196 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Hatching and rearing. Turkey eggs are often incubated by 

 fowls. A fowl will hatch the eggs just as well as a turkey hen, 

 and may make as good a mother for a few turkeys grown on a 

 small place. For young turkeys grown on the farm, turkey hens 

 make the best mothers, because they take them to better foraging 

 ground and remain with them all the season. It is a good plan, 

 especially when there are more turkey eggs than the turkey hens 

 can cover, to set some fowls on the surplus eggs at the same 

 time that the turkey hens are set. Then, as there will rarely be 



a full hatch from all 

 nests, the young turkeys 

 hatched by the fowls will 

 fill up the broods of the 

 turkey mothers. A fowl 

 will cover from seven to 

 nine turkey eggs. As a 

 rule it is better to give 

 the smaller number. A 

 turkey hen will cover 

 from twelve to fifteen 

 of her own eggs, or even 

 a larger number, but the 

 young turkeys will be 



stronger if the nest is not too full. The period of incubation is 

 four weeks. Even when normally strong and healthy, little tur- 

 keys appear weak in comparison with lively young chickens and 

 ducks or the more bulky goslings. They may be fed the same 

 as young chickens. 



It is the common practice to confine the mother to a coop 

 from which the little turkeys can go to a small pen placed in 

 front of it. The pen may be made of wide boards placed on 

 edge, or of light frames covered with one-inch-mesh wire netting. 

 The coop and pen should be moved before the grass becomes 

 much trampled and soiled. The little turkeys can be kept in 



FIG. 161. Sheltered turkey nest. (Photograph 



from the Bureau of Animal Industry, United 



States Department of Agriculture) 



