TURKEY BREEDING FOB MARKET.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 315, 10 November 1888, Page 6

TURKEY BREEDING FOB MARKET.

In the course of an article in an American poultry journal Messrs G. and P. Enty, j thoroughly practical breeders, write as follows :—: — Ali sizes of turkeys are in demand. The. large hotels, the rich man with his dinner or supper, the association feasts and res tau rants usually buy the largest that, can be had. The man with a small fauiil}' or small bank account -will pick a plump little j turkey of six to ten lbs dressed. Thus all the breeds and all sizes will readily find a market. And ii. all depends upon | our fancy, and the adaptation of the breed to onr place, and the sort of market ire \vi«h i to supply. But of the large breeds we prefer Bronze, and of thesmaller breeds Tuscarawas Red. The size of breeders should be neither that abnormal ponderousness admired by some, or delicate frailty, indicative of too close breeding or poor raising, but all the birds should be good size, bright and active, j The best biids in each flock", those which j seem to outstrip their fellows on the same food and care, and which show the finest development in the meaty parts, aro the birds to breed from. Such birds will give us a flock from which money can be cleared if we give them the care. One good male to each six or eight hens will insure every perfect- egg to be fertilized. There is no danger of the male becoming- j too fat, and we must feed all the nutritious j food that our males will eat. Not so the j hens. Before they begin laying they are j very apt to become fat — very fat. The food given should he A^aried and just enough grain food should be given to keep the hens 'tin fair flesh. We have found that by cut- j ting good clover hay very fine, scalding 'with meal, or chopped and fed warm as a bulky morning feed, we get the good points of feeding without much cost or making the i hens too fleshy or fat. Turkeys may be raised with the minimum amount of trouble by letting the natural mother hatch and rear them, yet when we are willing to spend the time and labour of watching over the waywardness of a common hen, we may get more eggs and a consequent laigcr number of young turkeys by setting all but the last clutch under chickens. In this way we may also get the poults out two or three weeks eailiei than tisnal, as we can make up a setting from ah : ''the hens as soon as they have laid that number and set under some broody hen. It is also advantageous to s>o laise them when the old turktys are wild or shy. Their foster-mother, esppcially if a good old Brahma or Cochin, v ill nofcioam Aery far away from her usual haunt*. e\cn to oblige her N wild and wandering young. .And if it is necessary to tie the mother hen (but we .should always aim to keep her confined by come sort of coop) a common her will be quieter than a, turkey hen. F»c*rly in the season the eggs should be ta'lcen irom the nests each day, as they are apt to be injured by sudden freezing. Where skunks, dogs and rabbit? are bad it is best to gather them in daily, and put a few artificial eggs in the next to keep the hens from leaving it ; we say hens, for often four or five hens will lay in one nest. Avoid setting a hen in such a nest, as the eggs are very apt- to come togrief. If the nest is in a very desirable place, or, if one of the hens is a careful hatcher and mother, she may be set if a frame- work coop is placed over her until the other hens have made nests elsewhere. *" In" twenty-eight days there should he a flock of little poults in each hatching nest. Just let them alone for a day at least. A turkey hen will not leave her nest until her little children are able to run after her. Neither will they want to eat for at least one day, and even then but a little at a time. Turkeys do not begin to eat tightly until they are sis or eighc weeks old. Then they make up for any lightness of appetite shown in their earlier life. -Young turkeys are not delicate. We have had flocks of them which bore enough bad usage and unlucky mishaps to kilf a half dozen flecks, and vet they came bravely through it all and grew to be fine Christmas roastsT Yet cold and rain, and wet, dewy grass will have a deleterious effect, even if the flock is not decimated. Dry clean roosts, freedom from cold draughts and from rain, a clean range, confinement until the sun has dried off the dew, and protection from vermin , are the m ost im por tan t parts of good care, conducing to the health of our flocks and the profitableness of our underIking. The loss of a very few bird* fth enough to turn the scale of profit oi B good food as any is any sort of coarse ■d soaked in milk and fed squeezed dry ■ crumbly. Oat-meal, barley-meal and ■iked corn and wheat boiled dry and soft Ike a splendid food. Some meat food 111 answer in lieu of milk, and it can be pen to advantage even when milk is used, et, in a word, anything upon which ! chickens will thrive will be equally good for turkeys, and who has not a good idea of what a chick should have ?