Poultry Notes

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 178, 30 July 1932, Page 20 (Supplement)

Poultry Notes

HINTS ON BREEDING TURKEYS.

British poultrymen are now giving the raising of turkeys more consideration than they have done in the pas>t, states an English contemporary. A.t one time there was a mistaken idea ‘bat turkeys were most difficult to rear. In their very early stages they may reI quire a little more attention than ordinary chicks; earc must be taken that the young poults do not get damped with rain, and they must not bo allowed to run in long wet grass, but if the parent stock is healthy tnen the turkey chicks should not be difficult to rear, given ordinary management. As may be surmised, a very great deal depends on the breeding stock. 'Ou no account must immature birds be I placed in the breeding pens; and there should be little or no inbreeding indulged in if size in the young stock be aimed at. Many , used only to breec. from twy-yv. id toms or males, but recent rest;;:- i has proved even better results arc hy using fully developed cockca-:.-. They are not so heavy and have plenty of vitality. As a rule ten to twelve females can bo mated to one vigorous male. If the dock is larger and tw» males are used, then these must be used ou alternate days, as it is never advisable to run two turkey together. The females must bo well selected, too, ouly the most, vigorous, healthy liens being used. These can bo used for three years, but after that time they should be removed and younger females introduced. After three years old the hens do not lay so many eggs. The hens lay their eggs in litters. A lien will jay, say twenty eggs in a litter, and then go broody. If she not allowed to sit, hut is broken off her broodiness, she will imme-iiati-lv lay another litter. In his way a good turkey hen will lay three batches. Now that turkey eggs are regularly hatched out in incubators, this is quite possible and it enables the producer to get more early chickens, which are, of course, more prof!table. Incubating Turkey Eggs. Turkey eggs can be hatched in an incubator, and the poults reared in a brooder, or they may bo hatched in an incubator and the chickens given to a broody turkey hen, or later in the season the turkey hens may be allowed to hatch and rear them themselves. It is not advisable to give ordinary hens ur cey eggs to hatch, as the poufrs contract the usual chicken complaints from them. A turkey hen can cover anything from fifteen to eighteen eggs. Sho can bo set in a box or a barrel on the ground, and she should be covered up so that she will not be disturbed. Ihe management of turkey eggs in an incubator is much the same as ordinary hen eggs, only the temperature may be slightly lower, and they taae twenty-eight days instead of twenty °, no - , temperature can be started at 101 degrees or 101 J degrees F„ and gradually increased to 102 J or 103 degrees 1., by hatching time. The eggs should b c turned twice daily and tested on the tenth and twen ticlh days, when all unfertile eggs should be removed. Day-old pouns can be dispatched in the same way. as day-old chicks, only, of course, the containers have to be much larger. Owe the young poults “shoot the red, the rearer can breathe freelv, for they should be past the early danger zone In mature turkeys, tbc head and nehk are red and covered with fleshy caruncles. Un to about lour weeks there is no trace of red on the head or the neck of the chicks but immediately after that the earuncles will begin to appear, and by the seventh week they will have extended down the neck, when it is said thev have “shot the red.” The sexes can be distinguished at about three or four months old, as a tuft of hairs will appear on the breast of the males. This tuft does not appear on the breast of the females until they are about one year old. The tufts on the males is always longer and coarser than those seen on the females. general notes. One hundred hens will drink abou three gallons of water daily; beslrie this there is the moisture in then feed. It is also estimated that twenty pounds ol water will he passed out in their daily droppings. No fence is high enough to Contino a-turkey if it decides to go over Therefore, where turkeys are raised under confined conditions, one of their wings must be clipped to prevent them from flying over the fences. Clip omv one wing, and on that only the centre primary feathers should be cut off. Ihe first two feathers should be tetr, on. No hen is worth keeping tor laying purposes after she has finished fi<*r second season's laying, as s'o may not. lay up to 50 per cent, of her piodne tion as a pullet. Therefore at 'east onc haif of the laying flock should consist of first-year pullets. Tlie hackleless fowl, boomed ns the “Turkhen,” which is act-ally the Trausylvanian Nakc. N,,-„ inner,,, Ihe characteristics of the failure o.'tlm feather follicilcs to de elop O n mo | neck, and does not srii’er Iron, th.. ~, lieritance of an acquitsl.ia di-<:<~e |a<ecoiding to A. AV, Grm».«, versity of Edinburgh. Fowl tuberculosis lanaet iws,,>;y bo transmitted io human neither ran it be transmitted in Die eggs. It is a well-known faci iiarini competent authorii ies the’ tube-c-ioes fowls cease to lav -ajh th.- out,,", ,‘, r the disease. This means that eggs f, -,,, a pen ir. which there has been su.l, a sick bird arc solo to ell, ano. if tile, tit to set. to produce healthy chickens. In short, tl.o disease .m.-.m I be directly transmitted to tin- ’ If the brooder runs nr- nor <-,,i: rated during the slack sessmi, the soil them should be renewed to’r dr...i, I of six or eight inches