138 FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 



There is still another reason why attention should be given to the selection and fitting of pos- 

 sible show specimens. It leads the poultryman to study hia stock much closer than he is likely 

 to do if he gives no attention to exhibition quality and condition, and though he should not 

 show a single specimen, all the time and thought he has given to this work will be found when 

 he comes to mate his fowls for the next season, to have been well spent. The matter of fitting 

 birds for exhibition will be treated more at length in the next lesson. 



The Poultryman Who Begins in the Fall. 



I am often asked what time of the year is best to begin poultry keeping. Judging by results 

 of first efforts I cannot say that it makes a great deal of difference, but the fall has always 

 seemed to me the best time to begin, because beginning at this season experiences come in their 

 logical order, and something of the handling of adult stock is learned before hatching and rear- 

 ing questions press for consideration. 



The poultryman beginning now, if on an old plant, has to take much the same steps in getting 

 houses ready for winter as have already been mentioned. One building new houses, of course 

 has no cleaning up or repairing to do, but unless buildings are already well advanced they must 

 be pushed rapidly to have them ready for the stock before winter sets in. 



It is best not to buy stock until the buildings are practically ready, for fowls coming to a new 

 place will not stand confinement in makeshift quarters as well as fowls reared on the premises 

 do, being continued longer than advisable in the summer quarters. In fact the stock in summer 

 quarters may come along as fast at present as if in winter quarters, but the point is to avoid 

 moving them just as they are about to begin laying, and to guard against too much exposure, 

 when, as is often the case, the coops are unsuitable for cold, stormy weather. 



With fowls brought to a new place, sickness may easily develop if conditions are specially 

 unfavorable. Hence it is better to have the house all ready before a fowl is put into it, and not 

 to get fowls until the house is ready for them. A great many do buy fowls and keep them con- 

 fined in small coops perhaps for a mouth, while making the house ready. This gives the fowls 

 a very poor start for the winter. 



