BROILER RAISING 377 



or excessively fat birds being undesirable. A large mass of solid 

 fat protruding from the lower posterior part of the abdomen 

 makes the bird unsuitable for the best trade. 



Broiler raising is one of the greatest specialties of the poultry 

 industry. Its conception and development as an exclusive busi- 

 ness was first attempted in the year 1885. It was at first carried 

 on as a side issue to general farming, especially fruit growing and 

 market gardening. The prevailing high prices for rapidly grown 

 young chicks during winter and spring, combined with the intro- 

 duction of improved methods in artificial incubation and brooding, 

 were largely responsible for this development and rapidly increas- 



FIG. 174. A flock of fowls ready for market. 



ing popularity. Great numbers of people went into the business; 

 a few succeeded where many failed. As with everything else 

 which starts with a boom, a reaction followed. 



At the present time the poultryman has come to realize that 

 the most profitable, and really most suitable, place for the rais- 

 ing of market broilers is a general poultry farm, where the time 

 given to their production can be regulated by the market price 

 and the labor required. A few of these large and exclusive broiler 

 plants are in existence to-day and paying good dividends. The 

 country is dotted here and there with traces of the boom when it 

 was at its height. The amount of money sunk in this one line of 

 poultry work, largely because of inexperience and lack of capital 

 of the investors, is enormous. 



The great bulk of broilers which reach the larger markets 

 come from general farms and egg farms, and are shipped to the 

 markets in the late spring and early summer. They are not pro- 

 duced as a main source of revenue, but are a by-product, as it 



