- On account of the constitutional delicacy of this bird, the hatching should not be commenced too early in the spring, and when the chicks are hatched they should be guarded from the extremes of heat and cold for some weeks. Rain is almost always fatal to them in their early stage. Curd, boiled eggs, and barley or oatmeal, kneaded with milk (or water, in case milk should produce looseness), potatoes, nettles, parsley, Swedish turnips, with chopped beet-leaves, after a little time, is their proper food: As they retain so much of their original wild nature as to stray a considerable distance, if permitted, the hen should be tied or cooped for at least six weeks, when the chicks will be hardy enough to follow her about, under the vigilant eye however of the poultry-maid, who should beware of their being caught by a shower.
They are soon familiarised to the society of fowls in the poultry or farm-yard. Without the advantage of the latter, it is an unprofitable speculation to rear any description of poultry on a largo scale; but where a farmer's yard presents facilities, the economy of having all those kinds to which the soil and climate are suitable, is considerable. The only caution with regard to turkeys, where gallinaceous birds are numerous, is to have separate houses for them at night. These should be very lofty and well ventilated. They may be altogether open to the air in front, the doors being of trellis work. Fowls (which are equally unsocial with the capons of their own kind) have a strong disinclination to roost with them.
When well-grown, turkeys supply themselves in their ramblings so far as to require food only when leaving their house in the morning and returning at night. The chances of rearing& second brood are not so groat as to render it expedient to make the trial.
After six months turkeys may be crammed like fowls, but they require a much longer period to render them fully fat. Those great birds which are sent to the London market about Christmas, principally from Norfolk, frequently weighing from twenty to twenty-five pounds, are usually cocks from the preceding year. Great numbers of turkeys aro reared in Ireland, where the climate is congenial to their nature. A3 Guinea Fon-L—This bird, which is not much larger than the common barn-door fowl, is of beautiful form and plumage, and though not a source of profit to the peasant who rears poultry for immediate sale, is usually kept where there is proper accommodation, as much on account of the excellence and abundance of the eggs (which, though small, are well-flavoured) as for the sake of the flesh, which is prized iu the London markets when the season of pheasant-eating ceases. The
number of hens allowed to the male is about the same as among the gallinaceous family. The coek, little distinguished in appearance from the female, is an attentive and affectionate mate, and even obtrusively so to his favourites, whom he will attend to the nest, and remain with until they have laid their eggs.
Retaining same of their original wildness, Guinea fowl dislike the confinement of a house. For the purpose of laying, they prefer shrubberies, clover-meadows, or corn-fields, in which they will deposit their eggs, unless closely watched. The Guinea hen is fruitful during the entire mummer, but not earlier than May. On this account, and the difficulty of rearing a late brood, it is more beneficial to keep her entirely for laying, and to put the earlier eggs under a common hen or capon, which will cover from twenty to twenty-five, than to encourage the incubation of the natural parent, which is moreover indisposed to it, especially if under cover. If left to her instinct, this bird would at a Late season, in the open air, sit for the natural period, which is twenty-eight or twenty-nine days.
The cock. having the same dislike to incubation which characterises the male of pea-fowl, will destroy the eggs if he can discover them. Though the shell is remarkably hard, the chicks break through it at the proper moment, and are soon after as vigorous and ready to eat as the young of any other tribe of poultry.
The loud cry of theso birds is not agreeable, but, like the scream of the pea-fowl, it announces with certainty an approaching change of weather. The hen utters a cry when she desires to roost, to call in her companions, to summon assistance, or to give' notice of any of those alarms which her sensibilities cause her to express with such energy of voice, and in all which cases she is sure of receiving a ready sympathy.
The same food which is suited to the young of gallinaceous fowls and turkeys is good for the chicks of this kind; but as they are not often destined to the coops for fattening, a good deal of garden or field green-food may be combined with their grits, &c., after the first month. They have a great relish for insects of every kind, and thrive upon them as well as upon hemp-seed. When designed for the table, they ought to be killed at an early age, at which time the flesh is more juicy than that of other poultry of the same age, and very like that of the pheasant, though when old it becomes exceedingly tough.