FEEDING TURKEYS, PEAFOWL, GUINEAS, AND PHEASANTS 



97 



do not invariably make the same round, but are apt to GO 

 so. Fences and walls make no bar to their progress, for 

 they go over them easily. It is their custom to make 

 stops in shady or secluded places along their circuit to 

 rest, and anyone knowing the "stations" on their route 

 can tell very nearly the time of day when they will be 

 found at each. In rainy weather which interferes with 

 foraging as they travel the circuit they are apt to go 

 quickly from station to station, but remain a long time 

 at each, with the result that they get little feed. Careful 

 turkey raisers make a practice of looking up the turkeys 

 at their stations at such times and feeding them at these 

 places as many times during a bad day as is necessary 

 to insure that they will have all the feed they need. 



Trouble is sometimes experienced in feeding new 

 corn to turkeys when fattening them. It is always better 

 to feed old dry corn if it is available; but if new corn 

 must be used, it should be fed light at first, and the quan- 

 tity increased as the birds become accustomed to u. 

 When this is done new corn may be used with safety. 



Peafowl may be treated exactly as turkeys are, with 

 the difference that as they are not grown for the table 

 they have no need of fattening rations, and corn is not 

 as essential a part of their diet. If they are kept as most 

 peafowl are, in small numbers where they can have lib- 

 erty, they really need no more feeding than is necessary 

 to keep them from going into yards occupied by other 

 poultry, or from mingling with the other stock. This 

 separation is not for the benefit of the peafowls, but for 

 the protection of the other birds. 



Guineas are given practically the same feed as tur- 

 keys, except that corn is usually given them cracked in- 

 stead of whole. While they forage more widely than 

 chickens they do not go as far as turkeys, nor are they 

 as systematic in their habits. They are apt to keep near 



enough to home to be within hearing distance when the 

 fowls and chickens are fed, and to rush in for their share, 

 even though they have formed the habit of roosting out 

 and are shy about being handled in any way. 



Guineas as marketed are usually in poor flesh, or at 

 best only fairly fleshed, but from lime to time a few 

 nice fat guineas may be seen in the markets. Where the 

 thin guinea when plucked appears unattractive, fat guineas 

 properly displayed will attract favorable attention at once. 

 Whether it would pay the grower of guineas to fatten 

 before marketing probably depends upon the circum- 

 stances under which they are grown, and the opportunity 

 to sell them at a premium over ordinary stock. The few 

 fat guineas that are seen in the market are probably birds 

 of unusually docile disposition that have been reared and 

 fed with chickens, or. birds that have had some other ex- 

 ceptionally favorable conditions of growth. 



Pheasants The older authorities on pheasant feeding 

 mostly recommended the use of "custards", ant eggs, 

 maggots, and other things difficult of preparation; and 

 also place much emphasis on the feeding of a greater 

 variety of high-priced seeds than is put in feeds for chick- 

 ens. The most successful pheasant growers in America 

 have generally discarded all such special and expensive 

 feeds as not only too costly and troublesome, but as actu- 

 ally inferior to a good ration for young chickens and 

 turkeys. A thing to be especially sought in handling 

 pheasants is a secluded place where they will be safe 

 from things that would frighten them. While some pheas- 

 ants are tame and not easily frightened, the average 

 pheasant is more shy and nervous than the most flighty 

 of our varieties of fowls. Birds of any kind that are 

 easily frightened and are often frightened are never 

 thrifty; the reaction of the fright upon the digestive sys- 

 tem prevents proper digestion and assimilation of feed. 



BRONZE TURKEYS ON THE FARM 

 Scene on Farm of Chas. McClave, New London, Ohio. 



