THE TURKEY. 117 



nest as soon as she perceives the chick ; consequently, as soon 

 as the eggs you have placed under her are hatched, she will 

 leave the nest, and the eggs of her own laying will be sacrificed. 

 Remove, therefore, the former ; and it is for this reason that I 

 recommend them to be marked. Keep the nest clean while 

 the turkey hen is sitting, as dirt will injure the eggs. No one 

 should go near a hen when sitting, except her keeper ; and no 

 one should turn the eggs, or meddle with them further than I 

 have already indicated. The bird will turn her eggs with more 

 judgment than you can. 



M. Parmentier relates that he successfully employed the 

 turkey cock as a sitter, and found that he acquitted himself to 

 admiration up to the period of hatching ' When the young 

 chicks appear, their cries and motions scare him, and he either 

 kills or abandons them.' 



On the thirty-first day of sitting, the chicks leave the eggs ; 

 but as some quit their prison before others, they must be placed 

 in a basket filled with feathers, and if the weather be cold, 

 placed in some warm spot. When all are out, they may be 

 given to the hen. Sometimes the chick will require assistance 

 in leaving the egg ; and, if so, the same caution must be ob- 

 served that I have insisted upon in the case of the common fowl. 

 Be very sparing of your aid, or you may do far more harm 

 than good. 



Many writers recommend a vast deal of quackery in the 

 treatment of the young chicks. Some go the length of order- 

 ing them wine, pepper, bathing in cold water I &c. It is far 

 better to let them alone. For a few hours after hatching, the 

 chicks require no- food at all ; and then, instead of cramming 

 them a process in which you are extremely likely to break 

 the tender beak of the little chick chop up a few hard eggs 

 with boiled nettles, parsley, and a little bread or curd; make 

 this into a paste, and present it to the birds in the palm of your 



