CHAPTER XVIII. 

 The Purebred Business Hen. 



F. Q. White, who has met with much success as a breeder, gives the 

 following good advice: 



One of the questions continually asked by those thinking about trying 

 to make poultry profitable is: "Would I not be just as successful with 

 common fowls as with purebred or fancy stock? If not, why?" There are 

 several reasons why it pays to keep purebred hens. First, your flock is 

 uniform, and you can give the feed and care that your variety needs. 

 With common mixed flocks you are feeding some hens fat, while others 

 may not get what they need. Your chickens are much evener if all 

 one kind, and if you are selling for broilers to a fancy trade, you would 

 see a difference between a crate of nice purebred Wyandottes or Plymouth 

 Rocks and a crate of red, white, blue and speckled scrubs. It might easily 

 make a difference of two or three cents a pound. Now pick up the market 

 quotations and note the prices on "fancy selected white" and the next 

 grade, which means plain "fresh eggs." There you find a difference again 

 of two or three cents a dozen. Does it cost any more tn raise these fancy 

 broilers or fancy eggs? Not a cent more after you get started. Of course 

 it costs more to get a start in any purebred stock than in mongrels. Care- 

 ful breeders have been at work for years developing these different 

 breeds, each for a specific purpose, and it stands to reason that they will 

 fulfill that purpose better than those with only hit or miss or no breeding. 



We sometimes hear of some woman who is making money from com- 

 mon hens, but this only proves she understands her business and would 

 make more if she had a good strain of purebred. It is a v/ell-known fact 

 that eggs of different breeds do not hatch alike, and some are much more 

 difficult to hatch than others. One should take all these things into con- 

 sideration and study the markets and their own likings, for anyone will 

 make a much greater success with a breed he likes. After you have made 

 your selection do not buy a male and try to grade up scrubs, and do not 

 pay $2.5 for a show trio of fancy birds. First, get either a few settings 

 or a hundred or more eggs of the breed you want from some breeder 

 you can rely on to treat you fairly: then study your strain: find out its 

 weak points, and buy males to correct those faults. This is when you want 

 to buy a Standard and find what that breed should look like to win prizes. 

 You will soon be proud of your flock and you will want to show all 

 your friends yoTir bird". Tf your hens are inclined to be too short-backed 

 you should buy a male with the opposite tendency. Tf they are weak in 



