BREEDING PENS OR ENCLOSURES
Until a few years ago breeding flocks were ordinarily allowed free range throughout the breeding and laying season ([fig. 8]). This practice often gives unsatisfactory results because the nests cannot be found readily and therefore the eggs cannot be gathered daily. Many breeding flocks are now kept in good-sized breeding pens or enclosures with nests conveniently located inside or outside the roosting shed ([fig. 9]). For a pen of 12 to 18 birds a yard of 10 to 15 square rods is large enough. Frequently an orchard is very satisfactory. A hog-proof fence about 6 feet high will confine the turkeys; they are not likely to fly over the fence, because they cannot rest on the top wire. Fences should be tightly stretched and should be dog-proof, because dogs and coyotes are very destructive in turkey flocks. Solid-top fences, gates, and buildings less than 9 feet high should be topped with strips of poultry fence 3 feet wide to prevent turkeys from perching on them. If turkey hens persist in flying over the fence the flight feathers of one wing may be cut, but the wing of a breeding male should never be clipped, as the clipping may interfere with mating.
Sanitation in the breeding yards must not be neglected. Either the fences and shelters should be made portable and moved each year to clean ground, or double yards should be constructed for use only in the breeding season, during which time one yard is occupied for 2 successive weeks and then the other, which in the meantime has been kept free of all poultry.
Figure 7.—Slate turkey, male.]
If two or more breeding pens are maintained, they must be isolated from each other. This can be done with double fences, 12 feet or more apart, or with single fences built solid for about 3 feet above the ground, so that the turkeys cannot see those in other pens.
MATING
Best results in mating are obtained when from 10 to 15 females are mated to 1 male, although as many as 18 hens can be mated to 1 young tom under favorable conditions. As a rule good fertility will result when several toms are kept with a flock of hens. However, if the toms are quarrelsome and mating is seriously interfered with the males must be alternated, 1 tom being allowed to run with the hens 1 day and another tom the next day. Surplus toms should be penned out of sight of the breeding birds.