SECTION LVII. THE MANAGEMENT OF 

 POULTRY 



THE poultry products of the United States are esti- 

 mated to be worth about five hundred million dollars each 

 year. The hen has even a stronger claim than this on our 

 care. In her eggs and in the flesh of her chickens she 

 furnishes the most nutritious kind of human food. Fowls 

 are still further useful on the farm because of the large 

 numbers of injurious insects that they destroy. They also 

 make profitable use of waste material, such as grass, sur- 

 plus vegetables, bruised fruit, and spilled grain. Some 

 kinds of fowls afford valuable feathers. 



Improving the flock. By saving eggs from only the 

 best layers for hatching there will be every year an increase 

 in the number of eggs laid by the flock. Hens have been 

 raised that produced more than two hundred eggs in a 

 year (Fig. 202). This was done by selecting through 

 several generations the best layers and the roosters hatched 

 from eggs laid by the best hens. Those who cannot at 

 once have pure-bred fowls should improve the flock by 

 using only pure-bred cocks. 



Food for poultry. Fowls lay best and grow best when 

 allowed some exercise. The insects that they catch 

 while ranging in orchard or pasture or field form a most 

 nutritious diet. When fowls are not permitted to range, 



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