16 Farm Poultry 



egg producers, when kept under favorable conditions 

 for egg production, they have become most popular 

 with a large class of poultry-keepers who main- 

 tain comparatively small flocks largely to supply 

 the demands of the home table. Farmers and others, 

 who keep a few fowls as a secondary consideration, 

 find this class most useful. Aside from furnishing 

 the home table they are sufficiently economical 

 in the production of both eggs and meat to permit 

 the surplus to be sold on the market to good advan- 

 tage. The Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, and 

 Rhode Island Reds, are familiar breeds of this class. 

 The fancy breeds include those fowls that are 

 reared on account of their peculiar or pleasing 

 appearance, and are not bred exclusively for utility. 

 While many of the so-called fancy breeds may 

 serve a useful purpose in furnishing eggs and meat, 

 they cannot successfully compete with other classes 

 when usefulness alone is considered. The Polish, 

 Bantams, Frizzles, and Silkies may be taken as 

 familiar representatives. 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS AND SIZE OF EGG BREEDS 



While those breeds and varieties of fowls that 

 may be classed as distinctively egg producers vary 

 somewhat in size and form, yet they differ so 

 materially from the general-purpose and meat breeds 

 that they may well be placed by themselves if for 



