TURKEY RAISING 



Yearling Hens 



ist litter 2nd litter 3rd litter Total 

 No. 6 ....... 31 15 46 



"ii ....... 21 14 35 



Average ...... 26 



Some turkey hens, especially if they are broken up and 

 not required to sit, can be made to lay as many as four or 

 five litters, but this is not a practice to be recommended 

 for the reason that poults hatched after the first of July 

 do not have time to develop into suitable turkeys for the 

 market at Thanksgiving or Christmas and will not be 

 well enough grown to make suitable breeders the following 

 spring. Occasional hens lay throughout the summer with- 

 out becoming broody and may lay 100 or more eggs. 

 Most of the eggs are laid in the morning, although occa- 

 sional eggs will be laid in the afternoon. 



When the laying first begins it progresses at the rate 

 of an egg every other day until two or three eggs have 

 been laid when the rate usually quickens to an egg each 

 day, although days may be skipped now and then through 

 the laying, particularly on the day before laying the last 

 egg of the litter. When the hen first begins laying she 

 usually leaves the nest within an hour or two after the 

 egg has been laid. As the laying progresses, however, 

 she stays longer and longer on the nest after laying until 

 she is really sitting by the time the last egg is laid. This 

 is well illustrated by the following table which shows the 

 time at which the eggs of a clutch were laid by a turkey 



60 



