THE GAME BREEDER 



49 



our duty and responsibility to administer means to bring about the universal broth- 



this wealth for the benefit of all the rest erhood of man and the end of indefensi- 



of the world. ble war by the operation of enlightened 



We have in our hands the most potent self-interest. — From Printers' Ink. 



BREEDING THE WILD TURKEY. 



By Gilbert F. Johnson. 



We have had so many inquiries asking 

 for the description, rearing, etc., of the 

 wild turkey, that I will endeavor to de- 

 scribe these birds and our method of rais- 

 ing them as best I can. 



There appears to be several distinct 

 varieties of wild turkeys, namely : those 

 of Florida, Mexico and eastern North 

 America. They are all somewhat alike, 

 except that the Mexican wild turkey has 

 white tips to the rump and tail coverts 

 while the other varities have chestnut 

 brown. A genuine wild turkey has a 

 small, slender head of a bluish color, with 

 less caruncles. Bodies are long and slen- 

 der. They are always active, alert, shy 

 and graceful. The body color is a deep 

 bronze with a more prominent copper 

 color than the domestic, upper and tail 

 coverts chestnut brown, wing coverts 

 bronze tipped with black. Primaries dark 

 brown and white, white bars being mot- 

 tled with brown on inner web. Second- 

 aries same, only bars narrower and paler 

 brown. 



A great many people have the impres- 

 sion that the wild turkey cannot be do- 

 mesticated, that they are too wild to be 

 given liberty. It is true that the wild 

 turkey is one of our wildest birds and 

 \ery hard to bag, but nevertheless they 

 can be domesticated and will become 

 nearly as tame as our domestic turkeys. 



Our birds are kept in a ten acre in- 

 closure, divided into two pens. During 

 breeding and laying season, in order to 

 find the eggs, piles of brush, boxes and 

 barrels are placed in these pens for the 

 hens to lay in. Eggs are gathered daily 

 and the date and variety is marked on 

 each egg. 



The turkey hens are given free range 



with the young after they are about six 

 weeks old. They will always stay close 

 to their home and when fall comes will 

 bring home their young, which will be 

 about as tame as their mother. We pre- 

 fer raising our turkeys in a semi-wild 

 state, by this I mean, letting the turkey 

 hen take care of the young from the time 

 they are hatched to maturity. They al- 

 ways make much larger and healthier 

 turkeys, than when fed by hand. Last 

 year we raised some both ways. The 

 domestic that were fed by hand were not 

 near as large as the wild of the same age. 



The wild turkey seems to stand North 

 Dakota weather well as all our turkeys 

 roost in the open the year round. They 

 have an open shed to go into when it is 

 storming but they will never roost inside. 

 They seem to have some fear and always 

 want to roost where they can see every- 

 thing. 



The wild turkey is equal to the grouse 

 for countries where the snow is deep as 

 they can live on buds of trees. Also 

 roost in trees out of reach of ground 

 animals. 



If they are to be raised in a wild state, 

 I would advise sowing a few acres of 

 grain, corn, etc., in open patches or be- 

 tween trees and kept standing so that 

 the turkeys could find the grain when 

 the snow is deep. Also to fence a part 

 of those woods to protect the setting hens 

 and the young ones from ground vermin. 

 By so doing they would increase rapidly. 

 The young wild seems to stand dampness 

 and cold much better than the domestic 

 turkey. 



If it is desired to breed the wild tur- 

 key for sport, they would have to be kept 



