82 



TOE GENESEE FAEMER, 



MYSTERIES OF THE POULTRY YARD. 



If we call to mind the. many and valuable ac- 

 quisitions from both the animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms which have been made subservient to 

 the n-e of man within comparatively a very recent 

 neriod, if is not too much to believe that others. of 

 nearly or quite equal value, still remain to reward 

 tiic labor and pains of a persevering search. Then 

 the whole of Central Africa, Central Australia, 

 -peat part of China, and Northern India, and in- 

 numerable half-explored or unexplored islands, all 

 waking to be ransacked for our benefit. And 

 without depending upon these distant regions, we 

 know not yet what we may find at or near home; 

 the Oaperoali. by an easy importation, has been 

 rescued from extinction in Great Britain. 



Amongst the living tributaries to the luxury of 

 mail, tin- tin-key is an example of the results yet 

 to be expected irom the exploring spirit of our day. 

 It is the 'most recent, and, except the hen and the 

 goose, the most valuable of our domesticated birds. 

 We may, indeed, call it quite a new introduction; 

 for- what, after all, is a period of three hundred, 

 compared with the time during which man has 

 bad dominion) over the earth and its brute inhab- 

 itants? The obscurity which hangs over the trans- 

 mission of the turkey fpprn America to Europe, and 

 which there is little chance of clearing away, except 

 by industrious ferreting amongst old family records 

 and memorandum books, shows that those who in- 

 troduced it to the Old World had no idea of the 

 val^e of what they were importing; but probably 

 regarded it like any other remarkable production of 

 nature. The young would be distributed among 

 friends ; these again would thrive and increase, and 

 the nation would suddenly find itself in the posses- 

 sion of a race, not of pleasing pets, but of valuable, 

 proline, and hardy stock of poultry. Such we take 

 to be the history of the turkey in England ; and 

 zoological and ornithological societies may here- 

 after' find that some creature that was designated, 

 or undervalued, or even yet unobtained, will prove 

 unexpectedly domestic and profitable, (it may be 

 the Cropses, Curassow, Guyan, or the elegant Hon- 

 duras turkey,) to further which great object of 

 these associations, they can not do better than 

 communicate spare specimens, on the most liberal 

 and encouraging terms, to such persona as they 

 believe competent fairly to test their value. 



The reason why the turkeys seen in our poultry 

 yards do not vie in splendor of plumage with their 

 untamed brothers, is that we do not let them live 

 k>ng enough. A creature that does not attain its 

 fall growth till its fifth or sixth year, we kill at. 

 least in the second, to the evident deterioration of 

 out' stock. But let three or four well-selected 

 black or bronze turkeys be retained to their really 

 adult, state, and well fed meanwhile, and they will 

 quite recompense their keeper by their beauty in 

 full plumage, by their glancing hues of gilded 

 bronze and black, and the pearly lustre that radi- 

 ates from their polished feathers. In default of 

 wild specimens, birds like these are sought to com- 

 plete collections of stuffed birds. 



The demand for such large birds among the 

 poultry dealers, the temptation to fat. them before 

 they arrive at this stage, are so great, that, few 

 .farmers can resist sending their 14 to 18 lb. cocks 



to market, while a young cock of the year, they 

 think, will answer every purpose next spring as 

 well. Some even deem it fin extravagance to keep 

 a turkey cock at all, if they have not more than 

 two hens, while they would send on a visit of a 

 day or two to a neighbor who has a male bird. 



When the hen has once selected a spot for her 

 nest, she .will continue to lay there till the time of 

 incubation, so that the eggs may be brought home 

 from day to day, there being no need of a nest egg, 

 as with the common fowl. She will lay from 15 

 to 20 eggs, more or less. Her determination to sit 

 will be known by her constantly remaining on the 

 nest, though empty: and as it is seldom in a posi- 

 tion sufficiently secure against the weather or pil- 

 ferers, a nest should be prepared for her by placing 

 some soft straw, with her eggs, on the floor of a 

 convenient out-bouse. She should then he brought 

 home and gently placed upon it. It is a most pleasing 

 sight to witness the satisfaction with which the 

 bird takes to her long-lost eggs, turning them 

 about, placing them with her bill in the most suit- 

 able position, tucking the straw around and under 

 them, and finally sitting upon them with the quiet 

 joy of anticipated maternity. 



Thirteen eggs are enough to give her; a large 

 hen might cover more; but a few strong, well- 

 hatched chickens are better than a large brood of 

 weaklings, that have been delayed in the shell 

 perhaps twelve hours over the time, from insuffi- 

 cient warmth. At the end of a week, it is usual 

 to add two or three hen's eggs, " to teach the young 

 turkeys how to peck." The plan is not a bad one; 

 the activity of the chickens does stir up some emu- 

 lation in their brethren; the eggs take but little 

 room in the nest; and at the end of the season, 

 you have two or three very tine fowls, all the 

 plumper for the extra food they have shared with 

 the young turkeys. 



In four weeks the little birds will be hatched ; 

 and then, how are they to be reared '. Some books 

 tell you to plunge them in cold water to strengthen 

 them; those that survive will certainly be hardy 

 birds (an experiment which some women are cruel 

 enough to try upon their own offspring.) Air and 

 exercise increase the strength of any growing an- 

 imal; but cold and hunger only dwarf and weak- 

 en. Others say, "make them swallow a whole 

 pop-corn;" which is as if we were to cram aSpitz- 

 enberg apple down the throat of a new-born babe. 

 Others again say, "give them a little ale, beer, or 

 wine." We know, unhappily, that some mothers 

 are wicked enough to give their infants gin, and we 

 know T the consequences. 



Follow nature; give them nothing; do nothing 

 to them; let them be in the nest under the shelter 

 of their mother's wings, at least eight or ten hours; 

 if hatched in the afternoon, till the following morn- 

 ing. Then place her on the grass, in the sun, under 

 a roomy coop. If the weather be fine, she may be 

 stationed where you choose, by a long piece of list 

 tied round one leg, and fastened to a stump or 

 stake. But the boarded coop saves her ever- 

 watchful anxiety from the dread of enemies above 

 and behind — the crow, the hawk, the rat, the 

 weazel — and also protects herself (she will protect 

 Iter young) from the sudden showers of summer. 

 Offer at first a few crumbs of Dread; the little 

 tones for some hours will be in no hurry to eat; 



