Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 151, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 June 1920 — USE OF CONVENIENT HOME-MADE DEVICES SWELLS PROFITS FROM POULTRY FLOCK [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

USE OF CONVENIENT HOME-MADE DEVICES SWELLS PROFITS FROM POULTRY FLOCK

(Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) In a certain small town which needs no name, live William Black and John Smith. They are next-door neighbors and good friends, although totally unlike in temperament and disposition. Last year both of them became convinced of the value of a back yard -poultry flock and each decided to Install chickens in his own spacious back yard to supply his family with eggs and broilers. Mr. Black is the type of man who always quotes w’hen anyone lifts an eyebrow at some of his extravagant purchases, “that the best is always the cheapest in the end." Mr. Smith, on the other hand, believes that often acheaper article will serve the purpose equally well and that the difference in cost looks well in his savings account book. Standardbred Fowls Selected. When it came to selecting a flock Mr. Smith and Mr. Black were agreed that standardbred fowls would more than pay for their increased initial expense by producing more eggs than

would mongrels, so they arranged with a local chicken breeder for flocks of a good egg-producing strain. He was to deliver the birds as soon as accommodations were ready for them. On the matter of housing, the prospective poultry keepers held widely divergent views. Mr. Black hired a carpenter at $6 a day to erect for him a good-looking, nicely finished poultry house. When the last coat of paint was op it truly was as his high-school son declared it to be, “a work of art.” A house so perfectly finished demanded the best equipment and Mr. Black bought it. The number of things which he discdvered, with the aid of a salesman, that a properly brought up flock of chickens should have was

amazing to his family and depleting to his purse. Mr. Smith, on the other hand, decided that he could build his own poultry house with the aid of his son. He procured two piano boxes and some smaller packing cases and they set to work. Both were handy with tools and In a short time the piano boxes had been converted into a comfortable, sanitary domicile for the chickens. The piano box house had been located In a corner of the yard, where the fence which was already there would serve for two sides of the yard. A few posts and some chicken netting completed the Inclosure. Quickgrowing vines were planted and soon screened the yard and poultry house from view and the little shed served Its, purpose well. Both Flocks Did Well. Both flocks were given good care and did well and the Black and Smith families enjoyed the strictly fresh poultry products. At the end of the year, however, Mr. Black declared that only a rich man could afford to keep poultry in the city. He was discussing the subject;, with Mr. Smith: “Ofl course, strictly fresh eggs taste better than you can buy, but heavens, man, their cost! All we had cost me about a dozen, not to mention my work In caring for the flock. No, sir, no more back-yard poultry keeping for me. I can’t afford It” Then Mr. Smith spoke up: “Your trouble is that of many others who go into poultry raising. You spend too much on the house and equipment Nests made out of orange boxes or coops made out of barrels may not look as elegant,as those you can buy but they serve their purpose and cost almost nothing. My accounts show that the eggs my flock produced cost us much less than we could have bought them on the market for aside from the flock Itself, you see I had little capital invested in the project.” “I guess you are right,” said Mr. Black, “but I do like everything around my place to be well built.” “So do I,” retorted Mr. Smith, “but until I have a larger income I fear I can’t have everything I want When I built that shack over there for my chickens," he continued, “I didn’t have any guide to go by, but the other day I picked up a United States department of agriculture farmers’ bulletin that tells all about back yard poultry keeping, and it gives instructions about making just such a house as I made. I see they recommend inexpensive housing for .back-yard flocks. It Is Bulletin No. 889, and anyone can get it without cost by writing for it. Wish I had had a copy when I built for it would have proven mighty helpful.”

Round Coops Are to Be Preferred to A-Shaped Ones.

An Efficient Homemade Hopper.