I feed scraps from the
table, such as potatoes and bits of meat cut very fine, but not much
of the latter to young birds. I rarely lose a bird.--_Mrs. E. Reith,
in Homestead._
CARE AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT.
In turkey raising the one who is the most careful and attentive to the
small things is the most successful. The first laying of eggs should
be set under a chicken hen. The turkey hen will, after a few days'
confinement, lay another batch of eggs. A good-sized hen will cover
and care for ten eggs; a turkey hen, seventeen. Make a large, roomy
nest of soft, fine hay--straw is too brittle and slippery. If there is
danger of lice in the nest-box, sprinkle with water in which carbolic
acid has been mixed in the proportion of eight drops to a half gallon
of water. Don't wet the eggs with this. After the eggs have been sat
on one week, sprinkle with warm water every other day, until the last
week; then every day, until they hatch. Have the water clear, and use
a flower or fine rose sprinkler. Let the water be of the same
temperature as the eggs, which can be ascertained by slipping a
thermometer under the hen for a few minutes. This softens the shells,
and as a little turkey is very weak, it is helped out easily, and is
stronger than if working long to get out.
Let the little turkeys get well dried and strong enough to climb
around the edges of their nest before taking them off.
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