FOOD, PURE FOOD, AND FRESH FOOD 2/ 



are probably no better than others of the same general 

 type; there was no special reason for selecting them 

 unless it was that it was easier for us to get hens and 

 eggs of this breed in our neighborhood than the others. 



We started operations that first spring with a broody 

 hen and a setting of eggs which we purchased from a 

 neighbor. Later, we repeated this purchase three or 

 four times. But the first hen had not finished hatch- 

 ing out her setting (it takes three weeks) when we de- 

 cided that hatching eggs out nature's way wouldn't 

 give us enough chicks for our needs. We purchased a 

 sixty-egg incubator, heated by a kerosene-lamp. While 

 we still set hens, perhaps because "breaking up" 

 broody hens each year is almost as much trouble as 

 setting them, we believe a good, small incubator an 

 essential part of an ideal homestead. We purchased 

 eggs enough to fill the incubator twice that year from 

 farmers who had flocks of Reds. And we managed 

 to hatch out an exceptionally large proportion of 

 them. My recollection is that we started our poultry- 

 yard that first year with about 150 chicks. 



This number dwindled down, as is to be expected, 

 to about 100 chickens half of them pullets and half 

 of them cockerels. The first year we killed a good 

 many of the cockerels for fries in the course of the 

 summer. But the second year we came to the conclu- 

 sion that this was a most wasteful proceeding, and 

 ordered a set of instruments for caponizing. Eventu- 

 ally every member of the family learned how to ca- 

 ponize the cockerels. The operation is rather interest- 



