or enclosure. Turkeys can be used to hatch the eggs of hens, ducks and geese, and the raiser who does not have an artificial hatcher will not have to delay operations until hens get ready to set, or until he can secure the desired number. CHAPTER IX. REARING THE TURKEY CHICKS. The turkey chicks having been hatched, they will require the breeder's utmost and constant attention for the first eight or ten weeks, for on the management of the chicks depends the success or failure of turkey rearing. Turkeys, when chicks, being exceeding delicate (the most delicate of any domesticated poultry), and liable to be not only decimated, but entire broods exterminated by a sudden cold wind or a slight shower, and requiring, as they do, feeding every two hours, or six times a day, it is advisable for those who are unable to spare the time to give the necessary attention, not to attempt breeding turkeys, for they will only meet with severe losses and disappointment. The chicks, having broken the shells by themselves, without any fussy interference by the owner, may be left to themselves for twenty-four hours, though the shells may be removed and something placed in front of the nest, if it be made in a box, to prevent any of the chicks falling out and getting cold. The chicks having, just previously to emerging from the shell, drawn into their body the yolk, they are sufficiently sustained for twenty or twenty-four hours or so, and require no feeding until the following day. If the day be warm and fine, they may be placed outdoors, in a dry situation; if cold and damp, or windy, they are better kept under cover, though not in a close atmosphere, but where there is plenty of ventilation, a large open shed protected from the wind being the best. A warm bed having been provided, made of chaff, dry sawdust or dry horse droppings, all over a bed of dry sand and coal ashes, to prevent damp arising, place the coop, which should be previously 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 giv en the young birds. In a natural state, turkey chicks feed largely upon flies, spiders, grasshoppers, grubs, snails, slugs, worms, ant eggs, etc., and if watched on a bright day will be seen to be constantly chasing FIG. 15. PEN TO CONFINE LITTLE TURKEYS, flies, etc., about the meadows and woods. Berries, seeds, etc., make the variation. The first meal should be hardboiled 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 has in its wild state; 80. as opportunities open for the chicks to get insects, the egg should be omitted. Dry meal must not be given them, not 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 as 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 two of these boards so as to form another triangle, Fig. 15, adjacent to the site of the old one. By the time the chicks are old enough to jump over the boards, they may be allowed to wander about with their mother, after the morning dew is off. After that time, three feedings a day are sufficient, and when they are weaned, feeding at morning and night only is enough. With a good range over wheat stubble, which they can have in the Western States and territories, and plenty of grasshoppers, no other feeding is necessary after they are educated to come home to roost. Mr Barber writes: "Our turkeys lay and sit in large roomy coops, two and one-half feet long by two feet wide, two feet high in front, with a slope of six inches to the rear; we keep the turkey hens, with their broods, in a lot, on short grass." Instead of cooping brooding turkeys to prevent them from roaming too much, W. P. Lewis, who raises 90 per cent of his hatch, fastens the hen with a cord to a peg in the ground, after the manner cows are tied out to pasture. After being pegged down for a few days, the hens are "shingled" so they cannot fly over walls and fences, and are then allowed free range. In "shingling, "or "boarding," turkeys, a thin board or shingle, in which holes are bored, is fastened across the shoulders of the bird by soft cords, tape or strips of cloth. When of the proper shape and the boards are in the right place, and the cords are not tied too tightly, they may be worn twelve months without injury to the turkey. By this method the birds may be confined to one field as easily as sheep. This is better and surer than clipping one wing. The only objection to it is that turkeys thus hampered are almost at the mercy of dogs. When the board is first adjusted, the turkeys try to free themselves, but they usually accept the 21/22 situation in less than an 8 in FIG. 16. RHODE ISLAND TURKEY SHINGLE. hour, and do not seem to mind them afterward. Various other boards are used, Fig. 16 giving the Rhode Island pattern, and Fig 17 the Western style. The strings are usually tied on the top of the board. In fastening the Western style of board, the string is passed down from one hole in front of the wing, close to the body, and 4 FIG. 17. WESTERN STYLE OF TURKEY SHINGLE. around under the wing and up through the other hole, and is tied on top of the board. An ordinary shingle is strong enough for most hens, but large gobblers require something stronger, and light barrel staves are often used; a three-eighths-inch auger hole is then necessary, but usually a gimlet is sufficient. |