PRAIRIE FARMER'S POULTRY BOOK 



in the third. Eggs laid early in the spring should be gathered 

 daily to prevent chilling. Suitable nests should be provided 

 in barrels, boxes or brush piles, and if hens can be induced to 

 begin laying at home there will be little danger of their roam- 

 ing to find nests. 



The turkey hen makes the best incubator and brooder. It 

 is customary to hatch the first laid eggs under a chicken hen. 

 In that event the poults should receive the same care and feed 

 as chicks. As soon as a turkey hen hatches a brood, the hen- 

 hatched poults can be transferred to the turkey mother. If 



This will keep her from flying the fence 



the vireather is damp and cold at the time a brood of poults is 

 taken off, it is best to confine the turkey mother in a coop for 

 a few days. The coop should have an outside runway to give 

 the poults opportunity for exercise and to obtain green food. 

 Rolled oats, fed sparingly, three to five times a day, makes a 

 good starter. This, with sweet milk and sharp sand for grit, 

 will be all that is needed for the first week. After a week of con- 

 finement the hen with her brood can be given free range. They 

 can be taught to come home for food and shelter each night, 

 and as a rule this is advisable. Turkeys and chickens should 

 not be fed on the same ground. In the first place, the turkeys 

 are likely to infect the ground with gape worms; and, in the 



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