The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-02-09
TEXAS TURKEY QUEEN.

IFrom the New York Evening SUM-
Il made $500 last year raising tur-
keys" said Miss Anita Martin, a young
woman who is known in Texas, her
native state, as the Turkey Queen
Because 1 live in Texas, however,
you must not call my place a turkey
ranch. 1t is simply a well-conducted
farm, and other things are raised be-
didn't raise our own turkeys even for
Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Il began with five hens and a gobbler
You know, l suppose, that a turkey hen
almost invariably lays 10 eggs before
she begins to set, and also that she lays
two litter of eggs, a year. Well, that
first year, of the 125 eggs set in the
spring all Matched excepting 5, and L
raised III birds.
In the autumn, when my hens laid
again, l followed my original plan of
buying extra eggs, but was neither so
successful in the Matching nor the rails
ing, bring up only 79. Yet 70 and III
make 1856, so when l tell you that l sold
those turkeys at an average price of 81
cents you will see that 1 had a snug
little sum for my trouble. AS that was
sonally nothing, my father had told me
at the beginning to go ahead and raise
all the turkeys 1 wished to.
However, when the second year be-
gan, although I started out with the
same six birds, determined to put my
self on a business basis with the rest of
my family, so 1 used a, large part of
my earnings of the year before in buy
ing food, as well as building fowl
houses and yards. Then l followed the
plan of the previous season in every
particular, excepting that l added five
Brahma chickenS=henS of course to
my flock. These I set on turkey eggs
about the same time that I did my
turkeys, and when they Matched out [
gave all the little ones to the chicken
hens to mother and turned the turkey
int he 1cfr1
litter of eggs. This they will generally
do in the spring when not allowed to
raise the first brood. That spring L
raised just 2G0 turkeys and in the
autumn 234 more. This time l did not
sell ALL Instead, increased my stock
to so.
From that flock of so I sold 1.4OO. af-
ter increasing my flock to 100 and fur
nishing 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 to 100 stock birds. I no longer
use hens to hatch the eggs, but incu-
bators. 1 buy the food by the quantity
and plant acres and acres of small grain
to give them green food. 1 plant whole
fields of shallots and peppers, as we'll
as corn, and I employ two women and
several boys to attend to them; yet, in
spite of all these expenses, last year 1
cleared more than 81, 500.
THE greatest trouble about raising
turkeys is with deWs and rains when
they are young. Young turkeys should
be housed at night in a house or COW
cred yard and not allowed to run in
wet grass. AS food for the birds I 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 the fourth month I treat them
pretty much as sheep, feeding them
twice day, morning and night.
My birds meet with ready sale and
always fetch good prices. I 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 rea-
son why other women should not sue
coed in the work, and would be only
too glad to give all the assistance in
my power to them.