274 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



summer our yards held about five hundred 

 hens and growing pullets. There had 

 been no accidents worth mentioning, and 

 the percentage of loss had been very small. 

 So far as increase was concerned, we had every 

 reason to be satisfied. Another year would 

 easily give us a flock of a thousand hens. From 

 that point almost anybody would have read his 

 title clear on paper. 



But we stopped with the five hundred and 

 then began to cut down the number till we had 

 got back to a flock just about large enough for 

 our own table needs. We've stayed at that 

 point since. We had found out that we were 

 up against a big undertaking. If we had 

 stayed with it for another year we couldn't 

 by any chance have missed losing. 



The solemn truth is that hatching chickens is 

 merely a detail of the chicken business. We 

 had no trouble at all with that part of it, nor 

 with bringing the hatches through to maturity. 

 The difficulty was quite aside from that. 



It seems inexcusable, looking back over it; 

 but we hadn't figured on the very obvious fact 

 that it must take a lot of time to give proper 

 care to a thousand hens. A flock of two or 

 three dozen made no great demand; that was 



