VoL. r^XXVI. NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 29, 3917. No. 4449. 
The Bell Turkey and His Mates 
A Business in the North Country 
T he head of the flock.—T he use of n bell 
on a leader in a herd or flock of grazing ani¬ 
mals is commonly knoAvn to everyone acquainted 
with farm life. Mo.st of the readers of The R. N.-Y. 
are familiar with the use of a bell on a cow, and on 
tlie hell wether, and even with a bell on one of many 
horses or mules grazing at large, but how' many have 
heard of the bell turkey? Much was my siui^rise a 
year or two ago, on 
visiting two sisters 
located on a faiiu 
near the banks of the 
great St. Taiwrence, 
to have them point 
Avttlji pride to the 
forty-pound torn 
witli a musically 
tinkling bell on his 
neck. “Here’s one 
source of our suc¬ 
cess,” one of the sis¬ 
ters remarked. “We 
buy tlie best tom we 
can find, selecting 
one that will weigh 
about forty ])ounds 
when two years old. 
, .SlUlCE S S EEL 
P R A CT IC E.—‘ AVha t 
ttibout that musical 
tea bell he carries on 
his neck? Is that a 
new form of tag- 
that there were nearly as many methods as there for hatching until the birds are two years old. AVe 
were raisers of turkeys. One said keep the poults 
in fairly close confinement while small. Another 
said let them roam the fields at will from the start. 
One always fed dry grains, Avhlle another always 
used moist mash. One fed freely from the stai’t, 
while another gave no feed to tlie youiig poults for 
the first two or three weeks. It seemed to me that 
mate these to the best tom we can find, changing 
every few years.” 
“Most breeders expect to lose 40 to 50 per cent 
of the young turkeys? What about your losses? 
Don’t you have any losses from blackhead?” 
“Occasionally we lose a bird, but if we see one 
drooping we either isolate it or kill and burv it. 
admitted that what seemed like success one 
ginj 
“O, 
caine tlie rejily, 
we want ,‘^ome 
no, 
“but 
way 
of locating tlie flock 
if wo are searcliing 
for them in the fields 
at the close of day, 
and it serves also as 
a means of alarm if 
tlie flock is disturbed 
at niglit." Tlie Mor¬ 
rison sisters have a 
fame tliroughout the 
St. Lawrence A'alley 
for tlieir success in 
rearing turkeys, and 
their sales at Thanks¬ 
giving and Christmas 
amount to $500 to 
$000 a year. This 
seems ' stupendous 
Avhen it is generally ' 
understood tliat tur¬ 
keys cannot be 
raised in large flocks. 
Even my own views 
were set somewhat 
askew when I visited 
this farm and was 
siiown a flock that numbered 173, and was told 
that these should ^yeigh 12 to 15 iiounds apiece 
when ready for niarket. 
VARYINC METHODS.—During four years spent 
in working on farm iiroblems in this great dairy 
and turkey country 1 was interested in getting‘all 
the data iiossible from successful turkey raisers. 
My purpose was to see if tliere was any standard 
method in use in rearing tui’keys. T found, however. 
the experiences oG the most successful growers Come and see our roosting house, and perhaps tliis 
ought to furnish some useful lessons, yet some will explain our small losses. Our birds are nearly 
year all hatched here in corner boxes, so Ave know wliere 
the sitters are at 
night. This house is 
AvliitoAvashed every 
few weeks.” 
“Do 3 ' 0 ii always 
use as mucli litter on 
the floor?” 
“Yes, that absorlis 
the droppings and 
furthermore it ca n be 
readily brushed out 
every day. Tlie floor 
we sprinkle Avitli 
lime one day and 
with carbolic disin¬ 
fectant tlie next, and 
new littei- is placed 
over the floor. 
Blackhead is known 
to be transmitted 
through tlie ''drop- 
plugs, and often by 
this coming in con¬ 
tact with feed, I>e- 
ing carried to the 
feed on the feet of 
the birds. No feed¬ 
ing is done in the 
house, so there is lit¬ 
tle cliance for this.” 
“AVliat about the 
feed ?” 
“We feed lightli’’ 
at first, but with our 
large numbers we 
must feed some from 
the start. Baked john¬ 
ny cake is one of the 
best feeds to start 
young turkeys on.” 
Knowing of the 
virtues of sour milk 
in feeding young 
cliicks, I inquired of 
the sisters if tliej' 
ever used sour milk 
to mix tlie niasli 
with. 
“No, but we do use 
sweet n e w milk 
whenever we can 
bribe it away from 
' the men folks. We 
always have good 
luck with baby poults if we can have plenty of 
sweet iieAV milk.” - 
“AYliat do you prefer for a groAving feed?” 
“Cornmeal mainly, but Avith some bran or middl¬ 
ings, and Avhole corn fed Avith care Avhen fattening in 
the Fall.” 
“What about iiew corn from the field?” 
“This, we think, is most dangerous. We always 
insist on using old corn thoroughly dried and sweet.” 
The Bell Turkey of a St. Lawrence County, N. Y. Farm. Fig. 514 
was folloAved by utter failure the next. Here, hoAV- 
ever, Avere tAVO sisters avIio Avere knoAvn to raise from 
150 to 200 a year right along, and it seemed to me 
that their metliods sliould be of real value, so I pro¬ 
ceeded to question them. 
“What about j'our breeding stock? Do you ever 
hatch from young turkeys?” 
“Not if Ave can help it. We plan to carr.v over 
some of our strongest females and not save the eggs 
