1846.] Poultry. 299 



" When young turkeys accidentally get wet, they should be 

 brought into a house, carefully 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 should be made up in the form of small peas. If the bread is 

 too dry for this purpose, it may be moistened with a little sweet 

 milk. Should the turkey-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 in April. Dry and sandy 

 situations are most congenial for breeding turkies, and especially 

 elevated situations where large woods are contiguous. A single 

 male turkey is sufficient for twelve or sixteen females, although 

 the former number is probably the safest, to prevent sterility in 

 the eggs, which is frequently the case with those of turkeys. 

 Eggs should never be entrusted to the care of a female until she 

 is at least two years old, and they may be kept for the purpose 

 of incubation till they reach their tenth year. The largest and 

 strongest hens should always be kept for this purpose. During 

 the time the hen is sitting, it becomes necessary to place footl 

 near her; as otherw^ise, from her assiduity, she may be starved to 

 death, as turkey hens seldom move from their nest during the 

 whole time of incubation. 



Where farmers rear turkeys in great numbers, they do not in- 

 dulge the hen by allowing her to sit as soon as she has done lay- 

 ing, but keep them from her until all the other hens have ceased 

 to lay, as it is of consequence that they should be all hatched 

 about one time. When hens are unhappy during this interval, 

 they may be indulged with hens' eggs. Wlien they have all 

 ceased to lay, each of them is provided with a nest close to the 

 wall, in a barn or other convenient place, and each is supplied 

 with from sixteen to twenty of her own eggs. The windows 

 and doors are then closed, and only opened once in the twenty- 

 four hours for the admission of air, and for the purpose of feeding 

 the hens. They are taken off their nests, fed and replaced, and 

 again shut up. On the twenty-sixth day, the person who is en- 

 tmsted with the management of the birds examines all the eggs, 

 and removes those that are addled; feeds the hens, and does not 

 again disturb them till the poults have emerged from their shells, 

 and have become perfectly dry, from the heat of the parent bird; 

 as to be subjected to cold at this time would certainly kill them. 

 When the young birds are thoroughly dried, two of the broods 

 are joined together, and the care of them entrusted to a single 

 hen; and those who have been deprived of their offspring are 

 again placed on hens' or ducks' eggs, and subjected a second time 



