374 



THE MYSTERIES OF THE POULTRY YARD. 



the palm of a hand ; a crumb which would he dis- 

 dained if seen accidentally on the irround, will he 

 relished from the tip of a linfrer. The proverb that 

 " the master's eye fattens the horse," is applicable 

 to them not in a metaphorical, but in a literal 

 sense ; lor they certainly take their food with a bet- 

 ter appetite if their keeper stays to distribute it, 

 and see them cat it, than if he merely set it down 

 and left them to help themselves. 



I believe this to be the case with more domesti- 

 cated animals than we are aware of, and appears 

 natural enouf^h if we remember how much more 

 we enjoy a meal in the society of those we love and 

 resjiect, than if we partook of it in indifferent or 

 disa<ireeable company. 



However, there can be no doubt that young tur- 

 keys pampered and spoiled for about three hundred 

 generations, have at length acquired an innate dis- 

 position to relv on the care of man. Sir Humphrey 

 Davy, in his " Salmonia," believes that a Hkc he- 

 reditary instinct is engendered even in fishes, be- 

 lieving that the trout, fee, in unfrequented rivers, 

 arc more unsuspicious of aitificial flies than those 

 in the streams of Great Britain " This," he says, 

 " may be fancy, yet 1 have referred it to a kind of 

 hereditary disposition, which has been formed and 

 transmitted from their progenitors." 



At any rate, it is neither a dream nor a guess 

 ■with voung turkey-chicks, to which we will now 

 return. A sitting of wild turkey's eggs does not 

 often fall into tiie hands of an American game- 

 keeper, if such a person there be, but I am afraid 

 he would iind his brood more shy and troublesome 

 than the shyest of partridges or pheasants. 



The turkeys, then, are hatched, and we are rear- 

 ing them. Abundant food for the mother and her 

 young, constant attention to their wants, are the 

 grand desiderata. An open glado in a grove, with 

 long grass, and shrubs here and there, is the best 

 possible location. A great deal is said about clear 

 and fresh water for fowls ; but I have observed that 

 if left to their own choice, they will be as content 

 and healthy with the rinsings of the scullery, or the 

 muddiest pool, as with the purest spring. The 

 long grass will afibrd them cover from the birds of 

 prey ; the hen will herself drive off four-footed ene- 

 mies with great courage. I have been amused 

 with the fury with which a mother turkey has pur- 

 .sued a squirrel, till it took refuge in the branches 

 overhead; what instinctive fear urged her I know 

 not. Insects, too. will abound in such a situation. 

 When the little creatures are three or four days 

 old, they will watch each fly that alights on a 

 neighboring flower, fix it with mesmeric intensity, 

 and by slow approach often succeed in their final 

 rush." But in the best position you can station 

 them, forget them not for one hour in the day. If 

 you do, the little turkeys will for a time loudly yelp 

 '" Ricordati di me," "O then remember me," in 

 notes less melodious than those of a prima donna, 

 and then they will be sulky and silent. When you 

 at length bring their delayed meal, some will eat, 

 some will not. Those that will not, can only be 

 saved by a method at all other times unjustifiable ; 

 namely, by cramming; but it must be done most 

 gently. The soft crumb of bread rolled into minia- 

 ture sausages, should be introduced till their crops 



are full. For drink, many would give wine, I ad- 

 vise milk. The bird wants material, not stimulant. 

 It has been actually wire-drawn. It has grown all 

 the hours you have nejrlected it. without any thing 

 to grow from. Like a young plant in the fine 

 spring season, it will and must grow ; but it iias no 

 roots in the fertile earth to obtain incessant nour- 

 isiiment. The roots which supply its growth are 

 in its stomach, which it is your office to replenish. 

 Prevention is better than cure. Such a case 

 ought never to occur in a well-cared for poultry- 

 yard. 



When two hens hatch at or near the same time, 

 the two broods may be given to one mother, and the 

 other hen turned out to range. If kept from the 

 sound and sight of her little ones for a few days, 

 she will not pine like the common hen, but will 

 shortly recommence laying, and so produce a later 

 hatch that will be very acceptable the following 

 February and March. Sometimes tw^o hens will 

 choose to sit and lay in the same nest, like the wild 

 birds mentioned by Audubon ; but it is better not 

 permitted. They will not quarrel, but alternately 

 steal each other's eggs, and run the chance of ad- 

 dling all. A frequent practice is to hatch spare 

 turkeys' eggs under common hens. This answers 

 well in fine dry summers, but not in wet cold sea- 

 sons. The tiirke3'-poults require to be brooded 

 much longer than chickens ; the poor hen will be 

 seen vainly endeavouring to shelter and warm 

 young turkeys nearly as big as herself, till she gives 

 up the task in despair, and leaves them to shift for 

 themselves. It is better to transfer the chicks as 

 soon as hatched to a turkey, and give the hen some 

 fowl's eggs to go on with another three weeks. 

 The improved and less rambling disposition of tur- 

 keys that have been reared bj' a hen is, unfortu- 

 nately, all imagination, notwithstanding what 

 Cobbett has so beautifully written on the subject. 

 The instinct of the turkey is no more altered by 

 this mode of education than the migrations of the 

 cuckoo are checked by its being brought up by 

 hidge-sparrow. The only way to keep turkeys 

 from rambling, is to feed them well and regularly 

 at home. 



The time when the turkey hen may be allowed 

 full liberty with her brood, depends so much on 

 season, situation, &c., that it must be left to the 

 exercise of the keeper's judgment. A safe rule 

 may be fixed at the season called •' shooting the 

 red," a '' disease," as some compilers are pleased 

 to term it ; being about as much a disease as when 

 the eldest son of the turkey's master and mistress 

 shoots his beard. When young turkeys approach 

 the size of a partridge, or before, the granular 

 fleshy excrescences on the head and neck begin to 

 appear; soon after, the whole plumage, particular- 

 ly the tail feathers, start into rapid growth, and the 

 '' disease" is only to be counteracted by liberal 

 nourishment. If let loose at this time they will ob- 

 tain much by foraging, and still be thankful for all 

 you choose to give them. Caraway seeds, as a 

 tonic, are a great secret with some professional 

 people. They will doubtless be beneficial, if added 

 to plenty of barley, boiled potatoes, chopped vege- 

 tables, and refuse meat. And now is the time that 

 turkeys begin to be troublesome and voracious. 



