J»* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Henyard 
The Rearing of Turkeys 
I have been raising turkeys for the 
past five years, having started with 11 
eggs, all of which hatched. I raised six 
fine birds as a result of my first experi¬ 
ence. The following years I raised 30, 
50, 49, and this last year 83, so you see 
I am making quite a study of turkeys. 
I do not allow the turkey hens to sit, but 
keep them laying all Summer, while the 
“chicken hens” do the raising of the 
young poults. 
The first thing to be done with the 
poults is to rid them of lice, which is 
done by iodining them all over with a 
feather. Do not use too much of this 
fluid, as it will blister them. I always 
take a cloth, and as I get them done I 
cover them, and the lice will immediately 
leave the turkey, to return no more. Then 
to rid them from the hen I dip my hand 
in kerosene and run through her feathers. 
Sometimes one. fails to get them all off 
the mothers, and for that reason it is well 
to iodine the poults again in about a week 
if you have any droopy ones. 
The only food they get for almost a 
week is hard-boiled egg mashed with a 
fork until rather fine, then dusted with 
black pepper. I feed three times-a day 
and give them all they want to eat. Be¬ 
fore they are a week old I start them on 
fine baby chick food. After they learn 
to eat the grain I give only one feed of 
egg a day; this keeps them growing, as it 
acts as meat for them. I do not give 
water until I have given three or four 
feeds; then in a few days I begin to give 
them half a teaspoonful of Douglas mix¬ 
ture in almost one quart of water, given 
only at meal time. After a week or so 
increase the tonic to a teaspoonful to a 
quart. 'Fhe Douglas mixture is a good 
iron tonic, made from one ounce of sul¬ 
phuric acid, one pound of copperas dis¬ 
solved in one gallon of water; then bottle 
and use as directed. This, I think, helps 
them to get their little feathers, as it 
gives them strength. I do not leave my 
hens to run with the young turkeys, be¬ 
lieving this to be harmful to them, but I 
keep the young in pens until they are able 
to jump over the pen; then take the 
boards away and the little ones can go 
wherever they wish. I keep the hens in 
their coops until I wean the turkeys, and 
by that time they are ready to lay again. 
I always have plenty of sharp pebbles in 
their pens from the first, as this is very 
important after starting to feed grain. 
I also have plenty of coal ashes, as they 
love these, and they are very good for 
them. 
Now 1 will begin on the very delicate 
and critical stage in a turkey’s life, the 
time when their breast feathers are pro¬ 
duced. and when the so-called blackhead 
makes its appearance. I fail to see why 
it is thus called blackhead. My grown 
turkeys are still affected with this ail¬ 
ment, and in these five years I have been 
trying to find a medicine that will pre¬ 
vent this. I have found intestinal worms 
to be most detrimental to the rearing of 
turkeys. They begin to appear in a tur¬ 
key just as it is getting its breast feath¬ 
ers, and if not controlled your loss is 
great. My remedy is turpentine. Just 
as I begin to see little waves coming on 
the breast of the little poults I begin giv¬ 
ing one teaspoonful of spirits of turpen¬ 
tine to one quart of water three times a 
day. stirring well before pouring out into 
the dish. Some will not half drink it, 
while others seem not to mind the taste. 
This treatment I continue for about two 
weeks, while they are thus feathering, 
then ski]» a week and begin again, doing 
this way, oil' and on. all Summer, taking 
care not to give them any other water at 
the same time. 
I have large birds now that 1 find have 
parasites; they are poor in flesh and will 
not fatten until I give them the following 
dose: One teaspoonful each of sweet 
oil and turpentine mixed together and 
given from a spoon. In 24 hours give a 
dessertspoonful of castor oil, and you will 
be surprised to see how quickly they will 
fatten. I have studied the birds so close¬ 
ly I can detect the ailing ones by seeing 
them walk and eat. Yellow droppings 
are an indication of these intestinal para¬ 
sites. These birds eat only the tiniest 
particles of food, and in this way they 
lose flesh and are nothing but bones. 
If some of the readers of Tiie R. N.-Y. 
will examine and notice their turkeys, I 
think they will find that I am correct in 
saying worms are a hindrance to the rais¬ 
ing of more birds. Some people think 
they must bake bread for their young tur¬ 
keys. also make curd for them, while oth¬ 
ers think they cannot be raised at all 
without milk ; but mine get nothing of the 
kind, and I do not give them eggs after 
they are free to run, as they can get 
enough meat in the bugs and worms they 
find, so they get nothing but chick food 
and cracked corn to eat and water to 
drink. 
In selecting the breeding stock I always 
pick the very finest and largest birds in 
my flock ; I buy the largest gobbler I can 
find, and I wish him to have yellow skin. 
The hens also should have this in order 
to produce a yellow-skinned flock of tur- 
A\ hatever else may happen to the farm 
in these changing times the flock of poul¬ 
try seems to bo increasing and improv¬ 
ing. The hens provide a good share of 
the meat supply and also a fair-sized sup¬ 
ply of cash for the women. Wherever we 
go we find improvement in the farm flock. 
\\ bile most of the commercial poultrymen 
around New York keep Leghorns or some 
other bird laying a white-shelled egg, 
most farm flocks are made up of one or 
more of the American breeds. These give* 
a good number of brown-shelled eggs and 
produce a good carcass. The latter qual- 
keys, which always sell better in market. 
Often turkeys will get a very high 
fever, caused from having worms, or per¬ 
haps from some poison. They will soon 
die if not doctored. For this I give four 
or five drops of tincture of aconite in a 
few drops of water once a day. Do not 
give it after the fever subsides. I love my 
turkeys and I enjoy tending them. When 
fattening I have a trough nailed to sup¬ 
ports high enough for the birds to eat 
the whole corn which I keep always be¬ 
fore them during the fattening season. 
Pennsylvania. evei.yn siiajrplfss. 
Expense in Rearing Young Chicks 
We recently printed an article by Mr. 
Geo. A. Cosgrove on selecting eggs for 
hatching. Several readers have asked for 
a further article on raising chicks by Mr. 
Cosgrove, who has had long experience. 
Here is the article: 
The Chick’s Needs. —The embryo 
chick finds all its parts in the white of 
the egg; the yoke is only its starting 
place, and the last thing it does before 
breaking the shell is to surround the yolk, 
which becomes its food for the next three 
days, or longer if needs be. That is one 
of the reasons why the best time to ship 
away young chicks is within 24 hours 
after they are hatched. The chick’s first 
great need is to be kept warm. In a 
state of nature the hen remains on her 
stolen nest unless driven off by hunger 
long after all the chicks have been 
hatched, and when one after another the 
chicks have come out from under her, 
picking at bright little pebbles and swal¬ 
lowing them for the millstones which are 
to grind their food, the hen calls them 
back under her, but the next time they 
stray further away, and then she goes 
with them to scratch and hunt for their 
food. From which we can learn that it 
is not necessary to feed little chicks the 
first 24 hours, and also that they should 
have fine grit to pick at when they arc 
first fed food that needs any grinding; 
and there is not much fed to a chick that 
does not need grinding. If we, when eat¬ 
ing. get. a piece of stone between our 
teeth it sends a thrill of repulsion through 
us; but that sensation which is so un¬ 
pleasant to us is delightful to a chick. 
Using .clean, sharp sand in a brooder, I 
have had chicks fill themselves full, crop 
and intestines, with the sand, probably 
because it felt good going down their lit¬ 
tle throats. 
Careful Feeding. — It is very unwise 
to overfeed young chicks; a little and 
often should be the rule. About three- 
hour intervals are considered right for a 
human baby, and like intervals during 
the first week would not be far wrong for 
young chicks. It is far better for them 
to be a little underfed than to be cloyed. 
ity is a good item on farms where there 
is a good-sized family all fond of chicken. 
The picture above shows a farm flock 
of Orpingtons on a Long Island farm. 
Some prefer the Wyandottes or Reds or 
Rocks. We think tin* Black Jersey Giants 
are to have a good place as a farm fowl, 
but the thing to do is to select the breed 
that suits you best and then make much 
of it. If you try most of them and finally 
select the one that suits you the Chances 
are that you will finally keep the hen 
which most resembles you in temperament 
and habits. 
After they are a week old a dry mash 
can be kept where they can help 
selves. They will not overeat of that, for 
the reason that they cannot furnish sa¬ 
liva enough to moisten more than two or 
three mouthfuls, and dry they cannot 
swallow it. They also need some cracked 
grain, for that little grist mill, the giz¬ 
zard, needs to work—wants a job. Water 
they must have, but so arranged that the 
chick cannot get. in it. A very cheap 
drinking fountain is made by taking a 
quart tomato can, denting in the sides at 
the top, filling it with water, putting on 
the cover, then turning it bottom up. The 
chick can stick its beak into the cover 
where the indentations are, but cannot 
get in itself. The same thing answers for 
milk, if it is in liquid form. When it 
thickens a shallow tin pan with wire 
netting fastened over it. answers very well. 
Moisture Needed. —Chicks will thrive 
very well apparently for the first two or 
three weeks on a floor, whether covered 
with dry earth or not, but soon after that 
there will be trouble. They need moist¬ 
ure, dampness —they inn.it wet their feet. 
But they must have dry quarters to sleep 
in at night. I have seen little chicks with 
their legs just skin and bone dried down 
for lack of that moisture. I had to learn 
that by experience. Mv chicks had grown 
very well in the brooder house, but they 
gradually stopped growing, feathers stuck 
out rough, did not lie smooth and close 
to the body, some of them died; there 
was an outside run they could go out¬ 
doors when they pleased, but they did not 
go out much. It was in April, rainy, the 
top of the ground an inch of mud. i took 
one of the brooders and the chicks and 
put them out in that mud. In a week 
no one would have thought them the same 
chicks; not another chick died, their 
feathers smoothed down, they began to 
grow again, and I had learned something. 
Contact with Mother Earth is what they 
must have. President Smith, of the Mas¬ 
sachusetts Poultry Association, used to 
raise “soft roasters” on the south shore 
545 
below Boston. Hatching out thousands 
of chicks in the Fall, as soon as large 
enough to do without artificial heat they 
were put out in little colony houses, anil 
the snow swept away, day by day, to let 
them out on the bare ground, even though 
it was frozen. 
Experience With Turkeys. — That 
subject of moisture needs investigation. 
We have always heard that young turkeys 
must be kept in until the dew was off the 
grass; they must not get wet. My neigh¬ 
bor, Mr. George V. Smith, editor of New 
England harms, raised, or hatched, some 
turkeys. For an experiment he let them 
run with the mother turkey wherever 
they pleased. I think there were nine of 
the young poults. Out in the dewy morn¬ 
ing grass, out in thunder-storms, their 
umbrella the mother’s wings, every night 
the nine came home. The found nearly 
all their food; a little was fed at night 
to induce them to come home. Week 
after week the nine were all there. Then 
a fox came into the game, and one by one 
they disappeared. I think he managed to 
save three of them. 
Living Food. —While chicks were still 
in .the brooder house I have carried in a 
pailful of damp earth and dumped it in 
the little yard by the brooder, then mixed 
their cracked grain in the dirt, so they 
would have to scratch for it, and if they 
found an occasional worm in the dirt 
then there was “racing and chasing o’er 
( anoby lea.” That matter of taste. I 
have-thrown piece of worm down in front 
of a chick, and the chick would stand 
and look at the squirming thing, but if 
it ventured to take it in its beak then 
hesitation vanished instantly and it ran 
to make sure of having that delicious 
morsel all to itself, and never again 
would there be any hesitation when a 
worm was offered. It’s living food, and 
no kind of dead food equals it. I have 
not mentioned green food for chicks, but 
sprouted oats, lettuce or any tender green 
stuff is very good for them; almost essen¬ 
tial to thrifty growth. 
Brooding. — During my last few years 
on the farm T did not use artificial brood¬ 
ers. using hens only for that purpose. T 
had 40 little A houses, 20 in a row, with 
20 chicks to a hen. As they were all 
white chicks there was never any diffi¬ 
culty about hens refusing tin* chicks. I 
kept White Wyandottes and White Leg¬ 
horns. Occasionally a Leghorn would sit 
long enough to hatch chicks, and when 
they do they make fine mothers; far less 
likely to tramp on their chicks than the 
larger breeds. T made a long pen in front 
of the row of 20 coops, dividing it into 
little 1 pens, one for each coop, the pens 
being about six by five feet. This pre¬ 
vented the chicks from getting out of the 
mother’s sight, or too far to run for 
cover when the mother’s skyward-looking 
eye descried a hawk. 
Sprouted Oats. —The green food prob¬ 
lem was solved by covering the ground in 
these little pens with oats and spading 
them in about a week before the chicks 
were due to hatch. The hen soon taught 
the chicks what those green sprouts were 
for- They would dig up and eat the 
whole thing, the green sprout, the oat 
and the long white rootlets, and when 
they were getting scarce more oats were 
spaded. When the chicks got large 
enough to fly over the 14-inch boards 
forming the pens, the pens were taken 
away and the chicks left to run wherever 
they pleased. 
The Row of Coops.— Those rows of 
20 coops were set facing the east. Why? 
Because it’s cool early in the morning, 
the chick is out with the first streak of 
dawn, and the morning sun. rising far 
to the north of east, soon strikes directly 
•mo ms mile iioune. and he gets the sun’s 
heat when he needs it. Take a row of 
coops facing the south ; the morning sun 
strikes the back of those coons, the chick 
is in the shade, and not until 10 o’clock 
or after does the sun strike the front of 
these houses and in the midday heat the 
panting hen has no shade or relief from 
the direct rays of the hot sun. while with 
the coops facing east the hen is comforta¬ 
ble in the shade. 
Moving the Chicks.— After most of 
the hens had weaned the chicks and be¬ 
gun to lay the chicks were moved into 
the corn lot, 300 ft. long by 180 wide. A 
strip 30 ft. wide by 300 long was sown 
thickly with oats and cultivated in; on 
the rest of the lot corn was growing. Hav¬ 
ing been educated on oats, the chicks did 
not bother the young corn to any extent. 
A row of houses 3x4 ft. were along the 
north side of that 30-ft. strip, and the 
chicks ran in the corn all Summer, the 
corn forming both shade and shelter from 
hawks. In four years the chicks had 
practically denuded the ground of weeds. 
There were about 400 chicks in that lot, 
remaining there until time to be put into 
Winter quarters. 
Corn and Chicks.—Y es. they do some 
damage to the corn, stripping the under 
part of tin* husk off and eating two or 
three rows of the under part of the ear. 
But the fifth year I raised 165 bushels 
of ears. 113 of shelled corn, on that lot. 
and. all the cultivation it had was the 
cultivator run through it both ways twice. 
No hoeing whatever on the main part of 
the lot: on the south side, furthest from 
the chicks. I had a strip of potatoes the 
previous year and that had to be hoed. I 
think 10 bushels would cover all the dam¬ 
age the fowls did to the corn. Foxes 
bothered, so I plowed a deep furrow 
around the lot, set posts at the edge of 
the furrow and put up a six-foot poultrv- 
wire fence around it. letting the wire 
down into the furrow, and filling it so 
thev could not dig under. 
Connecticut. GEO. A. COSGROVE. 
Farm Flocks Are Improving 
