296 PROFITS IN POULTRY. 
vent damp arising, place the coop, which should be pre- 
viously lime-washed, over it, facing south, and the 
mother and chicks inside. The poults hatched under 
common hens should be given the mother turkey in the 
night. Some breeders prefer bottoms to the coops, but 
unless the ground be very damp, that is not necessary. 
If you dusted the mother with insect powder two days 
before hatching, there will be no lice to annoy them. 
On the second day the chicks may receive their first 
meal. On one point all turkey growers agree; no 
“sloppy” food must be given the young birds. In a 
natural state, turkey chicks feed largely upon flies, spi- 
ders, grasshoppers, grubs, snails, slugs, worms, ant eggs, 
etc., and if watched on a bright day will be seen to be 
constantly chasing flies, etc., about the meadows and 
woods. Berries, seeds, etc., make the variation. The 
first meal should be hard-boiled eggs (boiled twenty 
minutes), and stale wheat bread dipped in hot milk, the 
milk squeezed out, and both crumbled fine and seasoned 
with black pepper. This feed may be continued for two 
or three weeks, with now and then a variation to thick 
clabbered milk, or Dutch cheese in place of the egg. 
Let it be known that the egg is a substitute for insects, 
which the young turkey hus in its wild state; so, as 
opportunities open for the chicks to get insects, the egg 
should be omitted. Dry meal must not be given them, 
nor wet meal insufficiently swelled. If the meal swells 
in their crops, death is almost certain. The best way to 
feed Indian meal is in the form of corn bread or ‘‘Johnny- 
cake.” After the young birds are three weeks old, omit 
the eggs and give meat scraps and ground bone. Clean 
water or milk must be before them all the time. For 
runs, the best are three fourteen-inch boards set on edge 
so 4s to form a triangle, with the coop in one corner, or 
shorter boards over one corner, for shelter from the sun 
by day and dews by night. Every day or two, move 
Ri 
