PO UL TR r- CRAFT. 227 



the hens lay so few eggs, it is the common practice not to allow them to sit 

 until they have laid two litters of eggs. To avoid breaking or chilling, and 

 also to induce the hens to lay longer, the eggs are removed from the nests 

 daily, and if there is danger of the hens deserting their nests because of the 

 removal of the eggs, a few chicken hens' eggs are placed in the nest. 



336. Hatching Turkeys. The natural methods of hatching and brooding 

 are used almost exclusively in turkey culture. A few growers hatch the first 

 eggs in incubators, and brood the poults in brooder houses (with large runs) 

 or in outdoor brooders. Though those who have tried this have been fairly 

 successful, artificial methods, as applied to turkey growing, must be considered 

 as still in the early experimental stage. 



Many turkeys are hatched and brooded by chicken hens, (most growers use 

 them to hatch the eggs laid first), but the general opinion is that the young 

 turkeys never do so well as when reared by turkey hens. * 



When chicken hens are used to incubate the turkey eggs, the nests are made 

 and the hens handled just as if for hatching chickens. Nine to eleven turkey 

 eggs are enough for a hen. When turkey hens are used, they must, if wild, 

 be set on the nests where they had laid. If gentle they can be moved if the 

 keeper so desires, the same precautions being taken as are described for 

 chickens in ^[235. A turkey hen can cover fifteen to twenty eggs. 



The period of incubation for turkey eggs is twenty-eight days. It is some- 

 times prolonged to thirty days. As the eggs are almost uniformly fertile, 

 testing is not as necessary as with chicken eggs, and as a rule the only test 

 made is three or four days prior to hatching, when the eggs are put in warm 

 water, and only those that " kick," which contain live poults, returned to the 

 nests. 



When the poults are hatching, the commonest practice is to remove the 

 first hatched, wrap them in flannel, and keep in a warm place, and thus relieve 



*NOTE. The relative advantages of using chicken and turkey hens, are thus neatly 

 summed up by Mrs. Hargrave, in the Reliable Poultry Journal : "I have found the 

 advantages of turkey hens as mothers as follows : They are more quiet with little ones ; 

 are better protectors from hawks and animals ; will not wean the turkeys so soon as 

 chicken hens ; are kinder to little turkeys other than their own broods ; are better foragers ; 

 will take their little ones to the range where they can pick insects, grass seeds, etc. ; the 

 little ones are not subject to so many lice as when running with a chicken hen. The 

 main objection to turkey hens is, they are troublesome about coming to the accustomed 

 roosting place with the brood and getting them sheltered for the night. 



' Advantages of a chicken hen are that the little turkeys will be more tame as a rule 

 than when mothered by the turkey, and the hen always takes her brood to the coop in the 

 evening and puts them to roost ; but as a hen is more restless, she keeps the little ones 

 on the move the first few days, when they ought to be very quiet. This can be overcome 

 by tying her or fastening her in the coop. * * * I endeavor to set eggs under a 

 turkey hen, and some chicken hens at the same time, so when the chicken hen weans her 

 brood they will, with a little effort on your part, take up with the turkey hen and her 

 brood, and all go on the range together." 



