Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 238, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1913 — HOW POULTRY MAY BE MADE PROFITABLE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOW POULTRY MAY BE MADE PROFITABLE

(By KATHERINE A. GRIMES.) “The proof of the pudding is in the eating,” and the proof of success in the poultry business is in the profit made at selling time. You must begin to plan as to when and how you are going to market your fowls about as soon as the eggs are set —or even before, so as to know what your aim is to be —whether mature dressed poultry, birds for breeding, or frying chickens. Of course it all depends upon what the demand in your vicinity is for. If you live where there will be sale for good birds for breeding, it may not pay you to sell many fowls to the market. If you find a good call for broilers or small chicks for frying—and these usually bring good prices—you might do your best work in raising some kind of earlymaturing fowls that will make a pound and a half at six weeks or two months old. If you intend to sell dressed poultry, it is usually best to choose a breed having yellow legs and light-colored feathers, as they look nicer than the black-legged, black-colored varieties. The meat is not a bit better, but you know it is looks that count when a buyer comes into a market. As soon as the pullets can be told from the roosters, they should be separated, and unless you expect to sell them for breeding, the surplus males should be fattened and disposed of as early as possible. If you want to hurry them onto the market, one of the very best plans is that known as the crate-feeding method. Take some slats about an inch and a half wide —lath will do very nicely—and make a coop with a flat top and a slat bottom, about 18 Inches wide, the same in height, and long enough to accommodate the number of fowls you have to fatten. Allow about six Inches in length to each bird. Divide your crate into sections that will hold four or five fowls each. Set it up on a trestle —a couple of sawhorses make good supports—so the droppings will fall through the slat bottom and not soil the coop. • Now make a V-shaped trough the same length as your coop. This is used for both feed and water. The feed should consist of finely-ground oats mixed to a stiff batter with skimmilk or preferably the latter. Feed this mixture three times a day, but do not let it stand in the troughs. Give them ample time, say half an hour, to eat all they want, and

then if any is left, clean out the trough well and fill with cool, fresh water. This should be left befoil them until next feeding time.

A cup of grit should be fastened where they can get at it all the time. A little green stuff and mixed with the feed is a good appetizer, but not indispensable.

Two weeks in a coop like this will nearly double the weight of a thrifty bird. Even the culls and “runts” can be brought to a very satisfactory market stage in a few days. For old hens, such as every flock should be cleared of once a year, it is the best possible plan to get them into shape for selling. The flesh of crate-fatten-ed fowls is white and tender, not having been toughened by exercise. Then, too, there is the satisfaction of knowing that only clean, wholesome food has been eaten. To a fastidious person this makes a great difference. Probably the best way to market poultry, for the average boy who has a small flock, is to work up a trade among customers. This can easily be done where the same plan has been followed in selling eggs. If he has kept his eggs up to a high standard, the buyer reasons that his chickens will Joe so as well. Even on the start he can demand, and get a price that is much above the ordinary market stock, provided, always, that he sets and keeps a high quality as his standard.

Birds that are to be kept for sale as breeders should never be allowed to become fat. They should be kept in good in clean, attractive quarters, and always where they can be shown to prospective customers, at a moment’s notice. The finest bird in a dirty, bad-smelling coop will not show to good advantage, and will not sell-as quickly as an ordinary one in attractive surroundings. Birds having white plumage should be kept where they can be kept clean, otherwise they will not show for what they are.

Sell your roosters early, keep the pullets to increase your flock, and get rid of your old hens as soon as you are through with them for sitters and mothers. Never sell a bird for breeding purposes unless it is first class, even at a lower figure than common. If a fowl is to advertise your business, and bring you new buyers, it must be of the best. Don’t let anything else go from your yard.

View of a Chicken Range on a Poultry Farm Where From Three to Four Thousand Chickens Are Reared Annually.