72 THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 



i 



them to pick up their food and keeps them from starving to death, as 

 they naturally do when left to be provided for by the hen turkey. 



TREATMENT OF THE YOUNG. 



Turkeys, when young, are quite tender, and need generally more than 

 the " slip-shod " or " make-shift " attention awarded them by many farmers. 

 The first and most essential thing after hatching is to keep them in a dry 

 and warm location. It usually takes from thirty to thirty-two days for the 

 eggs to hatch. As they are hatched the hen or hen turkey, in which ever 

 case it may be, should be placed in a coop with her young brood. We should 

 recommend the " rat-proof" coop to all breeders. For the first three or 

 four weeks after hatching, great care should be taken by the breeder to keep 

 them from the scorching sun, drenching rains, and the heavy morning and 

 evening dews ; and this is wljy the young should be placed in the " rat- 

 proof" coop that they may be kept dry. Moisture, internal or external, is 

 generally certain death to chickens ; cleanliness of the coops should be rigor- 

 ously observed ; dry, gravelly land is the most proper place to keep them on ; 

 avoid all grass-plats with the movable coop. The chicks should never be 

 allowed to leave the coop in the morning until the dew is off the grass ; be 

 sure to coop them in wet and unpleasant weather. The American Poul- 

 terer's Companion suggests that as soon as the young ones are removed from 

 the nest, they be immersed in a strong decoction of tobacco, taking care, of 

 course, that the fluid does not enter the mouth or eyes of the chick, and 

 repeat the operation whenever they appear to droop. 



THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF THEIR LIVES. 



At two periods of their lives, young turkeys need more care than at 

 others. The first is about the third day after they are hatched ; and also when 

 they throw out what is termed the " redhead," which they do at six weeks of 

 age. This is a very critical period for young turkeys, much more so than at 

 the period of molting; at this time, therefore, their food must be increased, and 

 rendered more nutritious, by adding boiled eggs, wheaten flour, or bruised 

 hemp seed. The English breeder succeeds well by feeding his brood a 

 "mush," made of equal parts of cooked oat and barley meal. This crisis 

 once passed, the birds may be regarded as past danger, and exchange the 

 name chicks for that of turkey poults, and are considered as fairly 

 " toughened." 



PREPARATION OF FOOD FOR THE YOUNG. 



As we have said before, great care should be exercised in the preparation 

 of their food. Do not feed slop food of any kind. Many breeders feed 

 loppered milk, but that should be scrupulously avoided ; it should not be fed 

 under any consideration. Sour milk, boiled to a thick curd, is good, mixed 

 with cooked Indian meal, seasoning the same occasionally with black pepper. 

 They should be fed often, and made to eat up clean what food is given them 

 before repeating the feeding. The food should be thrown on the ground 



