MANAGEMENT OF TURKEYS 195 



formation, taking all the choice food in its way, but not often 

 tempted to side excursions which would disperse the flock. 



Many people who keep turkeys make a practice of feeding a 

 little grain, usually corn, in the evening as an inducement to 

 them to come home. When they require more food, they may 

 be given whatever is fed to the fowls. Indeed, unless some 

 arrangement is made by which the fowls and turkeys are fed 

 separately, the turkeys may get the habit of being on hand 

 when the fowls are fed, and drive them from the food. This, 

 however, is most likely to happen when the range for the tur- 

 keys is so restricted that it does not afford good picking. 



Breeding season and laying habits. Experienced growers of 

 turkeys like to get their young turkeys hatched about the time 

 when settled weather may be expected in the spring. Little 

 turkeys are less rugged than little chickens, and are very sensi- 

 tive to cold, damp weather. Although the hens may have been 

 very domestic all winter, when they begin to lay they develop 

 more of a roving disposition than is at all satisfactory to their 

 keeper. They are very likely to want to hide their nests. When 

 this is the case, and there is no yard in which they may be con- 

 fined, they make a great deal of trouble. They often go a long 

 way from home to find places for their nests, and make such 

 wide circuits, and double on their tracks so often in going and 

 returning, that the nests are very hard to find. There is nothing 

 to do in such cases but to confine the turkey or to follow her 

 day after day until the nest is found. If she is to be confined, 

 it should be done as soon as she indicates that she does not in- 

 tend to take one of the nests provided or to make one at home. 

 When, in spite of efforts to prevent it, a turkey hen makes a nest 

 at a distance and has laid some eggs in it before the nest is dis- 

 covered, it is best to allow her to continue to lay there, but the 

 eggs should be removed as soon as laid. The egg of a turkey is 

 about twice as large as a hen's egg. The usual color is a light, 

 slightly bluish, brown, with small spots of a darker shade. 



