60 HOW TO HATCH, BKOOD, FEED AND PREVENT 



Poultry raising appeals strongly to most people because of its adapta- 

 bility as a combination with farming. In fact, poultry keeping demands 

 the carrying on of some other lines of work inorder to make the most profit 

 possible from one's labor. The poultry business requires no great amount 

 of capital, and considerable poultry can be kept largely upon what would 

 otherwise be a waste; there is much waste about a farm that cannot be 

 utilized in any other way as effectively as by poultry, which pick up the 

 last grain, whether in the manger or in the refuse and convert it into 

 profit. Waste in the feed yard is also converted into profit; there is noth- 

 ing that will glean after hogs but poultry. Then when the grain is 

 threshed the straw pile will furnish a great deal of picking for them, even 

 with the best kind of threshing. In the fall there are small potatoes, cab- 

 bages, turnips, squashes, onions, carrots and beets that are not marketable; 

 poultry like them and will eat them with a relish. In fact, there is nothing 

 to take the place of poultry for converting the waste materials on a farm 

 into marketable products. There is no longer any question but that poul- 

 try is profitable, even when kept aJone, but much more so when the busi- 

 ness can be combined with other branches of farm work so that each de- 

 partment fits into the other, and the waste of one is utilized by the other. 

 Poultry keeping can be engaged in as a side line with almost any business 

 which will allow one time enough to give it careful attention each morning 

 and evening. Many business men are doing well with small flocks under 

 conditions that could hardly be termed favorable, but the hen will give a 

 good account of herself under almost any kind of a combination if she is 

 given reasonable care. On so many farms you will find the poultry badly 

 neglected. The women are generally expected to look after them, and if 

 they are not very strong and are doing their housework without any help, 

 you will find the hen house full of lice, mites and filth, not a fit habitation 

 for any living creature; Husbands, here is where you can lend a helping 

 hand and utilize your time on rainy days. Clean out, whitewash, renovate 

 and fumigate the hen house, and your wife will be perfectly willing to do 

 the rest. It is not necessary to build a castle for chickens, but it is neces- 

 sary that the house should be warm, roomy and properly lighted, and keep 

 in mind that old adage; it applies to hen houses as well as brooders and 

 colony houses. 



I have heard a great many persons express the desire to get onto a 

 small farm where they can make a comfortable living without having to 

 work too hard, and at the same time live an independent life. Poultry 

 offers one of the very best leaders for such a place and it pays as much 

 money for the labor and money invested as any kind of business one can 

 engage in. On a place of this kind one is able to be at home with one's 

 family, and places of this sort offer the best possible conditions for the 

 rearing of children. Such a home will always be looked upon with memo* 



