POULTRY-CRAFT. 



CHAPTER 



Poultry Keeping and Poultry Keepers. 



1. Classification. Business and pleasure are often combined in poultry 

 keeping. This, and the complexity of the relations of the different branches 

 of the industry, makes a classification of poultry keepers difficult. The out- 

 line presented here will, however, give the reader at a glance an idea of the 

 relations of the different branches to each other, and of the principal com- 

 binations which occur. 



POULTRY 

 KEEPING. 



C As a business. f Market poultry. 



For Profit. j As an employment, j High class breeding 

 ^ As an investment. ^ and exhibition stock. 



C For family use. 



For Pleasure. < For exhibition, 

 v For fancy. 



2. Poultry Keeping as a Business. This is poultry keeping as 

 carried on by those who invest in it their capital and give it their time. The 

 last mentioned condition distinguishes it from poultry keeping as an invest- 

 ment. Only in recent years has poultry keeping taken a place among 

 recognized industries. The bulk of the country's enormous crop of poultry 

 products comes from many hundreds of thousands of small producers. The 

 number of poultry keepers making a living from the production of eggs and 

 poultry is very small compared with the great number of small producers, 

 but is rapidly increasing. To make the business successful a man must be an 

 expert in the management of fowls, and must have good business judgment, 

 with enough business training to make him accurate, methodical and prompt 

 in his work and dealings. Many of the successful poultrymen of today were 

 not experts when they began. Many learned business methods as their 

 establishments grew. One who would make such examples of success the 

 excuse for giving his capital, time and labor to an occupation he does not 

 understand should remember that, when these men began, the problem of 

 profitably keeping fowls in large numbers had not been solved, and successes 

 with fowls in small numbers were mostly matters of chance. With rare 

 exceptions they began with very limited capital. Lack of capital made it 



