PKIZE ESSAYS ON TURKEY CULTURE. 121 



Dampen the eggs under common hens frequently with 

 tepid water. You will get little chance at those under the 

 turkey, as they are very close sitters and the less they are 

 interfered with the better. If you wish to move the tur- 

 key from where she has laid, take a large slat coop or dish 

 crate, turn it upside down, make a nest at one end, and 

 move the hen at evening, and by morning she will be rec- 

 onciled to her new quarters. After the first week let her 

 off every two or three days, or she can be left on the \f our 

 weeks by keeping fresh food and water and the dust bath 

 accessible. 



In the wild state, the torn kills all the young turks she 

 can find, hence the desire of the hen for seclusion. It is 

 best for the same person to attend the turkeys during the 

 breeding season, doing everything up as quietly as possi. 

 ble. In about twenty-eight days the little turks will begin 

 to hatch. Do not disturb them the first day. The first 

 feed should be hard boiled egg crumbled fine, or stale bread 

 or crackers, ^lightly moistened with water, and squeezed 

 dry as possible. After the first two weeks, add rolled oats, 

 oatmeal and cracked wheat, all dry, and clabbered milk 

 scalded and drained in a colander. Add chopped onion 

 or, better, green tops, to the bread or clabbered milk 

 twice a week. Twice a week give a tablespoonful of the 

 condition powders to two quarts of feed. Never feed but 

 little of anything at a time and mix up fresh each time, 

 as turkeys, when young, are small, delicate eaters. We 

 never feed corn meal unless baked and treated like the 

 stale bread. When the turks get their first feed they are 

 removed to a large coop or pen of rails, away from other 

 poultry, and not close to the house or barns. The toe 

 used for a mark should be clipped and treated with the 

 carbolized grease; the top of the head -is also greased, and 

 under and top of the wings is dusted with insect powder. 



The hen also should be again treated thoroughly for 

 lice, the turkey's greatest enemy. If the turkeys are dy- 



