_Turkeys_ are very wild in their habits, and apt to stray, and their young are considered difficult to rear. Turkey-hens begin to lay in March, laying either every day or every other day; and, during their laying season, many persons will not let them out of their roosting-place in a morning till they have laid, on account of their propensity to lay away. One turkey-cock is sufficient for several hens; and if there are two they generally fight till the strongest has killed the weakest. When a turkey-hen is about to sit, her nest is made by twisting a pad of straw like those worn by basket-women on their heads, and soft hay is laid in the middle; this is done on account of the projecting breast-bone of the turkey, which makes it difficult for her to cover her eggs, unless she has some support. Hen turkeys begin to sit in April; the number of eggs is generally eleven or thirteen, and they sit from twenty-five to thirty days. It was formerly customary, as the young were hatched, to take them away from the hen, and, opening the beak with the fingers, to force one or two peppercorns down the poor little creatures' throats; but now this mode of proceeding is thought unnecessary, and the young are left with their mother till they are all hatched. They may be then fed with crumbled curds mixed with chives or nettles chopped small. Eggs boiled hard and cut into little bits; and mutton or beef without salt, boiled so much as to tear easily into shreds, are also given. The old bird should then be put with her young ones under a coop in the hatching-house, and water should be placed within her reach and that of her young. In a few days the young ones, with their mother still under the coop, may be taken into the open air; but they should not be allowed to remain there longer than two or three hours at a time till they are about ten days old; and the mother should be kept in her coop under the open shed till they are about six weeks old, so that till they have attained that age they may always have a warm dry place to fly to. Great numbers of turkey chickens die young for want of these precautions being attended to. When turkey chickens are about two months old, they are called turkey poults, and about this time the fleshy membranes on the head and neck begin to appear. This is called shooting the red; and a great many young turkeys die at this time, unless they are well fed and kept warm. Those turkey poults which survive this period are generally reared, and when about six months old some of them may be fattened for the table. At twelve months old they lose the name of poults, and are considered full-grown turkeys.