MANUAL ON POULTRY. 47 



feeding them. Hard boiled eggs, or curd, pressed every day, will 

 prove the safest food for the first two weeks, after which bread 

 soaked in just enough milk to soften it may be used to advantage. 

 The tender tops of onions, garden fennel, purslane or dandelion, 

 chopped fine and mixed with the other food, will be found beneficial, 

 contributing materially to the health of the chicks. 



On pleasant, bright days the hen may be allowed to take out the 

 brood on the run, but must be carefully watched to prevent being 

 caught in rain. 



The gobbler will sometimes maliciously destroy the young tur- 

 keys, and hence prudence demands his confinement when the hens 

 come off with their young. He will destroy many by merely tramp- 

 ling upon them, but will often peck them until all of the principal 

 bones in them are broken. If there are hens still laying, with whom 

 he consorts, there is less risk of his injuring the young turkeys, but 

 it will be prudent to prevent any risk of his giving vent to his ma- 

 licious propensities. 



The wild turkey hen instinctively conceals her nest and her young 

 from the gobbler. When the young turkeys acquire sufficient 

 strength and activity to keep out of the way, the gobbler may be al- 

 lowed his liberty, even in company with the mother birds and their 

 young, but even then he will be a disturbing element in the flock. 

 The young turkeys do not become hardy until the red begins to ap- 

 pear upon their heads. After they reach that staeje they are quite 

 hardy, and will take care of themselves if allowed a liberal range. 



Turkeys are not profitable unless they glean a large share of their 

 food from the fields, where what they gather would otherwise be 

 wasted. They are ravenous eaters and very destructive of some 

 kinds of vegetation. 



THE GUINEA FOWL. 



The guinea fowl is noted for its great egg producing qualities. 

 The hens commence laying in May and continue through August. 

 Generally a number of them will lay in the same nest ; indeed, so 

 great is this tendency that it is difficult to induce enough of them 

 to have neets to themselves to secure sitters to keep up the stock. 

 In view of this difficulty, therefore, it is well to set the early laid eggs 

 under chicken hens. 



