Durango semi-weekly herald., 1901-07-01
RAISING TURKEYS.
Mrs. Jones Describes Her Method OF
FeedInE md CarIng Enr Them


Feeding and Caring For Them.
a lady In the eastern states wrote
that she hatched 100 and raised one
young turkey. writes Mrs. Charles
Jones In The Poultry Keeper. If by
giving my way of caring for the poults
can assist any one in avoiding such a
loss, l shall be very glad. Although
have given my way of feeding and
caring time and again, l will repeat it
here, as some readers may not have
seen it.
When take my young turks out of
the nest, | spray box with lice killer
ana put the old hen in, not closing it
up so tight that she cannot get some
fresh air. leave her for two or three
hours, keeping the poults wrapped up
warm. l have large dry goods box
with sliding lath door to keep the
old hen in and let the little turkeys run
out in a tight yard. l have IL board
door TO let down to keep vermin out at
night and to keep them warm unit i the
weather gets settled.
My first feed is an egg put in cold
water and boiled hard for half an hour
or more and chopped shell and all. /
only feed II little ut Il time and only
iced three times a day, as that is all |
can get time to do. l put in little
chick size grit every morning and
cracked oyster shells. l find that both
chickens and turkeys are healthier by
having grit mixed little each morn
Ing with their food. 1t is better than
risking their picking up enough out of
the grit box
My next ration, after about two days.
is dandelion leaves chopped with the
eggs, with sour milk curd mixed in.
This is their morning feed. At noon
they get curd; at night. onions chopped
with the egg and curd l only feed
what they will eat up clean in short
time.
After week or two l feed millet
mixed with the feed and oatmeal.
see by an article written for The Poul-
try Journal by MIR. w. j. Bell that he
fseds turkeys shorts, and | think |
sh'ill try them later on. as am always
botrer, find food enough after they
get bigger,$ ut like my way of feed
ing at hrst, as can get them so they
Will jump over "A board foot high
when less than week old This way
of feeding makes them strong, and
they grow so rapidly.
Exercise is one of the great elements
10 success with turkey raising, and
after the third day l always turn my
turkeys out TO run during the day after
the dew is off the grass until about
o'clock, when they are driven in and
fed for the night.
| think If the lady that lost so many
Will try this way she will save her
turkeys. | scarcely ever have Il droopy
or sick turkey, as my way of caring
for them keeps them healthy. Over
feeding, filth. lice and running in the
wet are death TO turkeys. l always
raise my young turkeys in the breed
ing yards with my old turkeys. and l
find they are like the human race, they
have the same love of home, and when
pick out their old breeding yard to run
in, and by yarding them year after
year in the same place IL is very little
trouble TO get them to stay in their old
haunts. Some people contend that tur-
keys poison ground and that it causes
sickness to keep them in the same
place year after year This is n myth,
as freezing the ground month after
month pmities any soil unless large de
poslts of droppings are left for them TO
pick over.