The Secret of Turkey Raising 
R ESULTS OF DISEASE.—When I was five years' 
old an old lady made me a present of a pair 
c f turkeys; since that day I have never been with¬ 
out turkeys. Not so many years gone by. everybody, 
almost, raised a few turkeys on the New York farms, 
luit in a surprisingly short time these profitable birds 
vanished like a shadow, until today we find only a 
very few on the Fall market. What were the rea¬ 
sons for this, and what is the remedy, you ask. 
Well, there are several, some of which T will tell 
von here. Rhode Island, the chief turkey State, 
found that ‘ black-head." or liver disease, took such 
a yearly toll that the business did not warrant a 
profit, and one after another the breeders quit rais¬ 
ing them, until at this time we only find a very few 
ivlio are making a success of it. 
PREVENTING THE TROUBLE.—There is no 
use to become discouraged; any farm woman can. 
with a little trouble, raise a goodly number every 
CARE OF THE STOCK BIRDS.—April is the 
month in which New York turkeys usually start to 
lay'. Sometimes, however, young hens will begin to 
lay in March, but they should not be encouraged, 
especially in the more northern parts of the State. 
The first of May is a good time for the beginning, 
and we try to hold ours back until then, if possible, 
by a careful feeding system. When they lay too 
early the eggs are liable to become chilled before you 
find them, and again the young poults do better, 
grow faster, and are less liable to attacks of disease 
after the warm weather comes to stay and they can 
get off on the range early in life. Then, too, insects 
do not appear in sufficient numbers before .Tune to 
furnish much of the natural food which they require 
in order for best development. We find that with a 
large number of hens it is always advisable to yard 
them and keep them yarded until after all the eggs 
have been laid. Select a fair-sized, dry. shady place. 
them with warm water while you are waiting for the 
ben to finish her litter. Once every two days 1 take 
the eggs and place them in the sun. or. if the weather 
is cold, set them on the back of the kitchen stove. 
This may be something you never thought of before, 
but do you realize that a turkey hen goes to her nest 
every day, uncovers her eggs, and warms them up 
to about 100 degrees, while she is getting ready to 
add another egg to the litter? To succeed you must 
follow nature as closely as possible. Eggs kept for 
any length of time in either a very warm or a mod¬ 
erately cold place will not hatch well, especially not 
as well as eggs treated as I have mentioned. Be 
sure, though, that you do not heat them too much, 
but just enough to liven up the germ within the shell. 
This heating keeps the germ alive and active, and 
when you finally set them you will find that they all 
start along at about the same time and hatch much 
more uniformly than would otherwise be the case. 
,'car at small cost if she has a reasonably large run 
lor them, which is the first important consideration; 
>iu keys will not stand close confinement, and unless 
'lie has the range the venture would best be left to 
someone who has. Black-head did not reap its liar- 
u ' sl on *. v from the State of Rhode Island, but rap- 
i' 11 .' spread to nearly all tbe other States as well, and 
• s " far as I am able to learn, there is no cure yet 
discovered which is effective, but there is something 
" "' i. and that is a preventive. Like everything 
,M ’ iin ouiiee of prevention is worth a pound of 
nit ' and with reasonable care, clean quarters, and 
-‘""I stock yon will, if yon try. succeed with your 
'L< \s. 1 his is really the wrong season to take up 
'"'^ding question, but T am asked to give the 
‘'■"hi* our methods of raising the birds, and 1 am 
-"lug to commence with the work of tin* Spring sea- 
Ml " mill follow it: along with other articles as the 
advances. 
Noi Very Scientific, But Very Friendly 
and enclose it with 6-ft. wire. Go to the woods and 
secure heavy spruce, balsam or cedar boughs, and 
make some nice, inviting, artificial nests, in secluded 
places about the yard. Barrels placed on side, partly 
filled with earth, well hollowed out, and covered 
with dry forest leaves, make ideal nests for setting 
and laying. The turkeys will always go to these 
nests to lay, and you will not be troubled with the 
l ens stealing their nests, as they surely will if given 
their full liberty. 
CARE OF EGGS.—Provide china eggs, or any sort 
of eggs from liens, or even rite spoiled eggs from last 
season. I save my old turkey eggs and mark them 
with an indelible pencil, and use these for the next 
season. Put three or four in each nest. Often sev¬ 
eral liens will lay in tbe same nest, but this does n<> 
harm, as all eggs are gathered every evening and 
placed in a cool room on a soft heavy woolen towel 
or blanket. Turn them every day, and also sprinkle 
INCUBATION.—In setting the eggs there are va¬ 
rious methods that can be successfully used, though 
most breeders set the eggs under turkeys. We. how¬ 
ever, have been using incubators for our turkey eggs 
many years, and always succeeded in raising a good 
number, but for those not experienced I do not rec¬ 
ommend it. I save the first eggs until I have enough 
to till an incubator holding about 150. then start 
them going. This usually occurs about the time the 
turkey hens have half completed their clutches. 
Usually they will lay about 15 eggs before becoming 
broody. I run the machine at an even temperature 
of 10o .degrees throughout the entire hatch, as near 
as possible. We test the eggs on the tenth day. re¬ 
moving all that are infertile. Keep the machine 
going until all. or a part of the turkeys have become 
broody, and then transfer tlie eggs to the turkeys 
from the machine. Usually this gives these first 
eggs about two weeks’ incubation in the incubator, 
