The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-09-18


A lady writes as follows ON what
she knows about raising turkcys;--
"Being only n novice in the poultry
business | do not set up my theories
in opposition to Fanny Field and like
eminent poultry rasers, My expert
ence however, may be of benefit TO
some who, like me have no fancy tur-
key houses with sanded floors but
who, for either pleasure or profit,
would make Il fair amount Of success
with this bird. began with three
one-year-old turkeys, two hens and Il
gobbler. When the time came for
the hens to commence laying | had
nests made for them in one corner of
the chicken yard under shed and AS
had read that if they were allowed
to make and choose their own nests
they would rear very few of their
young ON account of their propensity
to drag them through the dew deter
mined that mine should lay their eggs
and rear their brood just where and
in the way | willed. Consequently
those turkeys were never allowed to
leave the yard until their eggs were
duly deposited, which eggs |, still
following directions, fastened to APP
propriate in order to induce them to
continue laying, AS soon us one hen
had lain fourteen eggs and the other
eleven they showed persistent desire
to sit. | returned the purloined eggs,
and all went well, until about week
afterward | happened to note that
turkey hen would often refuse to leave
the nest to feed herself almost starving
to death in consequence, and that in
such cases she must be fed. The ag-
onies those poor hens must have sui-
fered on account of that unfortunate
suggestion will probably never be
known. Regularly every morning |
lifted them from their nest and held
open their bills while, in spite of their
struggles and plaintivc cries, their
food was poured down their Threats
with spoon. Suffice it to say that
twenty-five turkeys were hatched.
Having learned that turkeys must be
carefully housed for nine weeks and
only allowed run in fine weather,
enclosed mine in a harness room
that had been emptied for the purpose.
| also knew they must be led every
hour on bread crumbs, hard boiled
eggs, dandeliod chopped fine and thick
milk. All of these instruction | care
fully followed. At the end Of nine
weeks | had just used nine dozen eggs,
worth 81 90, and ten loaves of bakers
bread, worth 81 to say nothing ofcrack-
ers and rice taken from the family
store. I had four young turkeys left,
two of which afterward died. | had
calculated that if / raised twenty-five
turkeys they would at Thanksgiving
be worth as many dollars | could
therefore afford to put out my plain
my own time being pretty |
well taken up with picking and chop
ping dandelion, feeding the turkeys
and chasing them to their quarters as
soon as Il cloud appeared in the sky.
The bill of my seamstress was SIG and
those two turkeys cost me over "
each. The following year determin-
ed to discard science and goit blind.
About the 1st of May | was much |
agitated by the disappearance of my |
two hens. In vain | Offered rewards
and in my own mind accused an inno-
cent colorcd family living in the Vi
cinity of having distracted them. ]
had quite resigned myself to their loss
when carly one morning ! heard under |
my window the sad wc-we-wc of many |
small turkey. TO my establishment
my hens had returned with II brood
between them of twenty-seVen.
welcomed them with some stale bread
and a pan of thick milk, determined
not to be of1ieious, but let them man
age for themselves. They were never
with boiled eggs and special
loaves of bread, but were fed with
from their masters table and
such amount of thick milk as could be
spared. was raising calf that year
and could not allow much of the milk
to stand long enough to get thick.
One of the hens seemed to possess less
sense than could be expected of n well
brought up turkey, and persisted in
roosting at night with her brood di-
rectlg under Il dead apple tree. The
other one chose thick lCaved tree,
but also the longest grass she could
find. Twenty-Five turkeys attained
and graced at various times
,ur own table and the wagon of the
village butcher. There is something
n instinct after all. ~