Margaret Mahaney Talks About TurkeysMahaney, Margaret
Science
Margaret Mahaney Talks About Turkeys
Mahaney, Margaret
Turkeys
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.
[Illustration: TURKEYS SHOULD BE TAMED]
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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