Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

frightened by children or dogs, saves trouble when laying time comes, which, with mine, is about the first of April.

I then give them free access to the barns, leaving nest eggs where I wish them to lay, and I seldom have them lay outside the buildings or roaming the field in search of a brush pile to hide their nest. They generally lay from eighteen to twenty eggs. Should two or more choose to lay in the same nest, before they begin to set, I make a new nest a few feet to one side, and put a nest egg in it. One turkey will soon find it and leave the other in peace. When ready to set, put sixteen to eighteen eggs under each, protect from draughts, and if weather is cold, feed on the nest; if warm, they will come off for feed as often as necessary.

When hatching, do not be in a hurry to take them out of the nest, but leave them at least twenty-four hours. Then if it is a warm, sunny day, put them out. If the old one is inclined to ramble too far, put her in a coop with slat front, allowing the little ones to run in and out. Feed the first two or three days on hard-boiled eggs and bread soaked in sweet milk, squeezing it quite dry (I never feed anything soft or sloppy). When weather is damp or cold I add a little black pepper, and onion tops are always relished by them. When three or four days old I drop the eggs and feed, instead, with the soaked bread, curd made of buttermilk with a little sweet milk added. Let it come to the boil, dip out the curd while scalding hot, and mix with a little shorts. This added to soaked bread makes a splendid ration for young turkeys. As they get older I drop the bread and feed curd and shorts alone, and when about four or five weeks old they require quite a lot of shorts. I use some of the whey as well as the curd, always pouring it on the shorts scalding hot. I never feed anything else, nor do I ever give that without being thoroughly scalded. Feed five or six times a day for the first few days, then four times; when three weeks

old, three times is sufficient, and twice a day at four weeks; give all they will eat morning and evening. Keep pure water in a shallow dish convenient.

I never have sick turkeys and seldom lose one except from accident. I shut them up at night for safety, and do not let them out until the dew is off, or nearly so. If a cold, damp morning, I feed them in the stable. If a sudden shower comes up, put in the turkeys; they cannot stand wet for the first six or eight weeks. have attained that age they are very hardy, able to get their own living, provided they have the run of the farm, as mine have, and will do better roosting out of doors. When preparing for market do not shut up to fatten, but feed well on corn and buckwheat and let them run out.

When they

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Frontispiece-The American Wild turkey
Fig 1-Trap for Wild turkeys
2-"Calling" Wild turkeys
3-The Prize Bronze turkey
4 "Pure Blooded" Black turkeys
5-Pure-bred White Holland turkeys
6-Buff turkey cock

7-Narragansett turkeys

8-Pair of domesticated Brush turkeys

9-Wild blood turkeys

10-Pure wild gobbler bred in confinement

11-Part wild blood Bronze turkey

12-White Holland turkeys

[ocr errors]

13-Mr Bloodgood's flock of White Holland turkeys

14-Missouri prize-winning Bronze

15-Pen to confine little turkeys until old enough to

Jump over; mother at liberty

16-Rhode Island turkey shingle

17-Western style of turkey shingle

[ocr errors]

18-Coop for brooding turkey, while the chicks are at

liberty

19-Shed for sheltering little turkeys at night

20-Shed for sheltering little turkeys at night

[subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]

21-From a photograph of Browning & Chappell's flock, Rhode Island

22-Turkeys packed for market

23-Open crate for shipping dressed turkeys in cool weather

24-Suggestions for marking turkeys by their feet 25-No more trouble from straying turkeys

26-The gapeworm

27-Windpipe of a fowl

100

[ocr errors][merged small]

its diseased state

ened mucous membrane

28-Cæca

30-One side or wing of the cæcum cut open, showing

31-One cæcum from Fig. 29, slit open to show thick.

[ocr errors]

32-The other cæcum from Fig. 29, cut crosswise to

show thickening

33-Spotted liver, due to "blackhead”

34-Natural size of spots on liver 35-Tapeworm from a turkey

102

103

104

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« AnteriorContinuar »