546 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



it is scratched over by a harrow or rake, and 

 a layer about half an inch thick put upon it of 

 well-decayed farm manure, ashes, road-scrap- 

 ings, or even arable soil if there is nothing else. 

 This promotes a free growth of fresh grass, 

 and next spring the ground is found sweet 

 and recuperated. 



Where there is covert, nothing may be 

 needed in the way of shelter after the poults 

 are once well upon their legs ; but on ?iny 

 ordinary farm some available shelter from wet 

 is found as necessary as ever, to which the 

 young ones can be driven when the necessity 

 arises. This danger remains till they have 

 " shot the red " about their heads, which is 

 generally at about ten weeks old. In some 

 parts of France, whence so many birds come 

 to the London market, sheds with dry boarded 

 floors, and even garrets, are still used for the 

 young birds, and the breeders affirm that with- 

 out these they lose their birds from colds or 

 cramp. Much of all this, as repeatedly ex- 

 plained, will depend on whether the turkeys 

 belong to the more domestic or semi-wild races, 

 the Bronze breed thriving where Norfolks would 

 perish, and vice versA. 



There are somewhat similar differences re- 

 garding the feeding of turkey chicks, but here 

 again thought and intelligence will disentangle 

 the real essentials. The chicks at 

 Fading fj^g,- seem stupid at picking up food. 



Chicks. and some breeders are still accus- 



tomed to put one or two eggs from 

 large fowls under the mother about the seventh 

 day, so as to hatch with the others and " teach " 

 them to feed. This may be useful, and there 

 is at all events no harm in it ; but our later 

 observations incline us to the opinion that the 

 turkey chick goes longer than other chickens 

 before requiring food, and is perhaps slower to 

 eat because less hungry. The majority of 

 breeders in both hemispheres feed for the first 

 two or three days upon a mixture of chopped 

 hard-boiled egg and stale bread-crumbs. A few 

 mix raw egg with the bread-crumb (which must 

 always be stale), and some American breeders 

 prefer bread-crumb soaked in milk and squeezed 

 dry, or squeezed curd. The fact is that the 

 young turkey chicks are (at least under artificial 

 feeding) particularly prone to a slightly inflam- 

 matory irritation of the intestines, tending to 

 diarrhcea, which has constantly to be guarded 

 against, and is, next to wet, the greatest peril 

 of their early lives. The egg should be left 

 off gradually, substituting some Spratt, or meal 

 mixed with rice boiled in milk, with some kind 

 of minced animal food or cut bone. Gradually 

 a little grain may be added, but soft food should 



predominate for some weeks, and be given in 

 fair proportion throughout. A rather favourite 

 American diet is Indian-corn meal and curd 

 made from sour milk, a little cracked corn, and 

 wheat once a day. While penned up, it is 

 better to give them in addition some chopped 

 dandelion or lettuce leaves : the wild birds seem 

 to prefer dandelion to all other green food, and 

 there are no doubt reasons for this. The chicks 

 much enjoy the minced leaves, and seem in 

 general to thrive better with a supply of such 

 salad besides their food ; yet there are occa- 

 sional exceptions to even this, and we remember 

 one breeder writing that he never could give his 

 chicks such green food without starting the 

 dreaded diarrhoea, while he got along all right 

 so long as he reared them without any till they 

 could get it for themselves. We never could 

 get at the reason for this ; but any breeder 

 would be foolish to disregard such experience, 

 and there will always be an individuality about 

 the birds on any given farm, which may require 

 study and allowance of this kind. 



Broadly and generally, however, in England 

 most success will follow feeding as above, and 

 cooping the hen under cover for three or four 

 weeks, either in a very large roofed coop with a 

 dry wooden floor, or under a shed. Where 

 coops are used, in the open, it will be all the 

 better to move them at intervals ; and by 

 degrees of course the food will be brought 

 round to rougher diet, avoiding too " soft " or 

 new grain as tending to looseness. We have 

 more doubt about egg-food than in former 

 years, and in case of any diarrhcea appearing, 

 would omit it at once, substituting some Spratt 

 mixed with rice boiled in milk, or even in water, 

 but so as not to be too soft, and if necessary 

 sprinkling on" the food a little powdered chalk. 

 Some still give chopped onions, but we think 

 this a mistake. 



By far the most important general rule, is to 

 feed often, but to feed sparingly. Above almost 

 all chickens, young turkeys require to be kept 

 on the move, and to eat little at a time, and 

 while walking about, so far as possible. Full 

 feeding, of any kind, always upsets their 

 digestive system before very long ; and we 

 suspect that such disasters as occur under the 

 older methods of rearing have been far more 

 often owing to either this cause, or to insect 

 vermin, than to any other. 



This latter pest must throughout be guarded 

 against, and it is largely because American 

 breeders have at last become so fully alive to it 

 as a cause of weakness and death, that their 

 results have so much improved over those of 

 former years. The British climate is not so apt 



