PRI2E ESSAYS ON TURKEY CULTURE. 125 



not thrive with them after they begin to need a wider 

 range. The lice of hens accumulate quickly and prove 

 more fatal than their own and harder to get rid of, so I 

 put little ones hatched by hens with turkey mothers. 



Sometimes the wings of little turkeys grow faster than 

 their bodies, and the quills stick out longer than the tail 

 feathers; at the same time many dwindle, get thin and 

 die. Unless the one in charge understands these symp- 

 toms, the loss may be great without the cause being sus- 

 pected. Catch the little ones and carefully turn back the 

 feathers which cover the root of the quills on the wing, 

 and in between the quills will usually be found lice, 

 which are sapping the life away. The surest remedy for 

 turkey lice is one part kerosene to three parts oil; any oil 

 which runs freely and will not get gummy on the feathers, 

 is good. Put it in a slender-necked machine-oil can and 

 let a little out along the roots of the feathers of each wing 

 affected. The kerosene needs the oil, as alone it blisters 

 the tender flesh and causes unnecessary suffering. Night is 

 a good time to apply, just as they are put in the coop. Be 

 careful not to get on too much, as that sticks the feathers 

 down. Go over the flock a second time to make sure of a 

 second crop ; a large flock can be gone over very quickly. 



After the patient mother has completed her time 

 (from twenty-eight to thirty days), I teach her to come to 

 the house every day for food, and then comes the time of 

 caring for the little creatures, which are to be tended and 

 kept growing into lordly young gobblers and meek plump 

 hens to grace some festal board later on. I keep my eye 

 on a hen which I know to be hatching, but never allow 

 her to be disturbed to remove the little ones. If kept 

 quiet, she will seldom kill any and will call them out of 

 the nest herself. 



The mother needs a refreshing dust bath often, as she 

 has not left the nest while hatching. She is not confined, 

 but the little ones are at first, while unsteady on their 



