320 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Srpr., 1901. 
RAISING TURKEYS. 
‘1. Never let the young turkeys get wet. The slightest dampness is fatal. 
_ 2, Feed nothing the first twenty-four hours after they are hatched. 
"3. Before putting them in the coop, see that it is perfectly clean and free 
from lice, and dust them three times a week with insect powder. 
4. Be sure the hen is free from lice. Dust her, too. 
5. Look out for mites and the large lice on the heads, necks, and vents. 
Grease heads, necks, and yents with lard, but avoid kerosene. 
6. Nine-tenths of the young turkeys die from lice. Remember that. 
7. Filth will soon make short work of them. Feed on clean surfaces. 
Give water in a manner so that they can only wet their beaks. 
8. The first week feed a mixture of one egg (beaten) and sifted ground 
oats, mixed, with salt to taste, and cooked as bread; then crumble for them, 
with milk or curds, so that they can drink all they want. Feed every two hours 
early and late. 
9. Give a little raw meat every day ; also, finely chopped onions or other 
tender green food. 
10. After the first week, keep wheat and ground bone in boxes before them 
all the time, but feed three times a day, on a mixture of cornmeal, wheat 
middlings, ground oats, all cooked, and to which chopped green food is added. 
- 11. Mashed potatoes, cooked turnips, cold rice, and such will always be in 
order. 
42. Too many hard-boiled eggs will cause bowel disease. 
713. Remove coop to fresh ground often in order to avoid filth. 
14. Ground bone, fine gravel, ground shells, and a dust bath must be 
~provided. : 
15. Finely cut fresh bones from the butcher's, with the adhering meat, is 
excellent. 
16. They must be carefully attended to until well feathered. 
17. Give them liberty on dry, warm days. 
28. A high roost, in an open shed, which faces the south (north m 
Queensland), is better than a closed house for grown turkeys. 
19. A single union of a male and female fertilises all the eggs the hen will 
lay for the season; hence, one gobbler will suffice for twenty or more hens. 
20. Two-year-old gobblers with pullets or a yearling gobbler with two-year- 
old hens is good mating. Gobblers and hens of the same age may be mated, 
but it is better to have a difference in the age. 
21. Turkeys can be hatched in an incubator, and raised to the age of 
three months in a brooder, but only in lots of twenty-five, as they repuire 
constant care. 
22, Capons make excellent nurses for turkeys and chicks. 
93. It is not advisable to mate a 40-pound gobbler with common hens, as 
the result will be injury. A medium-sized gobbler is better. 
24, Young gobblers may be distinguished from the females by bein 
sheavier, more masculine in appearance, more carunculated on the head, an 
iby a development of the “tassels” on the breast. A. little experience may be 
‘required at first. a 
95, Adult turkeys cannot be kept in confinement, as they will pine away. 
By feeding them in the barnyard a little, night and morning, they will not stray 
off very far, but they cannot be entirely prevented from roaming, and the hen 
prefers to make her own nest.—Poultry Keeper. 
———EeEE 
