 

 slight abraison, such as a scratch, or the 

 bite of an insect. It is very prevalent 

 during the fall, but except in the case of 

 very young chickens, is easily curable, 

 and the remedies you are using will ef- 

 fect a speedy cure. 



Carbolic salve or Kileroup is the usual 

 cure — or you can wash the spots in hot 

 soapsuds to get off the scab and then 

 grease just only the spots. The carbolic 

 acid in the salve kills the microbe. The 

 turkeys are perfectly fit for food. You 

 had better be sure the ticks do not crawl 

 up the trees to the turkeys. Pour a 

 little stream of crude petroleum at the 

 foot of the trees to keep off the ticks. 



Turkeys — Will you kindly tell how to 

 raise little turkeys without any milk, 

 or can't it be done? We value your 

 writing very much. — H. D. C. 



Answer — The milk that we use in 

 feeding little turkeys, either as plain 

 skim milk for them to drink or as a 

 curd for them to eat, is given because 

 it is found to be the best substitute for 

 the insects that would be Nature's diet 

 for the little turkeys. The next best 

 substitute is hard boiled eggs, and after 

 that ground-up meat, either raw or 

 cooked. 



Here in Los Angeles we can get the 

 granulated and the dried milk, and these 

 make good feed, both for turkeys and 

 chickens. I should think you could get 

 either of these at the poultry supply 

 houses in Santa Cruz. 



Sick Gobbler — I write again in re- 

 gard to a fine gobbler. He was hatched 

 last May. He has been sick about ten 

 days. Just sits around and does not 

 walk much. Eats very little, and his 

 droppings are nearly all white and small 

 in quantity. His food has been rolled 

 barley, wheat, and we have nine acres 

 in green barley. He has plenty of clean, 

 pure water and is n«t lousey, as I dust 

 my turkeys with insecticide every week. 

 When he first drooped around I gave 

 him some liver pills, but he does not get 

 much better. I hope you may be able 



