30 



keeping. I find, too, that a majority of the progressive poultry 

 farmers of my acquaintance are working toward this combination. 



The possibilities in this combination will, perhaps, come out 

 more clearly if we review briefly the conditions of poultry culture 

 in that wjde area of the central west which produces a large sur- 

 plus of poultry products, and indicate some of the most striking 

 points of contrast between western farm methods and the inten- 

 sive methods which obtain in towns everywhere and on many 

 eastern poultry farms. There are many other eastern farms where 

 distinctively farm methods are in vogue, but in the west we find 

 them more nearly universal, and find almost nothing of the inten- 

 sive method outside of the towns. 



The farm flock of laying hens ranges in numbers from 50 or 60 

 to 250 or 300, 100 to 150 being perhaps the usual numbers for 

 average farms. The annual crop of chickens will range from 100 

 to 150, up to 400 or 500, 200 to 300 being perhaps a fair average. 



The points of present interest in regard to the handling of these 

 flocks are : That the labor of caring for them rarely interferes to 

 any serious extent with the other work of the farm, being per- 

 formed either by women, in the intervals taken from housework, 

 by children, or by the men as a part of the " chores." The stock 

 is not allowed to become so numerous that the care of it becomes 

 burdensome. That the fowls, both old and young, pick the greater 

 part of their living, subsisting mainly on food obtained by forag- 

 ing, and which would otherwise be wasted. What salable food is 

 fed them is not expensive, the actual cost of it being only the cost 

 of production. 



Under such conditions the receipts from poultry products 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 mentioning 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 sup- 

 posed 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 



