TURKEY RAISING 



nests as well as helping to locate the hen with her brood 

 later in the season. 



The best way to locate stolen nests is to confine the hens 

 in question in the morning after they come down from 

 the roosts and to keep them there until late in the after- 

 noon. This necessitates their holding back the egg which 

 they would probably have laid in the morning, and as 

 soon as they are let out in the afternoon they will go 

 straight to their nests in order to deposit the egg which 

 they have been holding. 



Turkeys love to locate their nests in a secluded place 

 such as thick undergrowth or piles of brush. They also 

 show evidences of their wild ancestry very plainly in the 

 way in which they cover up their eggs with leaves when 

 they leave the nest. Usually the nests are so cleverly con- 

 cealed in this manner that a person can walk right by 

 without being aware that a nest exists. If attractive nest- 

 ing places are provided about the house or barn, turkey 

 hens will sometimes lay in them. This is more likely to 

 be the case in the North where there may be snow on the 

 ground when the laying first begins, as during the time the 

 snow stays on the ground, the turkey hens are less in- 

 clined to roam very far. 



Suitable nests can easily be made from boxes or barrels 

 or by scooping out a little earth from the ground so as to 

 form a nest. A barrel laid on its side with a nest of hay 

 or straw formed in it is one of the favorite nesting places 

 of turkey hens. If barrels or boxes with nesting material 

 in them are placed in secluded but not too far distant 



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