They cease to be chicks or chickens, and are called turkey-poults when the male and female distinctive characteristics are fairly established, the carunculated skin and comb of the cock being developed, which is called "shooting the red," or "putting out the red," and begins when they are eight or ten weeks old. It is the most critical period of their lives—much more so than moulting, and during the process their food must be increased in quantity, and made more nourishing by the addition of boiled egg-yolks, bread crumbled in ale, wheaten flour, bruised hempseed, and the like, and they must be well housed at night. When this process is completed they will be hardy, and able to take care of themselves; but till they are fully fledged it will be advisable to keep them from rain and cold, and not to try their hardness too suddenly.
Vegetables, as chopped nettles, turnip-tops, cabbage sprouts, onions, docks, and the like, boiled down and well mixed with barley-meal, oatmeal, or wheaten flour, and curds, if they can be afforded, form excellent food for the young poults; also steamed potatoes, boiled carrots, turnips, and the like. With this diet may be given buckwheat, barley, oats, beans, and sunflower seeds.
When they are old enough to be sent to the stubble and fields, they are placed in charge of a boy or girl of from twelve to fifteen years old, who can easily manage one hundred poults. They are driven with a long bean stick, and the duties of the turkey-herd is to keep the cocks from fighting, to lead them to every place where there are acorns, beech-mast, corn, wild fruit, insects, or other food to be picked up. He must not allow them to get fatigued with too long rambles, as they are not fully grown, and must shelter them from the burning sun, and hasten them home on the approach of rain. The best times for these rambles are from eight to ten in the morning, when the dew is off the grass, and from four till seven in the evening, before it begins to fall.
Turkeys are crammed for the London markets. The process of fattening may commence when they are six months old, as they require a longer time to become fit for the market than fowls. The large birds which are seen at Christmas are usually males of the preceding year, and about twenty months old. All experienced breeders repudiate "cramming." To obtain fine birds the chickens must be fed abundantly from their birth until they are sent to market, and while they are being fattened they should be sent to the fields and stubble for a shorter time daily, and their food must be increased in quantity and improved in quality. Early hatched, well fed young Norfolk cocks will frequently weigh twenty-three pounds by Christmas of the same year, and two-year-old birds will sometimes attain to twenty pounds. When two or more years old they are called "stags."
The domesticated turkey can scarcely be said to be divided into distinct breeds like the common fowl, the several varieties being distinguished by colour only, but identical in their form and habits. They vary considerably in colour—some being of a bronzed black, others of a coppery tint, of a delicate fawn colour, or buff, and some of pure white. The dark coloured birds are generally considered the most hardy, and are usually the largest. The chief varieties are the Cambridge, Norfolk, Irish, American, and French.
The Cambridge combines enormous size, a tendency to fatten speedily, and first-rate flavour. The tortoiseshell character of its plumage gives the adult birds a very prepossessing appearance around the homestead, and a striking character in the exhibition room. The colours may vary from pale to dark grey, with a deep metallic brown tint, and light legs. The legs should be stout and long.
The Norfolk breed is more compact and smaller-boned, and produces a large quantity of meat of delicate whiteness and excellent quality. The cocks are almost as heavy as the Cambridge breed, but the hens are smaller and more compact. The Norfolk should be jet, not blue black, and free from any other colour, being uniform throughout, including the legs and feet.
All the birds in a pen must be uniform.
The American wild turkey has become naturalised in this country, but being of a very wandering disposition is best adapted to be kept in parks and on large tracts of wild land. It is slender in shape, but of good size, with uniform metallic bronze plumage, the flight feathers being barred with white, and the tail alternately with white, rich dark brown, and black, and with bright pink legs. The wattles are smaller than in the other breeds, and of a bluish tinge. They are very hardy, but more spiteful than others, and are said to be also more prolific. Crosses often take place in America between the wild and tame races, and are highly valued both for their appearance and for the table. Eggs of the wild turkey have also often been taken from their nests, and hatched under the domesticated hen. The flavour of the flesh of the American breed is peculiar and exceedingly good, but they do not attain a large size.