Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-01-26
A WCMAN'S TURKEY FARM.
Miss Martin Says She Can Make $2.50O Year
Out Of Her Fowls.

Out Of Her Fowls.
"I made So 500 last year raising tur-
keys" said Miss Anita Martin, young
woman who is known in Texas, her
native State, as the Turkey Queen.
Because l live in Texas, however,
you must not call my place turkey
ranch. 1t is simply we'll conducted
farm and other things are raised be-
sides turkeys. Indeed, until five
years ago we didn't raise our own tur-
keys even for Thanksgiving and
Christmas.
al began with five hens and COB
bier. You know, l suppose, that a
turkey hen almost invariably lays
thirteen eggs before she begins to set,
and also that she lays two settings of
eggs year. Well, that first year. of
the 125 eggs set in the spring, all
Matched excepting five, and l raised
III birds.
"ln the autumn, when my hens
laid again l followed my original plan
OF buying extra eggs, but was neither
so successful i'll the Matching nor the
raising, bringing up only seventy-five.
Yet seventy-nine and III make 1876,
so when / tell you that sold those
turkeys at an average price of sixty
seven cents, you will see that had
snug sum for my trouble. As that
was my first year the food had cost ME
personally nothing. My father told
me at the beginning to 60 ahead and
raise all the turkeys wished to.
However, when the second year
began, although l started out with the
same six birds, / determined to put
myself on a business basis with the
rest of my family, so l used large
part of my earnings OF the year before
in buying food as we'll as building fowl
houses and yards. Then 1 followed
the plan of the previous season in
every particular excepting that l ad-
ded five Brahma chickens-hens, of
course-to my flock. These / set on
turkey eggs about the same time that
l did my turkeys and when they
hatched out gave all the little ones
to the chicken hens to mother and
turned the turkey hens into the pas
ture to lay another setting OF eggs.
This they will generally do in the
spring when not allowed to raise the
first brood. That spring I raised just
200 turkeys and in the autumn raised
just 234 more. This time l did not
sell at all. Instead l increased my
stock to fifty.
"From that flock of fifty / sold
1,4OO, after increasing my flock to 100
and furnishing the table with as many
turkeys as the family cared to eat.
"Of course my methods have
changed very much since the flock
has increased from five to 100 stock
birds. / no longer use hens to hatch
the eggs, but incubators. I buy the
food by the quantity and plant acres
and acres of small grain to give them
green food. l plant whole fields of
shallots and peppers as we'll as corn
and l employ two women and several
boys to attend to them, yet, in spite of
all these expenses, last year / cleared
more than $4,000.
THE greatest trouble about raising
turkeys is with dews and rains when
they are young. Young turkeys
should be housed at night in house
or covered yard and not allowed to run
into wet grass. As food for the birds
use bread OF unsifted, unsalted corn
meal, into which a good quantity of
red pepper is mixed. AS green food
for them until they are old enough to
look out for themselves, feed them
the tender tops of shallots, chopped
fine. After they pass their fourth
month I treat them pretty much as
sheep, feeding them twice day, morn
ing and night.
"My birds meet with ready sale and
always fetch good prices. take Or
ders for birds fattened ON fancy foods,
such as nuts, etc., which are supposed
to flavor the flesh and of course these
turkeys bring high prices. I see no
reason why other women should not
succeed in the work, and would be
only too glad to give them all the as
aistance in NV nower IN thannD