210 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



IS THE KEEPING OF POULTRY PEOFITABLE ? 



T1113 question has been asked time and again. 

 We answer, Yes. It has been shown in our agri- 

 tsultural papers, tliat on a small scale, from ten to a 

 hundred hens may be made to pay a protitfrom thirty 

 lis'e cents to one duUar per head for each hen. But 

 poultry-keeping, in one point of view, is not unlike 

 some other occupations ; therefore, to make it pay, 

 it is of the first importance that a person should 

 start correctly. When a man engages in a mercan- 

 tile or manufacturing business, he makes, or should 

 make, himself master in a measure of his business. 

 So with poultry-keeping. The lirst step, then, to- 

 ward rendering it a paying business, is a knowl- 

 edge of the management, and a good selection of 

 fowls. A proper mode of treatment is absolutely 

 necessary to success ; and it will not be found ad- 

 vantageous to engage in the business extensively 

 under any other method than that we have men- 

 tioned. 



Looking at the chicken merely as a machine for 

 the conversion of cheap materials into a costly ar- 

 ticle of animal food, the point to be considered by 

 those Avho have this olyect in view, and would be 

 guided by motives of economy in their selection, 

 is not which machine will consume least of the 

 raw material, but which will manufacture the ar- 

 ticle most expeditiously, and give the quickest re- 

 turn of serviceable food ; and here we think it will 

 not be questioned that the Brahma fowls possess 

 this property in an eminent degree. 



Mr. Post, a neighbor, kee[is a small flock of 

 Brahma fowls, and has been preeminently success- 

 ful in rearing them ; but then he understands the 

 l)usiness, and attends to it morning, noon and night 

 — showing large returns, and amply remunerating 

 the owner for the labor and all expenses incurred 

 in keeping them. The statements which follow 

 are doubtless correct and truthful representations, 

 and are accounted for by the fact that all the feed 

 was purchased, and that i)articular attention was 

 given them. They were well su|)i)lied witli animal 

 as well as other food, in sutticient quantity, and 

 were clean and free from vermin. By his care and 

 management, he made them pay a clear profit, ac- 

 cording to his statement, of over two dollars per 

 hen. Tlie time spent in the care of them was more 

 of recreation than labor. 



Ilere is his statement: "I commenced with 30 

 hens, which produced within the year, commencing 

 on Christmas day, 1858, and ending on the 24th of 

 December, 1859, 5,223 eggs. Set 21 hens and 

 raised 210 chickens, which were disposed of as 

 poultry at 50 cents each, reserving 2U pullets for 

 breeding stock. Sold 18 barrels of manure for $18. 

 Wintered 50 hens and 3 cocks, which comprises my 

 present stock. Paid for grain and other food, $95." 



RECAPITULATION. 



Sold Eggs, averaging 15 cents per dozen $90 00 



" Chickens as poultry ^ 62 50 



" 18 barrels Manure 18 00 



PaiJ for Feed. 



Net profit $75 50 



No account has been set do-wn for the 20 pullets 

 added to the breeding stock, which, valued at one 

 dollar each, would swell the amount to $95 — a 

 pretty fair profit for an investment of $30 in fowls. 



Mr. Post thinks it is no more expense to keep 



the large quiet Brahma fowls than the commoa 

 hens, while they are twice or three times as large, 

 and better winter layers, better mothers, more do- 

 cile, very careful of their young, and their flesh 

 (we differ with him on this point,) tine and good 

 flavored. He considers them in every respect bet- 

 ter and more profitable than any other breed. The 

 early hatched pullets commenced laying in Septem- 

 ber and October, and continued through the win- 

 ter, furnishing eggs at that season when fresh eggs 

 are scarce and command the highest price. 



These fowls were confined to a small yard in 

 winter, with an occasional run on the street in fair 

 weather ; and when seen at a distance reminds me 

 of a small flock of sheep — being large and of a 

 light color. 



By the foregoing, it will be seen how to make 

 the rearing of poultry profitable ; and we do not 

 know how to do it in a more satisfactory manner 

 than by recording the experience of others. A 

 very important step, however, toward making poul- 

 try-keeping profitable, it will be noticed, is to pro- 

 vide comfortable quarters for them in cold and 

 stormy weather. Their liouse should be proof 

 against frost. 



We have omitted to mention that Mr. Post fed 

 his fowls daily a small allowance of clover hay in 

 winter, of which they seemed very fond. 



Po^keepsie, May, 1860. 0. N. BEMENT 



HOW TO GET EID OF CHICKEN-LICE, AND TO KEEP 

 HENS FREE FEOM THEM. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer : — Two years ago my 

 chickens were infested with vermin, and my hen- 

 house (which is also my wood and coal-house,) so 

 overrun with the lice that no one could go into it 

 without being covered with them. They were a 

 great pest. To get rid of them I sifted air-slaked 

 lime over the roosts, floor, wood, coal, and every- 

 thing in the house, but to no purpose. 



Just then, I saw the statement of a woman in 

 one of my agricultural periodicals, saying that she 

 did not know that sassafras roosts would prevent 

 chickens from having lice, but she did know that 

 when she had such roosts her chickens were never 

 troubled with vermin. 



Upon this hint I acted. I got some sassafras 

 poles for roosts, and scattered the bark of sassafras 

 roots among the nests. The result was that the 

 lice soon disappeared. 



My neighbor S. was in the same predicament 

 with his hens and hen-house three weeks ago — the 

 nest of one sitting-hen being so full of lice that she 

 deserted her eggs. 1 informed him how I had got 

 rid of them, and he immediately procured sassafras 

 poles for roosts, and scattered sassafras bark about 

 the hen-house and in the nests, with the same re- 

 sult that followed my experiment. His hens are 

 now free from lice. 



To try the effect of sassafras upon the lice, he 

 dropped some of them upon pieces of the bark; 

 the consequence was, that almost instantly upon 

 touching it they died. He also dropped pieces of 

 the bark among the deserted eggs, which were cov- 

 ered with lice, and noticed that when a piece fell 

 among them, there was an immediate scampering 

 to get away from it. From these experiments, I 

 infer that sassafras is fatal to chicken-lice, 



Washington at/y. N. SABGENT. 



