Part 7

In the wild state the hen seeks the most secluded and inaccessible spot where there is protection from birds and beasts of prey. Security against attack is the main thing instinct prompts her to look out for. A tangled thicket of briars, a sheltering ledge, a hollow stump, a clump of brush filled with decaying leaves suits her fancy. With little preparation she drops her eggs on the bare ground in these secluded places. Domestic turkeys are usually allowed a good deal of freedom in choosing their nests. I generally set them the same as I do the common hen. A half bushel basket is a comfortable nest for a turkey hen, and will give plenty of room for fifteen or eighteen eggs.

Turkeys require a good deal of attention while they are on the nests. They should be in one yard or building, or at least, not far distant from one another that it may take as little time as possible to make the frequent visits necessary to each. Give the eggs room and have the nest deep enough to prevent their rolling out of the nest. A turkey hen will lay from fifteen to thirty eggs at a litter, but she cannot always cover the whole lot. Very large old birds will cover twenty eggs; smaller birds will cover from fifteen to eighteen which is about the proper number to allow one bird to take care of.

If you have a dozen turkey hens in your flock,—which is about the right number for a good range,—it will not be difficult to set several birds at once, and this may be arranged by placing the nests containing artificial eggs within a few feet of each other. You can keep part of the hens upon their nests a few days until three or four are ready to sit. Then select eggs of as near equal age as possible and put them under the hens that are sitting persistently. If the hens close together are not set at the same time, there is danger when the first begins to hatch that her neighbor will hear the peep of the first chick and perhaps forsake her nest. If all the group of three or four nests are hatching at the same time, there is no trouble of this kind.

Before putting the eggs in the nest it is well to disinfect the hen with turkey salve under her wings. It will prevent vermin of any kind.

If any of the eggs get fouled with the yolk of a broken egg before or after setting, the shells should be carefully cleaned with warm water to secure their hatching. Two or three turkeys will sometimes lay in the same nest. This will do no harm in the early part of the season, but they should be separated before setting, allowing only one bird to a nest. This may be done by making nests nearby and putting porcelain eggs into each new nest. Turkeys are not liable to crowd onto an occupied nest when there is a vacant one nearby. The group of hens that sit together, and bring off their young at the same time, will naturally feed and ramble together, and this will save time in looking after them.

The turkey is a close sitter and will not leave her nest for several days at a time. Grain and water should be kept near the nest all the time. When the turkeys begin to hatch I take the little chicks out just the same as I do when under a common hen, and give the ones that are not hatched a chance to do so.

When they are all ready to go into the coop, I lift the hen very gently and carry her to the coop, generally putting the little turkeys into the coops first as the turkey hen is a very nervous bird and will scratch around and sometimes walk on the little birds.

That is why I like to have them good and strong before they go into the coop with the mother. The little fellows seem to understand that the mother should not step on them for they will crowd over towards the side of the coop out of her reach. She will soon get used to them and to being fed and will settle down to taking care of her babies in good shape, as the turkey hen is a very devoted mother. She will watch out for those who feed her and take care of her little babies. They will run to meet me when they see me coming, that is, of course, if they are out in the field. I have had them come home themselves when I let them out for a ramble, and when I have gone to feed them the mother would be in the coop with all her little babies.

I give the same treatment to the turkey chicks that are brought up by their mother as I do when they are brought up by a common hen, only the common hen will leave them long before the turkey hen will think of forsaking her babies. I have gone into the turkey house when they were five or six months old and would find a young turkey pullet nestling close to her mother. You do not find this in any other domestic bird that I know of.

THE THROWING OF THE RED AND YOUNG TURKEYS

As there seems to be some difference of opinion about the “throwing of the red”, first let me tell you what the throwing of the red means.

More or less blood must flow into the brain and head of the turkey when it shows so plainly through the skin. When a turkey is five weeks old or even four, it is time for it to begin to “throw the red”, as when blood comes from the liver and heart, of course it must have some action on the little pullets. I have had young turkeys throw the red in five weeks, and show it very plainly,—that is after being fed twice a day on sting nettle. On the other hand, before I knew what to feed to them, I have had them linger along up until seven or eight weeks, and at the end of that time, they would usually die. What had happened was that the blood had returned to the liver, become stagnant and caused diarrhea, which, of course, caused the death of the young turkey. When a young turkey is in good condition it ought to shoot the red from the beginning to the end in ten days. Of course it will not be as prominent as in a larger bird. As the bird grows, the red becomes more apparent.

When the little turkey is about four weeks old the feathers will begin to fall from the head some. Then you will know that the critical time is at hand. The little bird begins to shoot the red. It mopes around sometimes for days. There will be nothing wrong with him except that he just does not feel well. Give plenty of sting nettle and a little tincture of iron three times a week (4 drops of tincture of iron to a gallon of drinking water) and you will see an improvement in a couple of days.

The young toms are much stronger than the pullets. Some of them will shoot the red and grow splendidly all through it with no signs of any drooping whatever, but there is always a marked change in the little pullets.

After the red is grown, the secret of success in turkeys is to keep them growing. You can give them all the skimmed milk and all the sour milk they will drink. Feed them all the lettuce they can eat three times a day with nettle in the feed, if you have it on the place. It is one of the necessities in raising turkeys that you keep the liver clean and if you feed lettuce two or three times a day, the droppings will be a bright green and in good condition.

For my birds I have large runs, 6 ft. each way, which makes a good square run. I move the runs every day to clean ground; the straw is taken out and aired. If it is damp weather, put clean straw in at least every other day. My coops are high and well ventilated at the top which takes off all the hot and impure air, and helps keep the little turkeys strong and healthy. I allow about ten runs out at a time consisting of ten birds each and let them go for a good long ramble. They do not stay away from their houses very long, however, but soon get tired and come back, usually staying out about two hours. Then I put them in their coops and let out about ten more runs. When I put them back into the coops I feed them lettuce and clean drinking water. (I continue this process until I have let out the entire flock.) I let out so many runs at a time so there will be no confusion in putting them in. I do this daily, every fair day, until the turkey is four or five months old. Then I let them all out together. I put them in larger houses every night, keep them good and warm, with good roosts and clean straw, and I have very little trouble from disease.

Every turkey should be allowed out for a while each day if the weather is fine and there are no signs of rain. If it is lowery or dark, do not let them out until the weather is pleasant again. This method of letting them out keeps them growing rapidly and makes them very tame so that they can be handled much more easily.

Why not give a turkey the same care that we give a hen. People tell me many ways in which their turkeys are neglected. They seem to think that they do not need to look after turkeys and after they are hatched they turn them out and let them wander and forage for themselves. The time of that kind of treatment for turkeys is past. Remember we are raising turkeys now by the approved methods and full feeding applied to modern poultry raising. People will come to me and tell me that their turkey hens are roosting out in the trees nights when it is below zero. As I have stated before, if it is in January these turkey hens are beginning to grow eggs. What vitality is there back of eggs grown under conditions of that kind? None whatever.

On hot days you must cover the runs with burlap or shade of some description. I use the burlap sacks in which I receive dried bread waste that I buy.

With reference to feeding bread, be sure never to feed bread that is mouldy for if you do you will start diarrhea in the young turkeys in no time.

When fall is coming on you must be very careful of the pullets. As I said before, they are much more subject to blackhead than are the toms. When I house them up,—that is, in large houses, say forty or fifty to one pen, I have my prepared feed for turkeys (Margaret Mahaney’s Turkey Feed) before the pullets all the time. The less corn you give any turkey hen the less trouble you will have from blackhead, for corn is heating. To keep the pullets in good condition you will find all the ingredients in this prepared feed, which is put up and sold now by The Park & Pollard Company, 46 Canal Street, Boston, under the name of Margaret Mahaney’s Turkey Feed.

Give more or less whole corn to the toms if you want to get them in good condition for shipping or for dressing around Thanksgiving. They do not fatten up as quickly as the turkey hen, which is the reason I keep all corn and corn meal away from the turkey hens.

Put one-half teaspoonful of salicylate of soda in the drinking water in each pan at night. In the mornings give them fresh water and twice a week place in it a little tincture of iron (4 drops to each gallon of water). Do this up to about January, and then, if your turkey hens are kept warm and comfortable, they are over the dangers of the blackhead season.

Give the same treatment to the young toms.

INVESTIGATION OF DISEASES

“What is the disease?” is the first and most important question to ask. The number of people who fatefully assume from the beginning that the answer to this question is beyond their reach is inexcusably large. If the non-professional reader would apply even a limited amount of study and common sense many of the lesser ills might be avoided, and many others successfully treated. A little special instruction is here given to enable one to detect a disease before it is too late, and thus, in a great measure, to avoid those disheartening ravages which, at times, come upon the uninformed owner of turkeys.

The small number of diseases which are liable to be confused makes it comparatively easy to form the right conclusion by eliminating from the possible list those that do not show the particular symptoms of the other diseases.

A general knowledge of the organism, habits, and appearance of turkeys when in health is, of course, very desirable. A reasonably close observation is about all we can expect in this matter from the ordinary owner of a large flock of turkeys. The experienced fancier adds to this a frequent handling and more detailed study to learn the normal hardness and suppleness of the flesh and the warmth, moisture and color of the skin, especially about the vent, and the outline and structure of the skeleton. It is also eminently desirable that one know what is a right condition of all the organs, but this is particularly true in respect to the liver and other digestive organs.