It is natural for turkey hens to seek secluded places to lay their eggs. Yards that have comparatively short vegetation and are free from bushes or other places of concealment are best, because such conditions discourage the birds from laying outside the nests provided for them. A lookout for hidden nests must be maintained, otherwise eggs may not be collected regularly and may be frozen, partly incubated, or destroyed by animals. Sometimes the hidden nests can be found by watching the turkey hens carefully as they make their way to them, but an easier and quicker method is to confine the hens early some morning soon after they come from the roosts and then let them out about 2 p. m.; the laying hens will make straight for their nests in order to lay the eggs they have been holding. Nests are easily made of boxes or barrels placed inside the shelter or outside in the yards. Some turkey growers prefer to build nesting batteries with nests about 12 by 24 inches.
Figure 9.—Turkey trap nests. The dimensions of this nest are as follows: Width, 14 inches; depth, 24 inches; height in front, 19 inches; and height in hack, 45 Inches. The trap-nest fronts may be home-made, or commercial fronts may be used.
CARE OF HATCHING EGGS
Hatchability can be seriously damaged by holding eggs at temperatures above 65° or below 35° F. It is most important to hold eggs in a room that can be kept below 65°, preferably between 50° and 60°. Eggs should be collected several times daily and held on their sides or on the small end. It is best to turn eggs gently once daily while they are being held for hatching, but this is probably not necessary unless they are to be kept longer than a week. For best results they should not be held longer than 10 days but if they are held at a suitable temperature and are turned once a day, fair hatchability will be retained for as long as 3 weeks.
FEEDING
Feeding young breeding turkeys is a matter of supplying a growing ration in the fall and early in the winter, a laying ration late in the winter and in the spring, and a maintenance ration during the summer. Unless breeders are to be kept over for another year, they should be marketed, if possible, about June 1 in order to reduce feed costs and to aid in preventing the spread of blackhead and other diseases that may affect adult turkeys during the summer. If breeders are to be held over for the next season or until fall and if a good summer and fall range is available well away from the growing stock, the breeders are best carried through the summer on a daily feeding of whole grain such as a mixture of equal parts of corn, oats, and wheat. This mixture should be fed at the rate of one-fifth pound per hen daily as a supplement to feed obtained from the range. The toms, if ranged with the hens, should have access to grain in a feeder too high for the hens to reach. A better method is to pen the toms in a separate range lot and give them each one-half pound of grain daily in troughs.