The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-11-12

ing OF the line success almost every
one has had this year with their tur-
keys. However, some are also find
ing that the luck which has been
theirs all the summer is now slip
ping away and some of those want
to know the reason why. Mrs. Chas.
Jones, the turkey expert, explains
this very plainly in one of her in
teresting talks. She says: ITO un-
derstand any branch of poultry cul-
ture one must know their nature and
requirements. The turkey is the only
bird or animal that has previously
existed in a wild state that has been
domesticated to the extent of being
raised on farms from the Pacific to
the Atlantic and from British Colum-
bia to the Gulf of Mexico. They may
be raised further north, but ! have
no authentic account of the fact.
The prairie chicken has never been
domesticated. Occasionally wild
geese and ducks have been raised,
but the turkey stands alone as wild
bird domesticated, and because peo
pie have not studied into their wild
nature and what their diet consisted
of in their wild state they have failed
to raise more than small part of
those that are hatched.
In Former Times.
When the turkeys roamed over the
forests at the time this country was
inhabited by Indians very little corn
was raised. A few beans constituted
the grain crop, and as the Indians
were too lazy to raise the corn them
selves, and put the work on the
squaws, who had the young braves,
in the form of pappooses, to pack
around on their backs. and all the
domestic duties to look after and
keep their wigwams in order, they
did not raise corn enough to glut the
market and the turkeys had to look
elsewhere for their food than to the
corn-cribs Of the natives. The trees
were their roofs to keep the young
sheltered, the leaves beneath then.
made it dry for them to walk over,
and the insects that had found their
homes beneath the leaves made their
food.
Nov we are confronted with a
different problem. The forests are
about gone, and during wet season
the turkeys must be kept near home
for protection from the rain. When
they have outgrown their baby feed
what shall we feed them? Corn as
q steady diet is out of the question,
as they will eat large quantities,
their livers will become congested
from such highly concentrated food,
and you will notice that one goes a
little slow. That will be the only
symptom amiss; it will walk little
slower, until it turns up its toes to
the blue sky, silent protest against
letting them gorge themselves on the
most highly concentrated food that
grows.
Wheat Best.
wheat, where it can be had, isl
the best and safest grain that can
be fed, but wheat here represents
gold dollars and is too expensive TO
feed. Oats has too many hulls. This
year, on account of the high price
of wheat, we could not get shorts.
Shorts, moistened with water or
milk, can be safely fed to turkeys.
The turkeys found that we had
plenty of corn in the crib and they
developed a great liking for it and
only wanted to loaf around the crib,
until l lost two or three, and then
] just turned them out and made
them get their living in the fields,
and they are all right again. Letting
them live ON corn is entirely against
their way in their wild state, and
they have to suffer the penalty. It
is like raising children on rich pie,
cake and preserves. Their digestive
organs get out of order, they become I
sick and often die. s
"When turkeys find that they S
must stay out on the range and get I
their living, they are soon content. (
By instinct, or by personal invest- {
cation of the different fields, they /