Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 137 pages of information about Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889.

Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 137 pages of information about Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889.

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[New England Farmer.]

HOW TO RAISE TURKEYS.

The best feed for young turkeys and ducks is yelks of hard-boiled eggs, and after they are several days old the white may be added.  Continue this for two or three weeks, occasionally chopping onions fine and sometimes sprinkling the boiled eggs with black pepper; then give rice, a teacupful with enough milk to just cover it, and boil slowly until the milk is evaporated.  Put in enough more to cover the rice again, so that when boiled down the second time it will be soft if pressed between the fingers.  Milk must not be used too freely, as it will get too soft and the grains will adhere together.  Stir frequently when boiling.  Do not use water with the rice, as it forms a paste and the chicks cannot swallow it.  In cold, damp weather, a half teaspoonful of Cayenne pepper in a pint of flour, with lard enough to make it stick together, will protect them from diarrhea.  This amount of food is sufficient for two meals for seventy-five chicks.  Give all food in shallow tin pans.  Water and boiled milk, with a little lime water in each occasionally, is the best drink until the chicks are two or three months old, when loppered and buttermilk may take the place of the boiled milk.  Turkeys like best to roost on trees, and in their place artificial roots may be made by planting long forked locust poles and laying others across the forks.—­American Agriculturist.

HOW TO RAISE TURKEYS.

Keep the turkey hens tame by feeding them close to the house.  Have two or three barrels in sheltered corners containing plenty of straw or leaves for them to lay in.  Gather the eggs every evening, as turkey eggs are very easily chilled.  Keep the eggs in a woolen cloth on end and turn them every three days.  Set the first seven eggs under a chicken hen, as they get too old before the turkey hen will go to sitting.  Make a board pen ten or twelve feet square and twelve or fourteen inches high.  Put a coop in it and put your hen and turkeys in it.  Feed the hen with corn and the turkeys soaked wheat bread (corn meal will kill them), until they are a week old (I feed five or six times a day).  Then feed wheat until they are big enough to eat corn.  Give plenty of fresh water in a shallow vessel.  Keep the mother in the pen until they are large enough to fly over the top of the boards.  Let them out awhile about the middle of the day.  Shut them in at night.  A turkey hen does not like to be shut up, but have a good big coop for her and she will go in.  Don’t let the little turkeys get their backs wet until they are feathered.  The turkey hen will sit down when night comes just where she happens to be, but if you drive her home a few times she will come herself after that.  Always feed them when they come home, no matter if they are full of “hoppers.” 

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Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.