6 
Turkeys, 
To the inexperienced person who is 
contemplating the raising of turkeys for 
the first time, a few remarks as to general 
conditions required for best success and 
a little insight concerning their habits 
may not come amiss. The farmer who 
would like to try them as a sideline need 
not hesitate because of the lack of houses 
or, indeed, any accommodation other than 
the farm itself. A few boards, 14 or 18 
inches wide, placed edgewise co form a 
pen of at least 8 by 12 feet in dimension 
or more—the larger the better—a rudely 
constructed shelter in one corner, and if 
the spring weather be very wet, another 
wide board placed on the ground in the 
sheltered corner for the mother hen to sit 
on when hovering over her brood. This 
is the only outfit absolutely necessary to 
successfully care for the chickens. 
As to needing a house when the poults 
are strong enough to use their wings, they 
would willingly roost on its roof, but 
never inside unless driven in and the 
door shut tight. You should. not begin 
with more than two or, at the most, three 
hens; then when you are able to raise 
eighty per cent. of their hatch, it will be 
time enough to think of adding permanent 
coaveniences. After you become pro- 
ficient, you will experience no trouble in 
raising ninety to ninety-five per cent. of 
all chicks hatched. One must grow up 
with this business as with any other, I 
am reminded of a neighbour woman (says 
a writer in an exchange) who removing 
from town to their newly-acquired farm, 
undertook that summer to care for the 
hatch of twelve hens. I foresaw the end, 
and advised her as best I coula, but she 
was very enthuiastic, and workeu early 
and late with them, But the final result 
of the whole season’s work was an increase 
of an average of three-quarters of a turkey . 
per hen. . 
Often in the Jate summer and fall 
visitors called here to see what. they pro- 
nounced * a sight—so many turkeys in one 
flock’—and will occasionally say that 
they do not see why everybody. dues not 
try to raise large flocks: that 150 to 200 
should be more trouble fifty. ‘To all who 
think this I have only to say: Make the 
experiment once, and you will then know 
more than I can possibly tell you on paper, 
The trouble seems to be that so ihany 
make the mistake of confusing turkey- 
growing with the chicken business, when 
really it is very different. While chickens 
often thrive to a certain extent under 
very unhealthy conditions, turkeys, on 
the other hand, while apparently very 
hardy, soon succumb if far removed from 
conditions naturally favourable to them. 
For this reason they should not be kept 
for long at a time in small pens, nor be 
compelled to roost in close houses, nor 
“be fed on filthy ground. Soe 
Yo make a comparison that most 
farmers will understand, turkeys, for the 
greater part of the year, should be treated 
as nearly as possible like sheep. And 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
ES 
here let me say that if at times I seem to 
say that turkey-raising is light, pleasant 
work, suited to the strength of a woman, 
and, again, that it is arduous labour fit 
to command the attention of men, it is 
not that I am inconsistent, for the keep- 
ing of pen is child’s play tothe care and 
work required for a large number. But 
whether one grows few or many, the profit 
in them is well worth the time and atten- 
tion bestowed. The wider the range the 
less trouble they will prove. No one 
should try to raise turkeys unless they 
can command at least a few acres of land 
for them at home. 
Where the average farm is large, and 
the range practically unlimited, the 
turkey may indeed be allowed to hunt its 
entire living until cold weather; but on 
a 50 to 100 acre farm, if it is not bounded 
with a turkey-tight fence, one must feed 
them bountifully and regularly to keep 
them where thy Lelong; for a turkey, 
unless better trained, always wants to be 
on the other side of the fence. You are 
not told this as a discouragement, but as 
a warning not to neglect the training of 
them at the proper time, for they can be 
readily trained to stay within proper 
‘limits, also to always stray in a certain 
direction And it is still easier to teach 
them to come home to roost. To succeed 
in this, one must begin with, them while 
the birds are young. 
Some folks consider turkeys such sen- 
seless creatures, put this is because they 
haves never studied them closely, On the 
contrary, J consider turkeys the most 
intelligent of all fowls, A number of 
hens kept through the laying and brood- 
ing season will present to the careful ob- 
server so many different phases of teimper- 
ment—if I may be pardoned for the use 
of the term in such connection—as to be 
positively astonishing. And t ese same 
characteristic habits of the pullet will 
abide with her as ahen to such an extent 
that by this means one may be able 
to easily distinguish certain hens from 
others of the same flock. 
This applies only during the breeding 
season, however, for as soon as they 
choose to consider themselves relieved of 
all their resposibility for the season they 
become apparently possessed of only 
ordinary turkey sense until the time - 
comes that will once again call for the 
_ putting forth of their best efforts. We 
. wight almost deduct a moral from this 
peculiarity of the turkey. , 
As one cannot depend upon the mother 
'turkey to bring her little ones home 
because of her instinctive caution, one 
must strive to gain the confidence of the 
_ poults, This is best done by giving abun- 
dant food—always reserving their tavorite 
dish for supper—keeping up your custom 
ofsometimes allowing them to fight among 
one another for the privilege of eating 
from your hand as you did for amusement 
when they were younger. Always treat 
them with uniform kindness and gentle- 
ness, and teach them to know the sound 
. Street Hast, Adelaide. 
April r 1907 
of your voice: and from the time they are 
ten or twelve weeks’ old, the most careful 
old mother in turkeydom will find herself 
unable to keep them from hunting you 
up about sundown. 
Undertakers. 
ADDY, J. C., & SON, Funeral Direc~ 
tors and Carriage Proprietors 
All Funerals conducted under personal 
supervision. 113 Flinders St., Adelaide. 
Phones—Adelaide 1577, Port 110, and 
Semaphore 255. and Jetty Road, Glenelg. 
Phone 78 
Music Sellers. 
OPP’S Arcade Music Stores, Adelaide 
Cheapest place for Sheet Music 
sond for Catalogues of our Sixpeny Music 
Free. 
Locksmith. Ete. 
GEBHARDT (August J. Gebhardt) 
e Locksmith, Gunsmith and Machi- 
nist, Grenfell Street (Rear of No. 70, 
right opposite Bible House) Adelaide, 
Repairs to Saddlers’ Lronmongery a. 
speciality, Keys fitted to any lock or 
any given sample. 
Tailors. 
Sick F., Sen., Cash Tailor, Clothier 
and General Outfitter, 284 Rundle 
Suits to order on 
the shortest notice, and at Lowest Prices 
“~ Bey 
FOR UP-TO-DATE FOOTWEAR 
And DOWN-TO-DATE PRICES Try 
E. C. JARMAN, 
101 Hindley Street (next Grant’s Dining 
Rooms), and 249a King William Street 
(Moss? Cornet). Repairs neatly “and 
promptly executed. Measures a speciality 
Peete: ee AR eS ey 
NOTICE OF REMOVAL. 
The Office of « The Australian Gardener ” 
has been removed trom Genders’ Build- 
ing, to premises situated at’ the corner of 
Pirie and Wyatt Streets, Adelaide, and 
next door to Brewn’s Livery and Letting 
Stables. = 
The paper is published monthly, atid 
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address in the Commonwealth, 
