Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-09-11
FARM and PRESIDE.

TURKEY RAIsING.-To farmers who
can give them unrestricted range, there
is no more profitable stock than the tur-
keys, and it might also be said with truth
fulness, that unless you can allow them
full liberty, they are about as unprofita-
BILE as any kind of live stock could posi-
bly, be. Turkeys require free range; they
will not, like chickens. thrive in contine-
ment, no matter how much attention and
care is given them. But when they can
have the range of large farm and when
only the best and largest are kept, such
as will weigh from twenty to twenty-five
pounds by the holidays, the turkey crop
will be found to be valuable one. and
the farmers wife can realize considerable
spin money" from them.
Turkeys are great foragers, and will
gather from the fields during the summer
months their entire food, at the same time
destroying myriads of grasshoppers, bugs
and other insects that prey on the vegeta-
BILE and grain crops. For this reason they
are not expensive or troublesome to raise,
and as the old turkeys can take care of
themselves, all that is necessary in this
article is to tell how to care for and raise
the young poults successfully.
The turkey hen usually commences to
lay about the first of April, and will lay
from fifteen to twenty eggs at litter.
The first litter should be given to good
large Brahma or Cochin hens. and the
second to the turkey hen herself. The
period of incubation is from twenty-slx
to twenty-eight days. AS soon as they
are Matched and strong enough to leave
the nest, they should be placed in a dry
coop. For the first two weeks after hatch
ing, great care should be taken to keep
them from the scorching sun. drenching
rains, and heavy morning and evening
dews. 1t is we'll if the coops can be placed
in an open shed, with plenty of chaff, sand
or dry earth for the young poults to run
upon. When two weeks old they may be
allowed their liberty with their mother,
precaution being taken to avoid dews and
transforms, always closing them up early
in the evening. and not letting them out
until the grass is quite dry in the morn
ing. After they are six weeks old, or
after they ''shoot the red,'' they may be
considered past all danger, and do not re-
quire much care, only needing to be fed
little wheat screenings, cracked corn OF
buckwheat, when they come home to roost
Allow them to roost in the trees with the
mother turkey, when they show an incli-
nation to do SO, as it is healthier, and they
do much better to roost in the open air
The first food for young turkeys should
be hard boiled eggs, curds, scalded meal
rice. oatmeal or barley, both cooked and
uncooked, with little fine chopped meat
(cooked) occasionally, gradually lntroduc-
ing the wheat screenings, cracked corn
and buckwheats as they advance in age.
If these hints are carefully observed, there
need be no trouble in raising turkeys.
The varieties OF turkeys recognized b,
the American Standard of excellence are
the Bronze, Narragansett, White, Black,
Buff and Slate. Of these, the Bronze art
by far the largest and most popular, ano
as size is the most important, they will be
found to be the most proftab le.- Countru
Gentleman.