Have a pen, say
six feet square, built for them, and made tight at the sides clear
down to the ground, to keep them from getting out and being chilled.
Put sand and fine gravel over the ground, and cover enough of it to
afford shelter at night and when it rains. They may be kept in this
pen the first four or five days, then let out after dew is off, and
shut up before night.
For the first few days' feed, nothing is better than clabber cheese or
curd made by scalding clabbered milk until the curd separates and is
cooked, then skimmed out and fed. Mix a little black pepper with this
every other day. Meal must not be fed raw for several weeks, and then
should be mixed with sour milk instead of water. Bake the meal into
bread by mixing it, unsifted, with sour milk, and adding a little soda
and pepper. Spinach, lettuce, onion tops and any other tender greens,
chopped fine, are excellent food. From the time a turkey is hatched
until it is ready for market it should have plenty of milk. Give them
clear water to drink, for milk is a food. See that the very young ones
have milk and water in quite shallow dishes, for they are in danger of
getting wet if the dish is deep.
GATHER THE LITTLE TURKEYS IN
at the first signs of rain, and they will soon learn to run and fly to
their coop at the first drops. Always shut them up at night, for they
are early risers and will be out long before the dew is dried off.
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