The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-03-17
MONEY IN
!. TURKEYS

For those who are favorably situat-
ed for raising turkeys, a more profit
able side line can hardly be found.
Given plenty of range where the tur-
keys can find grasshoppers and other
insects, green vegetation, the seeds of
weeds and grasses, waste grain, acOrnS
and nuts of various kinds, the cost of
raising them is very small and the
profits large. Grain and stock farms
are particularly well adapted to tur-
key raising, and it is on such farms
that most of the turkeys are found.
Little has ever been done in the way
of raising turkeys in confinement, and
where it has been tried the results
have been disoouraging. Plenty of
range is essential to success in tur-
key raising.
Breeding.
In selecting turkeys for breeding,
the most important factors to be con-
sidered are vigor, size shape, bone,
early maturity and color of plumage.
The body should be deep and wide,
the back broad, and the breast round
and full. The head should be of
good size and of clean, healthy ap-
pearance. A strong, we11-made Skel-
eton is shown by thick, sturdy shanks
and straight, strong toes. 1t should
be the aim of every turkey raiser to
have a flock of pure-bred turkeys,
prices. The male at the head of the
flock should by all means be a pure
bred of the. best type Obtainable. The
male is one-half the entire flock, and
by continually selecting the best fe-
males of a similar type and mating
these with a pure-bred male, one can
soon have flock of uniformly large,
early maturing, strengthened, long
and deep bodied turkeys of the same
color.
Fifteen turkey hens can safely be
mated to a ton@ If rs or 80 hens
are kept, two toms should not be al
lowed to run with them at the same
time, but one should be confined one
day and the other the next. When
two toms are allowed to run together
during the mating season, they fight
badly.
Laying.
Turkey hens are wont to steal 4
their nests in hidden places, such as
a patch of weeds, tall grass or thick
brush and often wanter a half mile
or more from home before they find
locations that suit them. To ind these
stolen nests often proves to be long
and tedious task, the usual method be-
ing to follow each turkey hen as she
separates from the flock and starts
toward her nest, care being taken
that she does not know she is being
followed. A much easier and quick-
er method than this is to conhne the
hens early some morning soon after
they have come down from roost and
let them out in the afternoon. Those
that are laying will then head for
their nests in order to lay the eggs
they have been holding.
If MANY turkeys are kept, the use
of a breeding pen will be found a great
convenience. This pen should cover
a sufficient area to allow the turkeys
some exercise, an acre for fifteen birds
being none too large. A hog-tght
wire fence three feet high will hold
most turkeys, and if any persist IN
living out, the fight feathers of one
wing should be clipped. Nests should
be scattered about the pen, those
which turkey hens take to most read
ilv being barrels turned on their sides
and nests shaped in them with straw.
Incubation.
Turkey hens, chicken hens and in
cubators are commonly used to incu-
hate turkey eggs During the early
part of the laying season it often hap
mems that one has on hand number
of eggs that should be incubated be-
fore any of the turkey hens are
through laying their first litter and
become "broody.'' In such cases, and
also when it is desired that the tur-
key hens lay more than one litter,
some of the eggs have to be incubat-
ed under chicken hens or in an incu
bator. About a week before the
poults are due to hatch, turkey hens
enough should be allowed to sit to
take all the pou1ts Matched. They
can be given a few eggs from the in
cubator or from under the chicken