Hatching under Turkeys in France. 



67 



of Paris ones. They will then continue to hatch, without intermission, from three to six months, 

 and even longer ; the chickens being withdrawn as soon as hatched, and fresh eggs substituted. 

 After the third day the eggs are examined, and the clear eggs withdrawn, which are then sold 

 in the market for new-laid ; but as they may be soiled or discoloured from having been sat 

 upon, they clean them with water and silver-sand to restore their original whiteness. The turkeys 

 are taken off their nest once a day to feed, and to remove their excrements from the nest ; but 

 "after a while they cease self-feeding, when it is necessary to cram them, and give them some 

 water once a day. 



" Amongst some places I visited, in company with two of your shareholders, may be 

 mentioned the farm of Madame La Marquise de la Briffe, Chateau de Neuville, Gambais, near 

 Houdan, where we observed twelve turkeys hatching at the same time ; here, also, we witnessed 

 the rearing and fattening, which will be alluded to hereafter. In another place, that of M. Auche, 

 of Gambais, a hatcher by trade, we observed sixty turkeys hatching at the same time ; and we 

 were informed that during winter and early spring he had sometimes upwards of one hundred 

 hatching at the same time, and that each turkey continued hatching for at least three months. 

 At the farm of M. Louis Mary, at St. Julien de Faucon, near Lizieux, in Calvados, I saw a 

 turkey that was then sitting and had been so upwards of six months. I was informed that it 

 was of great economical advantage to employ turkeys to hatch, as they eat very little and get 

 very fat in their state of confinement, and therefore fit for the market any day." 



The turkeys are also successfully employed for foster-mothers, as also are capons. " When 

 a turkey has been hatching for some months, and shows a disposition to leave off, a glassful of 

 wine is given her in the evening, and a number of chickens are substituted for the eggs ; on 

 waking in the morning she kindly takes to them and leads them about, strutting amidst a troop 

 oi seventy to one hundred chickens with all the dignity of a drum-major. 



"I feel in justice bound to say," says Mr. Geyelin, "that these artificial living protectors 

 are most efficient to shelter chickens in the day-time, and in the evening they are placed with 

 their charge in a shallow box filled with hay, from which they do not move till the door of the 

 room is opened next morning. I must not omit to mention that the chickens are not entrusted 

 to the mother or a leader before they are a week old, and then only in fine weather." 



The use of turkeys to hatch and foster chickens is not likely to make any very great progress 

 in England till poultry-rearing has become a much more extensive branch of national production 

 than it now is. Should this ever occur, the French method of hatching must of necessity receive 

 attention, and will probably be adopted to a considerable extent amongst ourselves. 



