8 4 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



are weaned, but after that the young birds are nearly always 

 turned out to take their chances with the old ones. 



Under such conditions a farm flock is not often very pro- 

 ductive, yet, as the birds secure a large part of their food by 

 foraging, the flock may be more profitable than a more produc- 

 tive flock for which all food is bought and upon which a great 

 deal of labor is expended. While this way of keeping fowls on 

 farms is not in itself commendable, it is not to be altogether 



FIG. 81. A small farm stock of fowls, ducks, and turkeys 



condemned, because circumstances often compel the farmer to 

 treat his fowls as a sort of volunteer or self-producing crop. 

 The conditions on a farm admit of this, and as a matter of fact 

 the greater part of our enormous total production of eggs and 

 poultry comes from the half-neglected flocks on the ordinary 

 farms. Hence the conditions are tolerable where they are neces- 

 sary, but whenever it is possible to give farm fowls enough at- 

 tention to obviate the faults of common practice, the product and 

 the profits can be greatly increased with very little increase in the 



