TURKEY TALK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 5918, 4 November 1880, Page 6

TURKEY TALK.

A ooRUEsroNDEXT to a contemporary thus writes upon the rearing of turkeys : —There is no doubt but that the chief cause of the mortality among young turkeys is their exposure to wet before they arc fully feathered. The ordinary turkey raiser trusts a good deal to the instinct of the mother turkey, and the mother turkey, if left to herself, squats down just where night happens to overtake her, gets up early in the morning and wanders around in the wet grass in search of food, and, as a natural consequence, more than half of her brood die of chills and cramps before they are a month old, and more than likely the other half is gobbled up by some four-footed prowler. Dew is about as fatal as poison to young turkeys before they are fully feathered, and if you expect to raise your turkeys and make the rearing of them profitable, you must keep them out of the grass when it is wet with dew, until they are about two months old. I have a large well lighted gravel lloored shed, where I can confine my young turkeys in the morning until the sun has dried the dew off the grass, and on rainy days they are kept in the shed all day. The mother hens are confined in slat coops placed along the rear of the shed. When one raises turkeys in large number, I think some such arrangement would pay, but the ordinary fanner who only raises a few dozen for market each year, would not care to go to the expense of putting up such a building ; and for their benefit I will describe a pen that I have found very useful.

For a family of a dozen or so of young turkeys, we make a square pen by placing boards sixteen imh"< wide, and six feet long, on edge, anil fastenii:.g them in position. At one side is a large slant roofed, tight coop, the front of which opens into the pen. There is no floor in this coop, but as it is perfectly tight, except the augur holes for ventilation, and we always set it in a dry spot where the rain cannot wash under it, and move, coop and pen often, the young turkeys are always dry and comfortable. But where the ground is damp, and the rain would be likely to wash under the coop, there should be a board floor, covered with gravel, which should be cleared out and renewed often.

For a few days after the poults are hatched, whether you raise them with a bun mother or a turkey mother, they must be confined to this coop and pen ; then if all appear strong and well, and the weather favourable, open the pun and give the young liberty after the sun haa completely dried the dew oft' the grass.

Should a sudden shower conic up while your young turkeys are out in the fields, you must turn out and drive them to the coops. If any arc chilled, take to the house, dry and warm them thoroughly, give them a good feed with plenty of ginger or red pepper in it, and then return to the mother hen.

See that your turkeys come home every night. At first, if you raise them with a turkey mother, you will have to hunt them up and drive them home, but if you feed them regularly every morning and always at night they will soon learn to come home as regularly as the cows. After they arc fully feathered, and have thrown out the red oil their heads, which usually occurs at about three months, young turkeys arc hardy, and may be allowed unlimited range at all times ; and from this time oi> as long as the supply of insects lusts, they will thrive on two meals a day.

Keep your turkeys growing right straight from the shell, and you will find that it will pay when pay-day comes. Some farmers as soon as their young turkeys are feathered up, turn them out to get their living the best way they can until a few weeks before Thanksgiving ; then they stuff them for a few weeks, and wonder why they do not equal in weight those of their neighbour who has kept his turkeys growing all the time from the day they were hatched.

Where insect forage is abundant, turkeys will pick up the greater part of their living for three or four months, and in such localities it will do to turn them out after they are three months old—without any breakfast, but I think they should always have a handful of grain at night, even if they come home with full crops.