tj2 ' Profitable Poultry Keeping. 



cruel, and does not pay in the long run, to prevent her having 

 a nest, in addition to which, she will prove a better mother 

 than any hen could be. 



The period of incubation is twenty-eight days, and the 

 first food for the young birds should be hard-boiled egg, 

 with dandelion, lettuce, onions, or nettles chopped up, and 

 all mixed with bread crumbs ; and to this may be added a 

 little rice boiled in sweet skim milk, a little suet, or greaves, 

 and in cold weather a little aromatic compound, with grain 

 of all kinds for the birds, as they get older. We have also 

 heard the very highest accounts of the value of Chamber- 

 lain's meal in rearing turkeys, even from those who had 

 failed before they used it. A fresh site for the coop is neces- 

 sary every morning, and a little exercise, by letting the 

 mother out of the coop, which must be large and roomy, not 

 less than tbree feet square, will do the chicks a lot of good. 

 When the birds are about ten or twelve weeks old they may 

 be put on to barleymeal as the staple food, mixed with a little 

 greaves, and alternated with corn, barley, and small wheat. 

 As soon as they are deserted by the mother, the birds should 

 be put in a large roomy house at night ; and, it is then neces- 

 sary, to see that they do not perch on rails or hurdles, as 

 crooked breasts would be the certain result. 



Christmas turkeys are shut up in. a light, dry, and Toomy 

 shed, or house, about the first week in November; and the 

 Norfolk system is to keep troughs filled with maize and 

 good barley always near them, but giving twice a day a good 

 meal of just as much barleymeal, mixed with skim milk, as 

 they can then eat up, and also milk to drink. The troughs 

 are cleaned every day, and all surplus food removed. Sliced 

 mangolds, turnips, swedes, and cabbages are also given ; and 

 plenty of sand, lime, and brick dust kept in one corner, so 

 that the birds can get it when they wish. This is all the 

 feeding they need, to bring them up into prime condition for 

 the market. They are killed by having the neck broken. 



