REPORT OF THE POULTRY MANAGER 237 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



(c) They should not be expected to ' pick up all their own living.' This practice 

 is too common. Chickens so treated or in any other way neglected are not likely to 

 make good market specimens, breeding stock or show birds. 



(d) Qhickens, their coops and colony houses should be kept free from lice. Lice- 

 infested chickens do not thrive. 



(e) A thriving chicken should be a hearty eater, an industrious forager and quick 

 grower. 



The faithful observance of the foregoing conditions is likely to be followed by the 

 best results in the rearing of the better class of table poultry and the obtaining of 

 reliable eggs. The proper food and treatment for chickens will be found in a follow- 

 ing page. 



APPRECIATION OF THE BETTER QUALITY. 



Farmers and others who contemplate going into «poultry and egg production will 

 find it to their advantage to correctly size up the requirements of the present day 

 markets. They should, from the outset, make it a rule to produce none but the best 

 quality of poultry and eggs. That the better quality receives the highest price is 

 shown in the following letters from farmers, their wives or daughters: — 



Petrolea, November 20, 1905. 



Dear Sir, — I am offered by Mr. Gatehouse, of Dorchester street, Montreal, to whom 

 you referred me, the following prices : 



Eight to 10 cents per lb. for ordinary farm chickens; 10 to 14 cents per lb. for 

 fattened chickens according to quality. 



Fresh eggs 40 cents per dozen, with the prospects of an advance in a few days. 

 I received his letter a week ago (November 13). 



The poultry prices I did not consider high enough to tempt me to ship. Eggs at 

 prices named would pay me well. As a result I may keep one hundred pure bred hens. 

 Those I have are mixed. — Hattie E. S. . 



In reply, the above correspondent was advised to carry out her intention of keeping 

 none but pure bred Plymouth Rocks, which would not only give her eggs, but chickens 

 of the most acceptable market types. In this way she would have opportunity to receive 

 the highest values for both articles. 



The following is an instance where the best quality poultry, properly plucked and 

 dressed, received the highest prices : 



Myrtle, Ont., October 23, 1906. 



Dear Sir, — We sent our poultry to Mr. H. Gatehouse, Dorchester street, Montreal, 

 and received the following prices for them : Barred Plymouth Rock cockerels (dressed) 

 15 cents per lb. Ducks — Pekin and Rouen — of large size and good quality, 16 cents 

 per lb. 



It cost one cent per lb. for express charges to Montreal. The cockerels were dressed 

 in the same manner as were the poultry shown by the Central Experimental Farm at 

 the Central Canada Exhibition in Ottawa last month (September). They were plucked 

 but not drawn, with feathers on wing tips, and their heads placed under their wings. 

 We send all our poultry to Mr. Gatehouse. — (Sgd.) Mrs. F. Lea. 



The following is another instance of the better quality receiving best prices : 



Elmhurst, Ramsay, November 14, 1905. 

 Dear Sir, — In July last I sold April hatched chickens at 20 cents per lb. In 

 August the May chicks at 16 cents per lb. Live weight in both cases. Up to this date 

 I have sold 90 cockerels. — Mrs. Jos. Yuill. 



margins of profit made by farmers, instances of successful management. 



The question as to possible margins of profit in poultry keeping is frequently 

 asked. For many years past it has been the contention of enthusiastic advocates of 



