TURKEYS MANAGEMENT AND DIFFERENT BREEDS. 



PECULIARITIES OP THE TUEKEY. 



THAT the turkey has some singular peculiarities in its nature cannot well 

 be gainsayed. Among them may be mentioned its uncommon tenderness 

 when young, and its unqualified hardiness when full-grown. Nothing in the 

 poultry yard is so tender, delicate, and so easily destroyed when first hatched 

 as the turkey. It is easily chilled, past recovery, by cold or storms, and yet, 

 when full-grown, it will endure some of the most severe and pelting storms of 

 mid-winter. We have seen them roost high on the apple trees, during a 

 fierce north-easter, with the snow and ice collecting upon their heads, appa- 

 rently unconcerned about shelter or protection. 



THE BEARING OF TURKEYS. 



The rearing of turkeys should be one of the duties of our farm-house 

 wives, for the turkey is a part of our rural and domestic economy. In 

 our opinion, no farm yard seems complete without having therein a few 

 turkeys commingling with other fowls, for they, next to the common fowl, 

 are the most useful and valuable of our domestic birds ; still, to rear them 

 successfully requires patience as well as great care in the management of 

 their young. 



HATCHING OF TURKEYS. 



To rear a brood of turkeys with any kind of certainty of success, the 

 eggs should be placed under the common barn-yard fowl, or, perhaps, as 

 the Brahma makes a good mother, a hen. of that breed will answer as well. 

 \Ve would advise, by all means, not to have the eggs set under the hen 

 turkey though they are inveterate sitters, they are poor mothers, and it 

 is ten chances to one if they will prove successful, with their roaming habits, 

 in rearing their young. The mother never proves a good provider for them ; 

 she never scratches for her young like the hen, but generally leaves them to 

 shift for themselves as soon as hatched. The young, at the moment of 

 their birth, give no sign of seeking their food, but, being reared by a 

 common hen, whose instincts lead her to scratch and peck for her chicks 

 the young turkeys soon learn to imitate her example, which determines 



