CHAPTER XII. 



WHY DO WE FAIL? HOW CAN WE SUCCEED? 



Before attempting to raise poultry in large numbers, by the 

 hundreds or thousands, and before attempting to start a poultry farm 

 it is necessary that you have some, yes, considerable, practical ex- 

 perience. You can get this by engaging in the business in a small 

 way for yourself, but better still is to secure a position on some 

 large practical poultry farm. Nearly every state now has a chair in 

 poultry husbandry in connection with the agricultural college and 

 experiment station, and you should arrange to take at least a short 

 course at some of these splendid institutions, and complete the course 

 if your circumstances will permit. Never undertake the poultry busi- 

 ness on a large scale until you have done one or both of these things, 

 and it is much safer to do both. 



WHY DO POULTRY PLANTS FAIL? 



Because they are "poultry plants," and not what they should 

 be, "poultry farms." There is quite a difference between a poultry 

 plant and a poultry farm. On a poultry plant, everything is arti- 

 ficial, congested, and the plant erected as a rule with but little view 



This is a fair representation of the method used by many of the large 

 poultry farms where hundreds of chickens are kept- continuously on the same piece of 

 ground, and you cannot expect to meet with success if you keep poultry under congested 

 and unduly artificial conditions. 



to economy of material in building, or of labor in operation. But 

 little attention is paid as a rule to nature's way of doing things, or to 

 the observation of the rules of health. The birds are kept in small 



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