172 ESSAY ON REARING TURKEYS. 



with the edges and those of the sides closely united, so as to 

 keep out all intruders. For want of such a precaution, I lost 

 in one night last spring the entire brood of a common hen, 

 consisting of fourteen very early chickens — a rat or a weasel, 

 well skilled in the art of mining, had burrowed under the sides 

 of their house and made a clean sweep of them. The floor of 

 the turkey house may be covered with fine hay, which should, 

 be frequently renewed for purposes of cleanliness. The clean- 

 er the young chicks are kept, the less liable are they to be in- 

 fested with lice. I know of no remedy for this evil — fat or 

 oil rubbed on the chicks, is said to be efl'ectual — considering iu 

 tliis, as in most of the disorders to which poultry are subject, 

 an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure. 



As the chicks grow, they will need larger supplies of food. 

 Curd and thick skim milk are good articles of diet. But here 

 let me caution against giving any salt with the food of young 

 turkeys. A farmer in my neighborhood lost his whole flock of 

 ibrty or more, merely by feeding them once on skim milk, 

 which had been salted. So far as I have observed, salt may 

 be safely left before turkeys and other fowls, when they have 

 attained to some size, as it is to be found on barn floors all 

 winter, where the hay has been salted. But it would seem 

 from the above fact, that the crops of young turkeys are not 

 adapted to its use. The books mention certain other articles 

 as injurious to them — marrowfat peas in particular — but I have 

 never known any ill effects to turkeys from this description of 

 pea, nor can I see why it should be poisonous to them more 

 than the other varieties. For drink, let them be supplied with 

 water, placed in shallow vessels. 



After a few weeks, the young brood may be allowed to ac- 

 company the mother in her rambles, with full liberty to go 

 where she pleases, giving her the range of a pasture if practi- 

 cable. They will soon learn to forage for insects, which pro- 

 mote their health and thriftiness. Dry summers make large 

 turkeys ; the weather is almost uniformly favorable to their 

 rambling, and grasshoppers are plenty. But in wet seasons 

 they thrive less rapidly ; they find fewer insects, and lose 

 many days in remaining idle. A flock of turkeys, in foraging 



