12 . GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY. 



essentials; and these being provided for, operations can be 

 commenced, and it becomes necessary to determine upon the 

 plan of proceeding. This, then, will be treated in the next 

 chapter. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE SYSTEM OF OPERATIONS, AND SELECTION OF STOCK. 



WHEN poultry are kept as a branch of domestic economics, it 

 will be obvious that the system to be pursued should vary 

 according to the extent of accommodation which can be 

 afforded, and to the object sought. Both these considerations 

 should be well weighed before operations are commenced ; and 

 the plan then determined upon as best adapted to the circum- 

 stances should, as long as those circumstances remain the same, 

 be consistently carried out and adhered to. 



It very frequently happens that a regular supply of eggs is 

 the sole object in view: and that neither the time, trouble, nor 

 space required to rear chickens with success can well be spared. 

 If, for instance, a covered shed fenced in with wire, as described 

 in the last chapter, with a small house at the end for roosting 

 and laying in, be the sole accommodation for the fowls, to 

 attempt rearing them would be folly ; * and yet they may be 

 kept so as to yield a good return upon their cost and main- 

 tenance. The proper plan in such a case will be to purchase 

 in the spring a number of hens proportioned to the size of the 

 run, and none exceeding a year old. A. cock is useless, as hens 

 lay very nearly as well without one ; and where eggs only are 

 wanted, this is balanced by his food, and his room is saved. 

 All these birds, if in good health and condition, will either be 

 already laying, or will commence almost immediately; and if 



* It is not meant to be denied that chickens can be reared in such cir- 

 cumstances, and that in good health and to a fair size. We have ourselves 

 done so. But it does not pay, and we do not intend to do it 



