618 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



first laid. When the first eggs are to be used under a hen, they should be removed daily, 

 and be cared for particularly in the chilly nights of spring. 



A poultry breeder of considerable experience says: &quot;All the first lot of eggs received I 

 placed under hens for hatching, and you will find that the turkeys will have finished their 

 second laying a few days before the hens have finished hatching. I then take the eggs from 

 the hens and give them to the turkeys, and sometimes the turkey has only to sit a few days 

 when she has her young If I am compelled to leave some of the eggs with the fowls to 

 bring out, I deem it an indispensable requisite to see to it that the hen is perfectly free from 

 lice, using pulverized sulphur, etc., freely. I regard it as next to impossible for hens to raise 

 young turkeys, for turkeys are exceedingly tender when young, and above all things they 

 must be kept free from the parasites that infest the common fowl. They must not even be 

 allowed to remain over night about the same building where the common chickens are kept. 

 Do not be afraid of putting as many as forty or fifty young turkeys with the old mother 

 turkey, but keep them in a dry, warm place, especially over night.&quot; 



Nests for Turkeys. Turkeys are very apt to steal their nests, being sly in their 

 habits, and retaining considerable of the wild blood that has never yet been bred out, and 

 perhaps never will be. It is therefore a good plan to make places frequented by them, and 

 out of the way of intrusion, attractive in this respect, by placing in the corners of the fences 

 and yards a few pieces of boards set up on end with a little straw or dry leaves behind them 

 and a china egg half secreted in the rude nest, thus decoying the bird into laying in the nest 

 and places selected for them. There is no necessity for making an elaborate nest; it may be 

 fixed in a shady clump of bushes, in a thicket on the bare ground, or an old barrel or box 

 may be turned on its side and placed on the ground among some bushes, thus providing 

 shelter from the storms, and a secure hiding place so much coveted by the turkey. 



A hen turkey will lay from twelve to eighteen eggs before manifesting any inclination 

 for sitting. &quot;When she wishes to sit, she will be found constantly upon the nest where her 

 litter has been laid. When it is desired that she should lay farther before sitting, as soon as 

 she is found on the nest over night, take her off and put her in a coop in the yard frequented 

 by the rest of the flock and let her remain about four days, in the meantime giving her a 

 liberal supply of food and water. About the fourth day she can be set at liberty again, and 

 in five or six days afterward she will commence laying her second litter. When turkeys are 

 used for sitters, it is well to place food and water by them daily where they can help 

 themselves, as they are not apt to leave the nest often for this purpose. Several hens should 

 be set at the same time so that the chicks of two hens may be given to one mother to rear. 



A good authority says on this subject: &quot; One turkey will take care of thirty young with 

 as much ease as she manages half of that number. The hen that is released from maternal 

 cares will very soon lay again, and hatch a second clutch. In setting the hens they should 

 not be near to those that are to hatch later. They will sometimes abandon their nests to help 

 take care of the young chicks that they hear near them. If the neighborhood is infested 

 with vermin, it is desirable to remove them to the barn, or some outbuilding, where they can 

 be protected. This requires a little strategy that is easily accomplished with birds that are 

 thoroughly domesticated. The turkey should be allowed to sit on artificial eggs for a while. 

 Then the new nest under cover should be a coop of some kind into which she may be securely 

 fastened. The bottom should be about three feet square, and furnished with straw for the 

 nest. Remove her to her new quarters in the evening, and fasten her upon the nest until the 

 second morning. Then provide food and water, and remove the fastening and let her come 

 off to feed. For the first time that she comes off, she need not be let out of the building. 

 After this, if the door is left open, she will ordinarily go back to her nest as securely as if 

 she were brooding out of doors. They are close sitters, feeding with great haste, and dusting 

 themselves, and hastening back again to the nest. They brood their eggs for four weeks, but 



