THE POULTRY BOOE. 
273 
Lens for being good sitters and nurses. To dispose of such, before symptoms of 
declining constitution are displayed in the health and number of the chicks, would 
display a want of judgment. 
One fecundation is sufficient to render fertile all the eggs which are of one 
laying. This has been strongly denied by some ; but the fact is undoubted, for 
in this district many people keep hens only, and have to send them to some neigh- 
bour’s cock : the hen is sent once only, yet it is known that nothing more is 
generally required to ensure the fertility of all the eggs of that laying. 
“ The number of hens running to one cock should not exceed fifteen, and the 
majority of breeders allow even a smaller number. 
Some hen-turkeys lay every day; others lay two days in succession, and miss 
the third ; while others lay only every other day. 
The turkey-cock, in a state of nature, is ever seeking to destroy the eggs of 
the hen ; and she, to elude him, seeks some secluded place in which to make her 
nest. In a domestic state, they in a great measure still retain the same pro- 
pensities ; it is therefore necessary to examine the hens every morning during the 
laying season, and keep in those that have to lay that day. If the hens be 
allowed to seek nests for themselves, the eggs arc very frequently destroyed by 
magpies, rats, weasels, &c., or are lost. 
“ The number of eggs laid by the turkey at one time varies from twelve to 
twenty — most generally sixteen or seventeen ; a number quite sufficient to be 
securely covered. 
The eggs should be taken from the nest every day as soon as convenient, 
and placed in a vessel containing bran, or some other bad conductor of heat. I 
have not tried crushed charcoal, but should think it would answer very well. 
‘‘ The desire a turkey displays to sit is known by her remaining on the nest. 
It is not desirable that she should have the eggs immediately given to her ; it is 
best to test her constancy for two or three days ; at the end of which, should she 
prove true, they must be given to her — care being taken to have the eggs, if they 
be not all her own, as near as possible of the same age. To accomplish this, the 
eggs should have the date on which they were laid marked on them with a pencil. 
The management should be such as to prevent other hens from laying in 
the nests occupied by those sitting : but as ‘ accidents occur in the best regulated 
families,’ the eggs with which the turkey or other fowl is set should be marked to 
distinguish them from those which may afterwards be laid. This is best accom- 
plished by surrounding them with a ring of ink marked with a pen. This method 
of marking is preferable to writing on one end, as it enables the owner to distin- 
guish at a glance the egg which has been added since the commencement of the 
sitting. 
“ Some people recommend the sitting of two turkeys at the same time, so as to 
be able to give both broods to one hen, that the other may again be at liberty to 
commence laying, and of course a second brood is got much sooner. 
So closely does the turkey-hen sit during the time of incubation, that very 
