Turkies

The housekeeper's instructor; or, uni... · William Augustus Henderson · 1791
Source
The housekeeper's instructor; or, universal family cook
Status
success · extracted 12 days ago
Not a recipe
No
Ingredients (13)
for young turkies
for fattening turkies
Instructions (15)
  1. Keep young turkies warm.
  2. Feed young turkies with curds, or green fresh cheese cut in small bits.
  3. Give young turkies new milk, or milk and water for drink.
  4. Alternatively, feed young turkies oatmeal and milk boiled thick together with a little chopped wormwood.
  5. Occasionally, feed young turkies eggs boiled hard and cut into little pieces.
  6. Feed young turkies often.
  7. When young turkies have gained strength, feed them abroad in a close walled place from which they cannot stray.
  8. Do not let young turkies out until the dew is off the grass.
  9. Bring young turkies in before night.
  10. For fattening, give turkies sodden barley or fodder oats for the first fortnight.
  11. For the next fortnight, cram turkies with a mixture of sifted barley-meal and new milk made into a stiff dough paste.
  12. Form the paste into long crams or rolls, big in the middle and small at both ends.
  13. Wet the crams in luke-warm milk.
  14. Gorge the turkey three times a day (morning, noon, and night) with the crams.
  15. In a fortnight, the turkey will be as fat as necessary.
Original Text
Turkies. TURKIES are birds of very tender constitution, and, while young, must be carefully watched and kept warm; for the hens are so negligent, that while they have one to follow them, they will never take any care of the rest. Turkies are great feeders of corn, and if kept on it will con- sume a prodigious quantity; but if left to their own liberty when grown up, they will get their own living by feeding on herbs, seeds, &c. As they are very apt to straggle, they will often lay their eggs in secret places, and therefore they must be often watched, and compelled to lay at home. They begin to lay in March, and will till April; but they should not be suffered to sit on more than twelve eggs at most. When they have hatched their brood (which will be in the time between twenty-five and thirty days) you must be particu- larly careful to keep the young ones warm; for the least cold will kill them. They must be fed either with curds, or green fresh cheese cut in small bits; and let their drink be new milk, or milk and water. Or you may give them oatmeal and milk boiled thick together, into which put a little wormwood chop- ped small, and sometimes eggs boiled hard, and cut into little pieces. They must be fed often, for the hen will not take much care of them; and when they have got some strength feed them abroad in a close walled place, from whence they cannot stray. You must not let them out till the dew is off the grass, taking care to have them in again before night, because the dew is very prejudicial to their health. When you fatten turkies, give them sodden barley or fod- der oats for the first fortnight, and for another fortnight cram them in the following manner. Take a quantity of barley- meal properly sifted, and mix it with new milk. Make it into a good stiff dough paste; then make it into long crams or rolls, big in the middle, and small at both ends. Then wet them in luke-warm milk, give the turkey a full gorge three times a day, morning, noon and night, and in a fortnight it will be as fat as necessary. The eggs of turkies are not only reckoned very wholesome in general, but they will likewise greatly contribute to the re- storing of decayed constitutions.
Notes
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