440 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



floor of this must be clean and dry for the poults; it may be of boards, but 

 dry, clean earth is best for both the hen and the poults. This natural en- 

 vironment has a beneficial influence upon the mother and the young tur- 

 keys. It adds to both health and spirits, and helps to develop constitutional 

 vigor. 



Danger of ovet doing. — Satisfactory results can never be secured by hand- 

 ling turkeys like cage birds or hothouse plants. Avoid overdoing the care 

 and attention. Treat them like turkeys, and use common sense in looking 

 after them. Their native home was in the woods and fields; in their present 

 semidomestic condition they need more shelter and care, but they should 

 never be shut in so close as to deprive them of plenty of light, room and air. 

 They should not be pampered and fed upon unnatural foods; neither should 

 they be overfed at any time. In their wild state they ran about here and 

 there, seeking small grains, seeds, and bugs, getting plenty of exercise as 

 well as food. Their domestic condition deprives them of the necessity of 

 hunting for their food, and consequently of the exerci-e that comes from so 

 doing. 



Danger of neglect. — When quite young, the poults are apt to receive 

 more attention than they need. Then, as they grow older and the novelty 

 of attending to them wears off, they are too often neglected just at the time 

 when more care should be given to them. For instance, when their feathers 

 are growing and the unusual heat overcomes them, special care may profit- 

 ably be bestowed; again, the same is true when the frost destroys their nat- 

 ural food supply in the fall. Thousands are lost at these critical periods 

 from lack of a full food supply. 



COOPS FOR MOTHER AND YOUNG. 



Kind of coops to use.—hn open coop, made of slats or laths, maybe 

 placed over the mother turkey just prior to the hatching of her eggs, as this 

 will prevent her wandering away with her young when they are hatched, 

 it may be covered on top with tar paper for protection from rain or sun. 

 Such open coops are frequently used in turke5'-growing districts, and those 

 who use them could not be induced to change. They should be large 

 enough to provide plenty of space for the mother turkey. Quite often a box 

 too small for the hen to turn about or to stand erect in is used for a coup for 

 the hen and poults. This annoys her and she becomes restless, tramps 

 about, kills her young, and is blamed for taking bad or indifferent care of 

 her offspring, when more than likely if she had room to move about she 

 would be a model mother for her poults. 



In a suitable coop, the brood of young turkeys can stay for a day ot 

 more in comfort, sheltered from wet and storm or cold, with space enough 

 to move about. . In such a coop the very young poults can stay while the 

 mother goes about on the outside for exercise. To have this use of the coop 

 when the hen is out, set up in slides inside the door a piece of board a foot 

 wide; this will keep the poults safe from the hot sun or the wet much better 

 than will the triangular pen so often made of three boards. 



Almost any kind of pen, coop, or house will do for the turkey hen and 

 poults if it will protect them from rain and storms, if it is large enough, 

 is clean, not too close or warm, and absolutely free from parasitic enemies. 



