Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-11-13
turkey has also been domesticated
and is known as the black turkey.
Comparative Weights of Breeds

turkey has also been domesticated,
and is known as the black turkey.
Comparative Weights of Breeds
The bronze turkey is the most popu-
lar and also the largest. A two-year-
old cock will frequently weigh as high
as fifty pounds. The standard weight
required is S6 pounds. yearling
cockbird should weigh three pouhas
under this, while a cockerel Shoulu
weigh twenty-five pounds by the time
he is a year old. A year-old hen
should weigh twenty pounds to be up
to standard, while puilet snouiu
weigh sixteen pounds. The majority
of bronze turkeys, however, are from
five to ten pounds under these weights
in the males and from three TO nVe
pounds in the females.
The Narragansett turkey runs Few
pounds lighter in weight and is black
In color, with steel-gray bands run
ming across the ends of the feathers.
The Bourbon Red, as its name i'm
plies, is a product of Kentucky and is
cinnamon red in color. II is of COM
paratively recent origin and has not
yet demonstrated any superior points
over the regular standby variety OF
bronze turkeys.
The white Holland. black, buff and
respectively white, black, buff and
slate plumage. These are the smallest
and range in weight from 90 to 2S
pounds for the males and from II to
Is pounds for the females. They have
no special points of superiority over
the bronze, and it is merely matter
of fancy for any particular color.
Production of Turkeys
No accurate figure of the production
of the turkey crop annually in the
United States is obtainable, but ii will
run into millions-probably as high as
S25, 100000. In very few States are
the figures kept separate from those
of poultry, ducks and geese. The
main territory for the production of
Southwest and also in a portion of the
Central West, comprising Kentucky.
Tennessee, the northern parts of
Georgia, Missouri. Alabama, Arkansas,
Kansas, Oklahoma. parts of Texas,
Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. There are
also large numbers of turkeys pro-
duced in Rhode Island, parts of Yer
mont and Massachusetts. These have
established a name for themselves, be-
ing known as Rhode Island turkeys,
and command a special price on the
market, even above those produced
in the South and West, owing to the
special care with which they are fed
anu on the market.
Free Range Important
The two most important things for
raising turkeys are, first, an abund-
ance of free range where they can
wander over the field and through the
woods and thus secure a large part
of their living and, secondly, an
abundance of cheap grain, like corn.
Corn is an ideal feed after the poults
Gas young turkeys are called are
about half grown.
No expensive houses or costly build
ings are needed, as they will do best
if allowed to roost in the trees, or on
poles laid under tree. If desired to
protect them at all from snow and
storms, a shed open on all four sides
will be quite sufficient. For breed
ing young stock in the summer, while
the hens are setting and Matching,
and for the first few weeks after the
hatch is completed, a small box or
barrel to protect them from the
storms is all that is needed.
Turkeys are source of profit where
an abundance of free range can be
had, as they are enabled to pick up
their living in the way of bugs in
sects, weed seeds, bits of grass, etc.
For the first six to eight weeks of their
lives young poults are more care than
young chicks, but after that they re-
quire very little care, except to see
that they are fed and fattened in the
Fall, Just before they are sent to
market.
Selection of Breeding Stock
In breeding turkeys the vitality of
the breeding stock is of even more i'm
portance than in the breeding of any
other poultry. They have been inbred
very largely. and many of the trou-
bles of turkey raising is caused by
this inherited weakness. In selecting
breeding stock, only thrifty, well-de-
veloped males and females, weighing
within a pound or so of the standard
requirements, should be chosen. 1t is
seldom advisable to use birds that run