E^g Farming in California 



Petalams Conditions Favorable for Successful Poultry Keeping. Methods of Housing, Feeding. 

 Incubating and Brooding on Small and Large Egg Farms. 



James Dryden 



Professor of Poultry Husbandry. Oregon Agricultural College and Experiment Stat 



n. Corvallis, Oregon. 



POULTRY-KEEPING is not a specialized industry 

 in this country or in any other country. The 

 great bulk of poultry products come from farms 

 where a system of mixed husbandry prevails. The poul- 

 try district of Petaluma, California, offers, however, an 

 exception to this rule. It is a district that stands alone. 

 There are special poultry farms in other districts, but 

 there is no district in this country or in any other country 

 so extensively and exclusively devoted to poultry-keeping 

 as Petaluma. 



During the past year the poultry farms of that dis- 

 trict produced some 80,000,000 eggs, and eggs and poul- 

 try shipped from Petaluma had a value of some $2,500,000. 

 The town of Petaluma has a population of about 8,000 

 people and as many more within a radius of five miles. 

 These people are almost wholly dependent upon the 

 poultry farms. 



It will enable us to grasp these figures better if we 

 do a little figuring. If the year's product of eggs were 

 loaded on to wagons, a ton on each, it would make a train 

 of wagons about twenty miles long. If the eggs were 

 placed on the ground in a row, end to end, they would 

 reach from Petaluma to Chicago. 



Petaluma, therefore, becomes an interesting field of 

 study in seeking an answer to the question, shall we 

 make poultry-keeping a specialized business? During the 

 past six years I have made three visits to the fariis of 

 Petaluma, the last being made in February, 1910. 



Examples of Profit-Making 



I think I discovered there evidence that shows that 

 special poultry farming is profitable at Petaluma. That 

 does not imply, of course, that it is always profitable or 

 that it cannot be made profitable in any other section of 

 the country. If it cannot be made to pay at Petaluma it 

 is my opinion that it cannot be made to pay anywhere else. 

 Let us discuss this point a little. 



It is easier to find evidence of no profit than of profit. 

 You can see the evidence by looking over the fence with- 

 out looking over the ledger account. One does not have 

 to investigate far to find evidence of failure at Petaluma. 

 Failures are due to one cause and another. I will men- 

 tion only one cause. The fame of Petaluma has gone 

 abroad as a great poultry district. Undoubtedly ex- 

 aggerated statements of the money to be made there have 

 been published. At any rate, great numbers of people 

 come to Petaluma from different sections of the country 

 to engage in poultry farming. The price of land shows 

 that there is a great demand for poultry farms. As much 

 as $500 an acre is paid for land near town for poultry 

 farming. Ten miles from town as much as $100 an acre 

 is paid for "chickens only." This shows the demand for 

 land. A great many of those who start in the business 

 there know little or nothing about it, and, of course, many 

 of them fail. There are many such cases. It would be 

 safe to say that there are more failures than successes, 

 but if we can find profitable farms, even though they may 

 be few, it will show that money may be made in the 

 business. 



I heard of a great many who were making money. It 

 was sometimes hard to get the evidence. Not many poul- 

 trymen keep books or know exactly what they are mak- 

 ing. Some few do. Here are a few cases of profitable 

 farming: 



On a seven acre farm near town the food bill for the 

 year was $2,203.50, and the eggs sold for $4,455.61. I 

 looked over the books and found an accurate account of 

 the amount of food purchased and the number and value 

 of eggs sold each month. I quote the egg sales for some 

 of the months, showing the best month and the poorest: 

 December, $495; October, $448; January, $250; February, 

 $220. This was the result from 1,500 hens. The work was 

 all done by one man, assisted at times by his wife. 



On a farm of ten acres there was an outlay of $2,300 

 for feed for hens and young stock and receipts of $4,700. 

 The number of hens was 1,800 in this case. 



On a farm of over a hundred acres with 6,000 hens 

 there was a profit of over $1 a hen. The food was all 

 purchased and hauled two or three miles from a railroad 

 station. Ten cows were kept on the place. Two men 

 and a boy did all the work. 



These are well authenticated cases and will serve the 

 purpose of showing that money can be made. There are 

 numerous others, probably just as successful, whose rec- 

 ords I did not secure. 



Petaluma Conditions 



The conditions are very favorable for successful poul- 

 try keeping. I know of no place where, on the whole, 

 the conditions are more favorable. 



First, I believe the climate to be very favorable. There 

 are few places in the country less subject to extremes of 

 temperature than Petaluma. This is due to the influence 

 of the Pacific Ocean, the coast being about fifty miles 

 away. There is no snow and very little frost. There is 

 no extremely cold weather. On the other hand there is 

 no extremely warm weather in summer. The rainfall is 

 moderate, amounting to 25 to 30 inches — I have not the 

 exact figures. On the whole, the climate is very favorable. 



The soil conditions may also be classed as favorable. 

 -^s a general rule the soil is light and porous. There is 

 good natural drainage, the country being somewhat roll- 

 ing and in places hilly. Some of the land is somewhat 



THE THK 



