POULTRY KEEPING AND KEEPERS 



worms and insects, while the poultry droppings 

 have a very beneficial effect upon the fruit yield, 

 because no manure is richer or more valuable than 

 hen manure. The gardener and dairyman have 

 many waste products which come in very handy 

 for feeding to a flock of 'hens, while the prod- 

 uct from the poultry can be marketed along with 

 their other goods at no extra expense, but at con- 

 siderable increase in price over that paid in the 

 open market. 



It is very probable that the greater part of this 

 country's poultry supply comes from flocks cared 

 Poultr ^ or P rnlc ip a lly by women. On farms 



Keeping for the care of the fowls is usually left to 

 Women; for the farmer's wife or daughter, because 

 Invalids ^ men are tOQ j^y W j ( .j 1 ^ regu l ar 



routine of farm work to " bother " with the hens; 

 while in towns the absence of the men from the 

 home during working hours leaves the care of the 

 poultry mostly to the women, even when the men 

 take an interest in the work. Women can raise 

 poultry just as successfully as men, on a small 

 scale; but, as a rule, poultry keeping on a scale to 

 make a living for a family is beyond a woman's 

 strength, unless she can press into service some 

 male member of the family or has hired help. 



Many invalids are attracted to poultry keeping 

 as an occupation, because the work is not confining 

 and it is outdoors for the most part, and because 



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