TWELFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X 477 



out In common practice. He does not look upon the chickens merely 

 as somfthing that can produce profit without equal attention as the 

 other things on the farm, but he classes them as a branch that needs 

 the same good care and attention that his dairy does. The owner In 

 this case has ccme to the conclusion that he can make the poultry 

 branch of h:"s farming pay a much greater return on the investment than 

 the cows. 



Up to three years ago this man had never given any special attention 

 to the poultry, but had been running a small dairy for a number of years 

 and had always kept a good many hogs to consume the skim milk, but 

 usually had a small surplus of milk and his good wife had been feeding it 

 to her mixed-up flock of hens. There came a time when she suggested 

 that they dispose of the mixed flock and get some good blood, and, man- 

 like, the husband rather kicked at first, but as she had the money of her 

 own to get a few he told her that if she cared to get them without break- 

 ing in on him, all right, but he did not care for them very much. One 

 dozen full-blood White Leghorn hens and a male to mate with them were 

 purchased, and as this was nearing hatching time she ordered a small 

 incubator — I believe she had a 100-egg size — and early in March she set 

 her machine with White Leghorn eggs. Now here is a po'nt I think 

 well worth considering in poultry — that is, make a specialty of some- 

 thing. She said that as the Leghorn was an egg specialist and the incu- 

 bator was a chicken specialist she thought she had the right combina- 

 tion, as she could hatch them out when she liked, and, as she wanted 

 to get them out early in order to have winter layers, the incubator was 

 the only thing that could be depended upon for that. 



This same woman is today the manager of the poultry business on this 

 farm, but she now has the hearty co-operation of "the man," as he can 

 now begin to see the "handwriting on the wall" so to speak. With 

 plenty of cane seed (I might add that they own a molasses mill and 

 raise lots of cane), sunflower seed, sheaf wheat and oats, and a supper 

 when it is cold from the corn crib supplemented mornings by the table 

 scraps and skim milk, this lady was able all winter the first winter to 

 get eggs. Not just a few as most all her neighbors were doing, but from 

 only eighty pullets from her first two hatches she was getting after No- 

 vember 1st, three to four dozen e'ggs a day and continued so all through 

 the cold months of January and February. This is something that had 

 never before been realized at this farm. And, by the way, don't you 

 think it enough to make any man sit up and take notice? 



Always before from that number of mixed-up hens they did not get eggs 

 at all. Now I don't wish to be understood as saying that it was alto- 

 gether the fault of the hens for not laying before, but you see there is 

 a pride in taking care of something nice. They had been let roost here 

 and there always before, but who could stand it to see these nice, proud- 

 Icoking White Leghorns take to the trees? They must be housed and 

 housed so that they will not suffer. This housing, added to the feed 

 of the mixed-up chickens, would perhaps have brought a fair yield of 

 eggs, but the interest was not there. Any one of the special essentials 



