No. 4.] POULTRY KEEPING. 419 



are almost clear profit. In many cases, considering that the 

 eggs and poultry consumed by the family pay for salable! 

 food consumed by the fowls and for labor, the total receipts 

 are profit. In few cases is there any cash outlay worth men- 

 tioning on account of the poultry ; so that, even with a low 

 rate of production of eggs and with heavy losses of chicks, 

 there is not a loss which the poultry keeper feels, — a loss 

 which drains his pocket-book. 



Compare and contrast such conditions with those which 

 obtain under intensive methods, where as many as 400 hens 

 may be kept on an acre of land, and where five to ten acres 

 is considered ample room for several thousand head of young- 

 stock. In the case supposed the poultryman buys all food. 

 The consumption of food by the laying hen goes right on, 

 whether she is producing eggs or not. A few thousand head 

 of young stock may consume hundreds of dollars worth of 

 food before any of them are ready for market. Under such 

 circumstances the poultryman must either have capital suffi- 

 cient to carry his stock through unproductive periods, or 

 must work and plan to secure in some way sufficient income 

 to pay current expenses. Failing at these points, he must 

 ultimately go out of the business. If he has stock enough 

 to take all his time, that prevents his making a few dollars 

 elsewhere when the dollars from the poultry are not coming- 

 in, thus making him wholly dependent upon his poultry for 

 an income and a living. His crowded stock requires, pro- 

 portionately, far more labor to keep it healthy and produc- 

 tive than does stock kept under the half-natural conditions 

 on the general farm. It must produce better to pay for the 

 food he buys for it and for his labor, and he must strain 

 every nerve to avoid losses, for every chick or fowl lost must 

 directly or indirectly be paid for in cash. No exclusive 

 poultry business could stand such a percentage of loss as 

 occurs on the average farm. 



With sufficient capital and ability, many persons have 

 made a success of poultry keeping by intensive methods. 

 No doubt some succeed this way who would not succeed if 

 they attempted to combine poultry keeping with farming. 

 But that does not prove that it is the best way or the most 



