ed eggs to their fate ; it is therefore advisable 

 to watch the birth of the chicks, and to remove 

 each as soon as it becomes dry, which may be 

 in a few hours afterwards. By this means, the 

 hen will sit to hatch the whole ; yet she should 

 not be wearied by too long sitting. If all the 

 eggs are not hatched at the end of twelve or 

 iifteen Ivnirs after the first chick makes its ap- 

 pearance, in all probability they are addled, and 

 may be abandoned. The chicks must be kept 

 in a warm place during the first day, and at 

 night restored to the mother, who now assumes 

 her maternal duties. The food given to the 

 young chicks .should be split grits.t which they 

 require no teaching to pick up ; afterwards the 

 ordinary food of the poultry-yard, or what the 

 mother discovers for their use, is sufficient. — 

 Some give the j-olks of hard-boiled eggs or 

 curd, when a nourishing diet seems advisable. 

 The e.xtreme solicitude of the hen for her young, 

 or the brood which may be imposed upon her, is 

 well known. She leads tliem about iu quest of 

 food, defends them by violent gesticulations and 

 the weapons which Nature has given her, calls 

 them around her b}' a peculiar clucking crj^ and 

 gathers them carefully under her wings to shel- 

 ter them from danger, or to keep them warai at 

 night. This maternal care is bestowed as long 

 as the chickens require her assistance ; as soon 

 as they can shift for themselves, the mutual at- 

 tachment ceases, and all knowledge of each other 

 is lost. The young now go to roosif and the 

 mother again begins to lay. Young hens, usu- 

 ally called pullets, begin to lay the spring after 

 tliey are hatched. 



Disca>:ei. — Chickens arc liable to vaiious 

 diseases, demanding attention from the poultry- 

 keeper. The pip is the most common ; it con- 

 sists of a catan4ial thickening of the membrane 

 •f the tongue, causing a dangerous and obvious 

 obstruction to respiration. It may be cured in 

 mo.st cases by throwing the fowl on its back, 

 holding open the beak, and scraping or peeling 

 off the membrane \vitli a needle or the nail. The 

 part may be wetted with salt or vinegar after- 

 ward.s, and a little fresh butter pushed over the 

 throat. Dr. Bechstein recommends giving a 

 mixture of butter, pepper, garlic, and horse- 

 radish, as an internal remedy. But the opera- 

 tion is most effective. Thirst sometimes attacks 

 fowls like a fever, and often arises simply from 

 dry food, ihougli more frequently symptomatic 

 of indigestion, or .some internal and deep-seated 

 derangement. Careful attention to diet is the 

 first and great point in all such ca.ses. If con- 

 stipmtioit appear to be present, bread soaked in 

 wann milk, boiled carrots or cabbages, earth- 

 worms, chopped suet, or hot potatoes with drip- 

 ping, will be found useful. A clj'ster of sweet 

 oil should be tried in severe cases. %Vhcre a 

 tonic seems to be required a little iron rust may- 

 be mixed \vith the food, and will generally re- 

 lieve atrophy or loss of fle.sh. Where diarrhoea 

 or scouring is observed, iron or alum may be 

 given in small quantities. There is also a spe- 

 cies of iuHuenza, called the roup, which is often 

 epidemical iu the poultry -yard, and cau.ses much 

 havoc among the young birds. The eyes be- 

 come swollen, a discharge comes from the nos- 

 trils, and the fowl gapes continually, shovring 

 much difficulty of breathing. Some observers 

 have a.scribed this complaint to worms iu the 



1 Indioii com and com meal are the gi-eat substi- 

 tutes in our oountrj', for other grains used in Europe, 

 as wcU for pouUiy as for animals. [Ed. Farm. Lib. 

 ^ (507,1 



windpipe, and have recommended their exti-ac- 

 tion by an operation ; but warmth, cleanliness, 

 soft food, and such laxatives as suljjhur. with 

 frequent ablutions of the eyes and nostrils, are 

 more likeljs perhaps, to do good, and are not at- 

 tended with danger. Where general fever has 

 been observed in fowls, the use of a little nitre 

 lias been found very advantageous. Saffron is 

 another remedy very often employed in reliev- 

 ing the symptoms of sickness in fowls. 



Many of these remarks will apply equally 

 well to the diseases of geese and the other spe- 

 cies of domestic poultry yet to be noticed, and 

 this subject, therefore, need not again be ad- 

 verted to in detail. 



Turkeys. — The turkey, like the common 

 chicken, has been included by naturalists in the 

 Gallinaceous family of birds, and possesses the 

 main characteristics common to the"whole. It 

 is certainly one of the most valuable fowls which 

 have been naturalized m this country, but is 

 very difficult to rear. The turkey-hen lays from 

 fifteen to twenty eggs, and tfien aits upon them. 

 She will bring out two broods in a year. The 

 eggs are of a pale yellowish-white color, finely 

 streaked and spotted with reddish-yello\v. 

 They are a most delicious food, much more deli- 

 cate in their flavor than those of the common 

 hen. In England or Scotland, however, the 

 eggs are seldom to be met with for sale, being 

 deemed too valuable to be used as food. In Ire- 

 land they are to be got in the markets in great 

 abundance, especially in the midland counties, 

 where we have bought them at ninepence per 

 dozen. In that countrj^ when the turkey-hen 

 has laid about half a dozen eggs, they afterwards 

 take away one daily, by which means the hens 

 are induced to produce a greaternumber of eggs 

 than otherwise. This they assist by means of 

 stimulating food, such as hemp-seed and buck- 

 wheat. There is an interval of a day between 

 the laying of each egg. It is said that the first 

 two eggs whicli she lays are unfruitful. A tur- 

 key-hen can seldom hatch more than from six- 

 teen to eighteen eggs. The time of incubation 

 varies from twenty-seven to twenty -eight days, 

 at which time the young begin to pierce their 

 shelly prison, and emerge fi-om it. When they 

 first come forth, they are extremelj'^ weak, and 

 much assiduous care is necessary to rear them. 

 The first thing to be attended to is, to remove 

 them to a situation where they are not exposed 

 to the sun's rays, which at first are too powerful 

 for them. A woody place is the most suitable to 

 their natural habits. Nothing is so destructive 

 to them as rain, from which they must be pro- 

 tected. 



When young turkeys accidentally get wet, they 

 should be brought into a house, carefullj' dried 

 by applying soft towels to them, and then placed 

 near a fire, and fed upon bread which has been 

 mixed with a small proportion of ground pepper 

 or ginger. It shovild be made up in the form of 

 small peas. If the bread is too dry for this pur- 

 pose, it may be moistened with a little sweet 

 milk. Should the tui-kej'-poults refuse to eat it, 

 a few of these pellets may be forced down their 

 throats. Even heavy dews prove destructive to 

 them, and frost is no less injurious in its effects. 

 These must, therefore, be most carefully guarded 

 against, when the hens incubate in March or 

 early iu April. Dry and sandy situations are 

 mo.st congenial for breeding turkey.«, and espe- 

 cially elevated situations where large woods are 

 contiguous. A single male turkey is sufficient 

 for twelve or sixteen females, although tlie for- 



