TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS 61 



attention. Later on, if found desirable, the business may be in- 

 tensified and the method of management changed to meet changed 

 conditions. 



Time to Start. For the production of market eggs the best 

 time to begin actual operations will be with the spring hatching. 

 The houses may be built during the summer and made ready for 

 the mature pullets in the fall. This will give good results in the 

 least possible time. When it is desirable to start with adult birds 

 for egg production, it will be necessary to have the houses built 

 during the fall and winter and have the birds in them by January, 

 so that they can be fed and cared for at least two months before 

 the eggs are saved for hatching. 



Where market broilers are the object, the incubator and brooder 

 houses should be completed by the first of September, so that the 

 first hatches can be accommodated by that time. The broilers 

 may then be ready by Thanksgiving time, which is the opening 

 of the broiler season. 



All things considered, the spring of the year will generally 

 be the best time to start, as the birds can be cared for during the 

 summer much easier than during the winter. It is cheaper to 

 hatch and rear young birds than to purchase a considerable num- 

 ber of adults. The buyer of adults is not always sure of getting 

 good layers. The purchase of a few adults of known ancestry and 

 good breeding is the safest way to start. Their eggs may be 

 hatched and a good strain built up in that way. 



To Achieve Success. A small beginning, with from 200 to 

 500 birds, in connection with some other branch of farm work, 

 from which the support of the family can come, may develop in 

 a few years into a sound and profitable business. The growth of 

 the work each year can be governed by the success attained, by 

 allowing the profits to pay for each yearly increase. This method, 

 combined with as much previous practical training as possible, 

 will be a safe guarantee of success and will afford a pleasant occu- 

 pation to any prospective poultryman. 



Hindrances to Success. The three main causes of failure are 

 the following: (1) A wrong personality of the poultryman him- 

 self, in not being suited either mentally or physically to the work. 

 (2) Next in importance is the nonattention to details, or leaving 

 them to others whose interest is not what it should be. (3) Start- 

 ing with weak, impure, or poorly bred birds. This last factor seri- 

 ously needs to be considered, and it will pay the purchaser well 



