622 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



fifteen inches high, on three sides, oblong square, eight or ten feet by five. The rear is occu 

 pied by an upright, slant-roofed box, three feet by five, boarded tight, with a few holes at the 

 eaves for ventilating it when closed up. Entrance to this coop is made inside the boarded 

 pen, front of which may have a latticed or wired door, to be shut at night for security 

 against prowling vermin. 



The height of boarding described will confine the poults until they are six or eight weeks 

 old, and the mother will not leave this pen because her young ones are unable to mount the 

 barrier. It is an excellent arrangement for the poults, and keeps them dry and comfortable 

 when they most need to be free from the rains or dews and dampness of the grass or open 

 fields. Nothing is so pernicious, and to no cause can the mortality among turkey poults be 

 assigned so directly as to their exposure to wet in their young days. This is what it is that 

 frequently destroys them, and to the careless method too often adopted by the ordinary tur 

 key raiser of allowing his little flocks to run about loosely in the early morning hours may 

 be attributed more than half of all the losses experienced in the early season of the year 

 which are so commonly complained of. 



Confine the poults to such a pen, strictly, during the first two months of their lives. 

 Feed them upon such food as we have described. House them at night, out of the heavy 

 dews, in the way we have now directed, and protect them from the sun as well, and you may 

 succeed in rearing five-sixths of all the young turkeys you can get hatched, ordinarily from 

 April to June, annually. After two months old, the young ones may be set at liberty, and 

 allowed to follow the roamings of the hen mother. It is well at first not to let them run at 

 large while the dew is upon the grass. This chilly wet is an enemy to the tender young 

 birds always, and occasions cramps frequently when exposed to the dampness alluded to. 

 They will gather in the pastures and fields during their daily wanderings fully one-half of all 

 the sustenance they need. Feed them in the morning before they start away, and at night 

 they will eat heartily of the grain supper you provide. And all of them will &quot;come home to 

 roost &quot; at evening. Accustom them to this daily good cheer at nightfall and they will always 

 be on hand seasonably to partake of your hospitable bounty. 



But if they fail to return at first, they should be brought home every night with as 

 much regularity as the cows, and it should be the business of some one to count the broods, 

 and see every bird on the poles. If this habit is formed early, it will require very little time 

 to attend to them. They will come regularly for their feed at night, but after a time this 

 will not be necessary. With a good range they will pick up insects enough to keep them in 

 good thriving condition. Dry summers are most favorable for them. Insects, especially 

 grasshoppers, abound, and they lose no time in foraging. From June to September they 

 will in the main take care of themselves, and benefit the farm by the havoc they make among 

 the insects. They will shoot the red at about three months or less, and after this and their 

 early moult, they will grow well if fed well, and come to maturity in good season profitably.&quot; 



Boosts for Turkeys. Turkeys are usually left to seek roosting places on trees or 

 buildings, but this is a negligent practice; a place should be provided for them for roosting, 

 the same as for hens. Mr. W. Clift, of Connecticut, an extensive breeder of turkeys, says: 

 &quot; Nothing is more common than to make the turkeys roost upon apple or shade trees near 

 the house or barn, or even upon the shed and barn roofs, or other farm buildings. But this is a 

 slovenly practice, and open to several objections. The roosting of the young birds upon 

 small limbs is liable to injure the breast of the chicks while they are in the gristle stage of 

 growth, and in zero nights the feet of adult birds are much more liable to get frozen upon a 

 small limb than upon a stout pole, broad enough to balance the bird without clasping. The 

 toes are more completely covered with feathers and protected from the frost. The roosting of 

 birds upon the roofs of buildings is a filthy practice that no thrifty farmer should tolerate. 

 The manure is necessarily wasted. A properly constructed and located roost guards against 



