30 w. cook's turkey, goose, and pheasant book. 



as holding them up by the legs with their head downwards. 

 When they are weighed they should either be put in a 

 ' bag or laid on one side on the scale. A stock turkey cock 

 should have a nice straight breast, but when young should 

 not be allowed to roost on a perch, as such a thing may 

 urn the breast bone or make a dent in the middle of 

 it. The latter would not be detrimental to the 

 breeding stock in any way unless the breast bone is 

 curved, but they look so much better on the table with a 

 nice straight breast. Should both ends of the breast be 

 quite straight, with only a dent in the middle, the turkey 

 cocks may be bred from, bijt to make sure of this the bird 

 should be laid on its back and a rule put up the breast. 

 If a male bird with a curved breast is used for breeding, 

 more than one third of the stock will be spoiled for 

 market purposes. I am always careful when mating my 

 birds to see their breasts are quite straight and introduce 

 fresh blood every year, and by this means I find the young 

 turkeys grow wonderfully strong and healthy. A few of 

 my best young turkey hens have turned the scale at iglbs. 

 at 9 months old, and several of them have weighed 1 7 and 

 i81bs. at that age. 



T do not wish my readers to misunderstand me. All 

 turkey hens do not come up to the weights I have named 

 when they reach the age of eight months old. It is a good 

 turkey hen which will weigh from i2>^ up to i6^1bs., 

 unless it is fattened up for the purpose. I do not mind 

 breeding from hens if they are a little light in colour as long 

 as they have large frames. ^\'hen purchasing a hen for 

 stock purposes a big boned bird should always be sought 



