Show TURKEY RAISING I i GOOD SIDE liNE Requirement of Range Usually Limits Production of Big Fowls to Farms BRONZE VARIETY IS POPULAR Birds Are Especially Adapted to Grain Grain and Stock Farms Where There Is Ample Ranging Ground Abounding in F Feed ed For those who are favorably situated situated situated situ situ- for raising turkeys a more profitable profit- profit able ible side line scarcely can be be found Plenty of range Is necessary to raise i turkeys s 's so this usually limits the op opportunity opportunity op- op to the farms Turkeys are Included In the department of agricultures agriculture's agricultures agriculture's agricultures agriculture's tures ture's program for Increasing poultry production and specialists of the department department department de de- de- de point out how and where Increases increases In In- creases can be obtained Turkeys s are especially suited to the grain and stock farms where there is ample ranging ground abounding in such turkey food as grasshoppers and other Insects weed seeds waste grain such as is left In the fields after harvest harvest harvest har har- vest and nuts of such such varieties as beechnuts chestnuts pecans pine nuts and acorns On such farms th tire the plesent present prest pres ples ent eat prices pf of grain affect the turkey raiser but little for with the exception exception exception tion of what Is u used ed at fattening th time e ethe the feed consumed largely of such sucha a kind as would otherwise be wasted Raise More Turkeys With but little additional outlay to the farmer many more turkeys s could and should be raised federal specialists specialists special special- say The Tile small number of turkeys per farm in the United States Is sur sur- According to the census of 1010 1310 which is the latest that has hils 4 been een taken only per cent of the total number of farms reported any turkeys at all ull and on those farms reporting turkeys an avern average e of but slightly sightly over four breeding turkeys was found per farm Some farms by nature of the crops grown n on them or b because of unfavorable surroundings are not adapted to turkey raising but most farms could easily handle a breeding flock of from 10 to 15 hen turkeys and a tom torn raising from 75 5 to each year at a good profit prom Throughout the middle West where most of the turkeys are raised It Is unusual to see a flock of more nore than 50 on a farm although In Texas where more are produced than In to any other state flocks of several hundred are rather common In- In sections In o of the Southwest and on the Pacific coast a ew persons have engaged In turkey raising on a large luge scale rearing a n thousand or more every every year There here are not however enough turkeys raised on the Pacific coast to supply the local demand This Is true also of f the tile Atlantic coa coast t states Owing to the fact that the Uie Bronze turkey Is the heaviest It Is more popular among turkey raisers than other varieties Since turkeys are sold by weight the heaviest birds bring the greatest returns When a large number number number num num- ber of people are to be served as In hotels restaurants and boa boarding boardinghouses boardinghouses houses the demand Is for heavy henvy tur tur- keys For Fot family use the demand Is for small or sized medium-sized birds Unless Unless Unless Un Un- less they t are to be marketed locally among customers who demand small birds It Is far more profitable to raise the heaviest heaviest Regarding other characteristics charac charac- It Is quite generally asserted t the e Bronze Is the hardest variety 1 that t the le Red ned and V White Holland Holland Hol Hol- ol- ol land are the most domestic and that the White Holland is the most prolific These qualities are possessed In different different dif dlf dif dif- ferent degrees by Individuals of f every variety however and can cnn be developed developed devel devel- b by proper management and careful careful careful care care- ful selection of breeding stock Work of f Turkey Hen A turkey hen that begins laying In Inthe Inthe Inthe the middle middie of March l will usually finish laying her first litter early to in April her second late in April and her third litter about t the le third week In May depending upon the number of eg eggi she lays and the promptness promptness ness with which she Is broken up on becoming broody Some turkey hens can be made to lay four or five fi litters but butI I this Is not usually advisable as hatched ed later than thon June do not have havea a chance to develop for the Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Thanks giving and Christmas markets and are not- not sufficiently mature the following spring to be used as breeders Turkey hens can easily be broken of their broodiness by confining them for two or three days to a coop with witha a slat bottom They will mate soon after being let out of the coop and begin laying In about a n week Turkey hens and chicken hens ens usually are I used to incubate turkey eggs although Incubators are quite generally used where turkeys are raised on a large scale |