CHAPTER XXIX 

 POULTRY 



THE raising of poultry is considered of rather incidental 

 importance on most farms. A few chickens are kept 

 for supplying the table with fresh eggs and an occasional 

 fowl. Perhaps a flock of turkeys, ducks or geese are added 

 for the sake of variety. Little attention is usually given to 

 the possibility of large profits from the sale of eggs and 

 poultry. 



Yet, in spite of this somewhat haphazard method of 

 treating the poultry industry, its aggregate returns are very 

 large. For more than five and one-half million farms have 

 a flock of chickens or other fowl. In addition, not a few 

 people in villages and towns keep enough fowl for home 

 use. 



1. Take a census of all the fowls on your home farm, 

 dividing into chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, etc. 



2. How many of each class are in their first year ; sec- 

 ond year; third year, etc.? 



3. Carefully estimate the value of each class of fowls, 

 and compute the total value of all. 



1. Distribution of Poultry Production 



Nearly five hundred million fowls are kept on the farms 

 for our population. Considerably more than one and one- 

 half billion dozen eggs are produced annually. This is 

 enough to supply every man, woman and child with fifteen 

 dozen eggs per year. The value of the eggs is in excess of 

 three hundred million dollars a year, or sufficient to pay 



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