214 



THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



bles, giving her the range of a pasture if prac- 

 ticable. They will soon learn to forage for in- 

 sects, which promotes their health and growth. 

 Dry summers make large turkeys, the weather 

 being favorable to their rambling, and insects 

 and grasshoppers are then plenty. 



Early in the fall they should be fed night and 

 morning with dry corn. When the weather 

 becomes colder, they may be supplied at fre- 

 quent intervals with boiled potatoes, mashed 

 with Indian meal and skim-milk, given to them 

 warm, of which they are very fond. If they are 

 fed regularly, they will soon learn to come for 

 their meals. If thus plentifully fed, they thrive 

 most rapidly, increasing in size, in the short 

 space of six months, from the mere chick that 

 was hatched in the spring to the plump and 

 tempting roaster, if a male, of twelve to fifteen 

 pounds, and if a female, eight and ten pounds 

 weight. 



Now, the question may be asked, will they 

 pay a profit for the rearing ? When they bring 

 twelve and fifteen cents per pound, we think 

 those that raise them are generally satisfied. 

 Besides, it is a pleasant task to have the care 

 of turkeys. They are sociable, and company 

 at all times ; first to salute you in the morning 

 with their gabbling, then the young with their 

 pee-up, pee-up, etc. And the interest we take 

 in them is all the greater from the care and 

 solicitude with which we have watched over 

 them. 



It has often been repeated that extreme dif- 

 ficulties occurred in raising the turkey; and 

 that when, by dint of great pains, we had suc- 

 ceeded so far as to secure them from those ac- 

 cidents which threaten them till the time when 

 the red color of the head shoots, the expenses 

 they afterward incurred to bring them to a de- 

 sirable plumpness, exceeded the produce of the 

 sale ; this was sufficient to deter farmers from 

 admitting this bird into their farm-yards, and 

 they have been consequently deprived of a sure 

 means of increasing the resources of the house, 

 and at the same time of adding to the resources 

 of the farm. 



It is important, in breeding animals, to at- 

 tend to their natural instinct as much as possi- 

 ble, and it is no doubt from the neglect of this, 



that all the degeneracy and difficulty of rearing 

 them which occurs may arise. 



In its native forests the turkey is naturally a 

 wandering and migratory bird, and hence it is 

 unnatural to confine it to the narrow range of 

 a poultry-yard ; we speak from experience, as 

 we found it, to our sorrow true, for one or two 

 years. They have a strong disposition to wan- 

 der, and will sometimes steal away a long dis- 

 tance from home, apparently wishing not to be 

 observed. 



Laborious efforts are not here required, but 

 some care and a little patience. If attempts to 

 raise turkeys have not been crowned with suc- 

 cess, it is entirely owing to the unskillfulness 

 and inexperience of those to whom they have 

 been intrusted ; and as long as it is persisted in 

 thwarting the females when sitting, in opening 

 the shells of the eggs in order to help the pas- 

 sage of the tardy chicks, in pressing them, as 

 soon as born, to make them eat against their 

 will, in leaving them exposed to intense heat or 

 cold damp ; so long will their death be the un- 

 doubted consequence of such usage in the course 

 of a month. It is less trouble to say that the 

 bird is difficult to rear, than to acknowledge, at 

 once, that negligence, unskillfulness, and bar- 

 barity were the causes. 



Delicate as they are supposed to be, they can 

 find their living in the woods, and feeding on 

 acorns, roots, berries, insects, and wild nettle 

 seed. It is curious to observe with what adroit- 

 ness and certainty they will pounce on the small- 

 est bug or fly. The strong propensity of tur- 

 keys to perch in the open air and on high places, 

 is a sufficient reason for those who rear them to 

 attend carefully to this point. Scarcely, in- 

 deed, does the red appear, when the fowl shows 

 his unconquerable desire to perch in the open 

 air, though this can not safely be permitted till 

 they are two or three months old. Open sheds 

 are consequently best suited to them, with roost- 

 ing-bars, fixed as high as convenient from the 

 ground, which should be about three times as 

 large as for common fowls. 



Pairing. Some writers say from six to eight 

 hens may be allowed to one cock, while others 

 assign from ten to twelve. " Your turkey cock," 

 says Gervase Markham, " should be a large and 



