FEED AND CARE OF YOUNG TURKEYS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1636, 8 July 1903, Page 65 (Supplement)

FEED AND CARE OF YOUNG TURKEYS

(By B. W. Davison.)

After the young are 36 hours old remove all to a good sized coop and place the coox) where there is plenty of grass. If the grass is long mow it off. For early in the season be sure io have a moveable board bottom to the coop and clean this off and sand every day. Dampness and filth mean _ death. After the weather settles and the ground warms up i>laee the coop in the ground or grass and clean by simply moving it to fresh ground. Dice are the cause of nearly all' the ills of turkeydom and kill more young ones than all else combined. Get rid of the lice on the old birds first bv dusting them every week, while sitting, with insect powder and place green cedar leaves and branches in the bottom of the nests. The first food should be very dry bread- Take one quart each of corn meal, middlings, and bran and one pint of sifted ground oats. Season with salt, add a little pepper, mix up with water or sour milk and add enough saleratus to raise it- Bake until done. Enough can be baked at one time to last several days. After the poults are several days old moisten the hard crusts in sweet milk, squeeze out dry and feed. Give a little every trvo hours. Feed on a clean board and be sure that none is left over to sour. Feed everything ais dry as possible., as sloppy or uncooked food is injurious. After the turks are a week old the feed may be scalded. The saleratus. and sour milk should be left out and a little meat added, or cook a piece of fresh lean meat and feed a little of it once a. day. Ground bone may be put in the feed at all times if it is sweek and good. When the poults are ten days old commence to feed whole wheat for supper and when a month old feed cracked, corn for supper and wheat at noon. During all thi s time keep on with the scalded feed between the times when wheat or corn is given. After four weeks old feed only four times a day. When four months old twice daily is sufficient and the feed may consist of whole grams, which should be kept up until killing time if you want to have the stock large. Feed very little nnless you want to fatten them foi market. After turkeys "shoot the red, or are full feathered, they will largely take care of themselves, but before that, they will require constant watching. Biiild a little pen, with some short boards in front of each coop and don't let the little fellows out of this for the first four or five days. After that time they may be let out on every fail' day -after the dew is off. Also let the hen out with her brood after the seventh day. Always know where your turkeys are and if a shower

comes tip get them under cover as soon ag possible.