268 PROFITABLE POULTRY PRODUCTION 



clutch of eggs. Older hens seldom lay more than 

 a dozen and a half for their first litter and not quite 

 so many in the second of the season. As an 

 average, 20 eggs is probably the usual aver- 

 age of a hen turkey, though specially good hens 

 may lay 30 or even 40. The eggs should be col- 

 lected daily and stored in a cool place until they 

 can be set. Eggs from specially productive and 

 otherwise desirable hens should be marked and set 

 separately, so their progeny can be marked when 

 hatched and thus given preference when selection 

 for breeding takes place the following autumn. It 

 is a safe precaution to put a few hen's eggs in the 

 turkey nests to keep the turkeys contented when 

 laying. 



HATCHING 



It is customary to set the early turkey eggs under 

 chicken hens. While these hens make good sitters, 

 even for the 28 days that turkey eggs require to be 

 hatched, yet they are not as desirable mothers as 

 turkey hens. They are more or less restless and 

 less effective protectors against birds of prey, rats, 

 etc. ; they wean the little turkeys too soon and are 

 harsher in their treatment of little turkeys, es- 

 pecially those that do not belong to their own 

 flocks; they do not forage as well as turkey hens 

 and the little ones, therefore, do not get as much 

 insect food as they would with their natural 

 mothers. Perhaps worst of all they are more likely 

 to be troubled with lice. During the first few days 

 while the little turkeys should be mothered a great 

 deal, the chicken hen is likely to keep them roam- 

 ing more than they can stand. She can be pre- 



