CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



ginger. Dry and sandy situations are most con- 

 genial for breeding turkeys, and especially elevated 

 situations where large woods are contiguous. A 

 single male turkey is sufficient for twelve or six- 

 teen females, although the former number is prob- 

 ably the safest, to prevent sterility in the eggs, 

 which is frequently the case with those of turkeys. 

 Eggs should never be intrusted to the care of a 

 female until she is at least two years of age, and 

 hens may be kept for the purpose of incubation 

 till they reach their tenth year. The largest and 

 strongest hens should always be kept for this 

 purpose. During the time the hen is sitting, it 

 becomes necessary to place food near her ; other- 

 wise, from her assiduity, she may be starved to 

 death, as turkey-hens incline to close sitting during 

 the whole time of incubation. 



When farmers rear turkeys in large numbers, 

 which, on account of their extreme delicacy when 

 young, is comparatively rare, it is seldom they 

 indulge the hen by allowing her to sit as soon as 

 she has done laying, but keep the eggs from her 

 until all the other hens have ceased to lay, as it is 

 of consequence that they should all be hatched 

 about one time. When hens are unhappy during 

 this interval, they may be indulged with common 

 hens' eggs. When they have all ceased to lay, 

 each of them is provided with a nest ranged close 

 to the wall, in a barn or other convenient place, 

 and each is supplied with from sixteen to twenty 

 of her own eggs. On the twenty-sixth day, the 

 person who is intrusted with the management of 

 the birds examines all the eggs, and removes 

 those that are addled ; feeds the hens, and does 

 not again disturb them till the poults have 

 emerged from their shells, and have become per- 

 fectly dry, by the heat of the parent bird." To be 

 subjected to cold at this time would certainly kill 

 them. When the young birds are thoroughly 

 dried, two of the broods are joined together, and 

 the care of them intrusted to a single hen. Some 

 people prefer hatching turkeys by means of 

 common hens, but, of course, fewer eggs must be 

 given. 



The chicks should get little food for twenty-four 

 hours after they leave the egg. Their first food 

 should be hard-boiled eggs finely chopped, and 

 mixed with crumbs of bread. Curd is also an 

 excellent food for them. When they are about a 

 week old, boiled peas and minced scallions are 

 given to them. If eggs are continued, the shells 

 should be minced down with their food, to assist 

 digestion, or some very coarse sand or minute 

 pebbles. They should be fed often at first, and 

 afterwards not less than thrice a day. As they 

 get older, a mixture of lettuce-milk will be found 

 beneficial, together with minced nettles. Barley 

 boiled in milk is another excellent food at this 

 period, and then oats boiled in milk. In short, 

 the constitution of young turkeys requires at all 

 ages every kind of stimulating food. When about 

 three weeks old, their meat should consist of a 

 mixture of minced lettuce, nettles, curdled milk, 

 hard-boiled yolks of eggs, bran, and dried chamo- 

 mile; but when all these cannot be readily ob- 

 tained, part of them must be used. Fennel and 

 wild endive, with all plants which are of a tonic 

 character, may be safely given to them. After 

 the age of a month, the poults may be allowed to 

 range the plantation or the field with the guardian 

 bird, but even until double that age, care is neces- 



668 



sary, as they are still susceptible of fatal injury 

 from cold and wet. Grass, worms, all kinds of 

 insects and snails, are their favourite food, and 

 nature dictates to them such vegetables as are 

 conducive to their general health. As their feet 

 are at first very tender, and subject to inflamma- 

 tion from the pricking of nettles and thistles, they 

 ought to be rubbed with spirits, which has the 

 effect of hardening the skin, and fortifying them 

 against these plants. 



The glandulous fleshy parts and barbies of their 

 heads begin to develop when they are from six 

 weeks to two months old. This is a critical 

 period with the poults, and unusual care must be 

 bestowed on them, as they now become weak, and 

 often sickly. A little brine mixed with their food 

 will be found very beneficial, or spirits much 

 diluted with water. A paste made of fennel, 

 pepper, hemp-seed, and parsley, has been found 

 an excellent remedy when afflicted with an inflam- 

 mation in the wattles, to which they are liable 

 when growing. When the inflammation becomes 

 very great, recourse is often had to bleeding in 

 the axillary vein, which frequently has the effect 

 of recovering them. 



Soon after the turkey-poults have acquired their 

 first feathers, they are liable to a disease which is 

 very fatal to them, if not attended to. This dis- 

 temper produces great debility, and the birds 

 appear languid and drooping, and almost totally 

 neglect their food. Their tail and wing feathers 

 assume a whitish appearance, and their plumage 

 has a bristled aspect. This is occasioned by a 

 disease in two or three of the rump-feathers. On 

 examination, the tubes of these will be found 

 filled with blood. The only remedy for this 

 disease is to pluck the feathers out, when the bird 

 will speedily acquire its wonted health and spirits. 



In the preparation of turkeys for the table, 

 various methods are resorted to. Some feed them 

 on barley-meal mixed with skim-milk, and confine 

 them to a coop during this time ; others merely 

 confine them to a house ; while a third class 

 allow them to run quite at liberty. The last 

 practice is believed to be by far the best. Care 

 should, however, be taken to feed them abund- 

 antly before they are allowed to range about in 

 the morning, and a meal should also be prepared 

 for them at mid-day, to which they will generally 

 repair homewards of their own accord. They 

 should be fed at night, before roosting, with oat- 

 meal and skim-milk ; and a day or two previous 

 to their being killed, they should get oats exclu- 

 sively. A change of food will be found beneficial 

 Boiled carrots and Swedish turnips, or potatoes 

 mixed with a little barley or oat meal, will be 

 greedily taken by them. A cruel method is prac- 

 tised, chiefly on the continent, to render turkeys 

 very fat, which is termed cramming. This is 

 done by forming a paste of crumbs of bread, flour, 

 minced suet, and sweet-milk, or even cream, into 

 small balls about the bulk of a marble, which is 

 passed over the throat after full voluntary meals. 

 Some turkey-cocks, well fed, have reached the 

 weight of 35 Ibs. The aged turkey, for all its 

 tenderness of youth, can stand more cold than 

 any other domestic fowl. It is not very un- 

 common to find turkeys, especially cocks, roosting 

 at some farms on the branches of trees in the 

 open air, during winter, in all sorts of weather, 

 with apparent comfort. 



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