The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-02-03
Sins and Outs of Turkey Raising''

The following article from the pen of
Mrs. E. E. Dalton Of Parkersburg, ILL.,,
on the Tins and Outs of Turkey Rails
ing will be of interest to all our read
ers, and especially those on farms who
think that turkeys are so hard to raise
and eat SO much that they are not
worth raising. There is no fowl on the
farm that costs so little to raise and
brings such a high price per pound as
the turkey. The last two seasons those
who have raised turkeys for the market
nave corner on Wall street in the
way of an income. One thing that puZ-
zles Inc is that so many OF the turkey
ralserS pay SO little attention to the
kind of stock they have. Anything that
Is turkey will do for them, while the
larger and more hardy breeds bring in
such more valuable return for the
labor expended. The Bronze, for ex-
ample, are so much larger and more
hardy than the common brown turkey
that 1t would profit any one to pay the
difference and get the better stock In
stead of swapping" find a good breed
OF Bronze and buy one or better class
of Hollands or any other. Raise the
best and make the most. You will be
interested in Mrs. Daltons article.
At the end of my first season with
turkeys I felt fully capable of instruct
ing anybody and everybody in all the
ms and outs of turkey raising. My ex-
perfence with them since then has con-
vinced me that have very little knowl-
edge to impart concerning them
The first year, from SIX turkey hens,
I raised over 100 turkeys. The most
of the credit is due to an old turkey,
the best and wisest of her race The
first seventy-five eggs were set under
this old hen and six Chicken hens"
(That last is an awkward expression. l
wish some one would invent an elegant
phrase that conveys the same mean
ing)
These seven hens and their. broods
| were placed near each other in roomy.
comfortable coops. Two boards, a
] foot wide and ten or twelve feet long,
were placed on the sides of each COOP.
and with short board Of the same
width at the end, a pen was formed in
which the little poults We're kept until
they could fly over the boards.
After three or FOUR days the hens
were let out of their coops during the
day except in bad weather. They
stayed closed to the pens, returning
frequently to hover the poults. Had
they refused to do this it would have
been necessary to keep them in their
coops. When the poults could fly over
the Enclosure the hens We're let out each
pleasant day after the dew was gone,
and were cooped again each night.
A gentle, sensible, Chicken hen" is
the ideal mother for little turkeys SO
long as they will stay with them, but
usually she leaves them in six or eight
weeks. Then the little poults sit around
peeping disconsolately, getting as close
to the dwelling house as possible and
into it If they can. making nuisances of
When these six hens weaned their
charges, that blessed old turkey hen
adopted them all. There were sixty-fiye
themselves generally.
of them at this time. She took them all
out into the fields. starting early in the
! morning, seldom waiting for breakfast,
and bringing them home at night with
their crops full. They needed no feed
ing until about October, but we gave
them little each night as an induce
ment to come home regularly. When
grasshoppers were gone and the wealth.
er grew colder, we fed them heavily un-
til in November, when we sold them,
The turkey hen raised sixty-three out
of the sixty-fiye and the two that she
lost died at home. The next year she
was as unsuccessful as she had been
Z successful the preceding season. 1t was