MAEKING THE TURKEYS. 179 



bles, cou&ed or raw, are wholesome diet and easily procured, and make a good 

 change of food. A valuable outfit in raising turkeys is a bed of cracked oys- 

 ter shells, or clam shells, where the birds can help themselves, which will be 

 often. If you put a barrel or. two in the road, the hoof s of horses and the wheels 

 of vehicles will do the crushing without cost. 



" Shelter for the Young Turkeys. — If you mean business in raising this crop, see 

 that the hen and her brood are safely housed every night for a month at least 

 after hatching, A vacant stable, or shed, or barn-floor, or hovel, famishes suit- 

 able shelter, and with little trouble after the habit is established. The prime 

 object of this shelter is to gnard the young against water and other enemies. 

 Showers often come up in the night and drench the mother bird, and if she at- 

 tempts to move, some of the young will be drowned. Then, in the open field, 

 they are exposed to skunks, foxes and weasels, and sometimes to thieves in hu- 

 man shape, who can bag your birds at midnight and remove them to unknown 

 parts. Then the young chicks that roost on the ground for the first month, are 

 more likely to have straight breast bones than those that take to the roost and 

 balance their bodies on a fence rail, or the small limb of a tree. The birds 

 get accustomed to go into the barn and^ other buildings, and it is much less 

 trouble to yard them in the fall or winter, when yoil want to sell tihem for stock 

 or for slaughter. . 



"Marking the Turheya. — ^Turkeys are taxable property in Connecticut, and the 

 owner is liable for damages done by them in this State, and this ought to be the 

 case in aU the States. A man should be able to identify his turkeys as readily 

 as his sheep, for they are more likely to stray and to do damage to growing 

 croj s. Ab a matter of convenience, it is well for near neighbors to breed 

 turkeys of difierent colors, so that each owner can distinguish his own at sight, 

 and keep them within bounds. It will save a good many steps in the course of 

 the year. Colors have been established by our popular breeders, so that there 

 is rarely a sport of strange feather in a flock of hundreds. The Bronze type is 

 only a short renv>ve from the wild turkey, and the plumage is as uniform from 

 one generation to another as that of the original stock. So we have black, 

 white, bnfi; slate and other colors, which are propagated with great uniformity. 

 It is not difficult at aU for neighbors to agree upon breeding diflferent colors, so 

 that every man will know his own birds as far as he can distinguish colors. A 

 convenient time to do the marking is in the fall when you select birds for 

 breeding, which should be the heaviest and most perfect birds of the flock. 

 Some sew upon the right leg a strip of leather about an inch wide, leaving it 

 Joose so that it will slip up and down readily, and leave room for growth. Some 

 use a strip of cloth of a given color, as their turkey mark. Some cut off one 

 of the toe nails when they are chicks, or when the birds are selected for breed- 

 ing. Enter your mark in your poultry-book, so that it may be available for 

 reference in case of dispute or litigation. It may save a good deal of trouble 

 and hard feeling among neighbors. You should be able to swear to your own 

 property, and to keep your birds upon your own land. An ounce of prevention 

 is worth a pound of cure in neighborhood quarrels. 



"Many turkeys die ofi' very suddenly by carelessly leaving salt in their way. 

 Sometimes the old brine is turned out from meat or fish barrels. Sometimes it 



