CHAPTER X 



Feeding Turkeys, Peafowl, Guineas and Pheasants 



Differences in Feeding This Class of Poultry Due to Size, Habits of Life, and Susceptibility to Unfavorable Condi- 

 tions in Domestication Rations Used by Successful Turkey Raisers for Breeding Stock and for 

 Growing and Fattening Feeding of Peafowl Practically the Same as of Turkeys 

 Guineas and Pheasants Thrive on Common Poultry Feeds 



f^T^HE four kinds of poultry considered in this chap- 

 ter have much the same general feed requirements 

 f^~ and feeding habits as chickens, but are less 

 domestic, more restive under restrictions upon their move- 

 ments, and more susceptible to the effects of contami- 

 nated soil and polluted feed and drink. These character- 

 istics make the profitable raising of turkeys and guineas 

 depend very much upon opportunities to give them range 

 where they can procure the greater part of their feed by 

 foraging, and where they will not be seriously molested 

 by their natural enemies. Under such conditions the feed- 

 ing of the adult stock is a comparatively simple matter. 

 To start any considerable number of young birds and 

 bring them with slight losses to the size at which they 

 become safe from their smaller and more numerous ene- 

 mies, however, requires keeping them under control and 

 surveillance while they are small, and for this reason they 

 generally have to be kept near the dwelling of the per- 

 son having them in charge, arid fed with more care dur- 

 ing that period than chickens. 



Peafowl and pheasants are kept more for ornament, 

 and usually in much smaller numbers, and because of the 

 greater rarity and value of the stock the tendency is to 

 restrict them more. This is likely to make conditions so 

 much more unfavorable than for turkeys and guineas that 

 in general experience the peafowl and pheasants seem 

 more delicate and difficult to raise. The almost universal 

 tendency among those growing any kind of poultry which 

 they find rather delicate is to feed something out of the 

 ordinary something supposed to be peculiarly suited to 

 the young of the kind of stock handled. Instead of doing 

 this the novice in growing these kinds of poultry should 

 seek to provide the best substitute practical for the nat- 

 ural conditions most favorable to the birds, and .feed them 

 as he would chickens under the same circumstances, mak- 

 ing proper allowance for the size of the birds in feeding 

 grain. Young guineas are smaller and young pheasants 

 much smaller than average chickens at hatching, and they 

 need the finer cracked grains for a longer period just as 

 bantams and the smaller varieties of chickens do. 



A point to be considered in relation to the greater 

 susceptibility of these kinds of poultry to contaminated 

 soil, and the possible occasion for careful dieting of birds 

 which are easily affected by it, is that in all somewhat 

 rare kinds and varieties of poultry, selection for vigor and 

 vitality is likely to be much less rigid than in the popu- 

 lar and plentiful stocks. The writer has frequently seen 

 turkeys, guineas, and pheasants doing as well as chick- 

 ens under conditions not desirable for poultry of any 

 kind, and with care that was neither expert nor regular. 

 One brood of six or eight guinea chicks, in particular, 

 kept until about eight weeks old with a common hen 

 mother in a coop about three by four feet, made of rather 

 wide boards with narrow cracks between, and after that 

 put in a coop about twice as large and kept there until 

 winter, all lived and grew to fair size. The coop first 

 used was kept in a place where the sun beat down hot 

 on it nearly all day, and was rarely moved. My atten- 

 tion was attracted to it because in passing the place A 



number of times in the heat of the day on some hot spring 

 days I noticed this coop, which I supposed contained 

 young chickens, standing where the sun beat in on it 

 and not a breath of air was stirring. As I was acquainted 

 with the old lady who occupied the house and knew that 

 she was frequently away all day, I finally stopped one ex- 

 tremely warm day when the house was closed to see if 

 the chickens were suffering and if there was any way I 

 could give them relief. To my surprise, when I came 

 close enough to see, the young birds were guineas. Next 

 day I stopped to see the lady and suggest that if she 

 hoped to raise any of them, better and more roomy ac- 

 commodations should be provided. She assured me that 

 she thought the birds would do very well as she had 

 some years before raised some in just such a coop. It 

 was only after much urging that she engaged a boy to 

 make a coop with more room, and adopted the plan of 

 moving the coop to clean ground at long intervals. 



Guineas that will live and grow as well as those did 

 under the circumstances were as immune to all the dan- 

 gers of such conditions as any stock could be. Turkeys 

 are often grown in small numbers in confinement, and 

 sometimes make good growth. Many growers of pheas- 

 ants are as successful with them as with chickens under 

 thf same conditions. It is doubtful whether there is any 

 profit in stock so raised, "but the fact that it can be done 

 is of interest to many persons who are deterred from 

 raising some of the other kinds of land birds used a c 

 poultry because they suppose that it is useless to attempt 

 tT do so unless they provide special feeds and give much 

 more attention to feeding them than to feeding chickens 

 From such cases as that cited it appears that good, vig- 

 oious stock is half the battle, and that, if the birds have 



THE START IN THE SPRING 



Photo from Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



the vitality to start with, something may be done with 

 them under ordinary conditions in which chickens are 

 grown, though better results are obtained with less effort 

 when turkeys, peafowls, guineas, and pheasants are on 

 good range not much used by other poultry. The great 

 trouble in managing all these birds is the difficulty of 

 keeping them in bounds. They are inclined to wander 



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