GENERAL VIEWS. 



39 



From the foregoing it would seem that the 

 profits are very small, but it must be recollected 

 that the sale prices are very low, and that I had 

 the misfortune to lose many of my chickens by 

 hawks, and the greater part of my goslings by 

 confining them in a yard, when they should 

 have had the run of the pasture, which would 

 have saved considerable food, and probably the 

 lives of the goslings, and would have made a 

 difference on the credit side. I lost many of 

 my turkeys in the same way. The experience 

 of this year taught me that it will not answer 

 to confine in too small space either goslings or 

 turkeys after they are half grown. 



In 1843 the care of the poultry was intrusted 

 to my son, a lad of fifteen years, and the fol- 

 lowing is his account rendered on the first of 

 January, 1844. 



Poultry-yard^ Dr. 



To 69 Hens, valued at $25 87 



15 Cocks 7 56 



3 Turkeys . 1 88 



7 Geese 7 00 



1 Fancy Duck 1 00 



1 Guinea-fowl 25 



71 bush. Wheat Screenings, at 15 cts. . . 11 25 



15 " Corn "42 cts. . . 6 00 



31 " Oats " -24 cts. . . 7 44 



4 ' Millet "50 cts. . . 2 00 



8 " Small Potatoes ... "25 cts. . . 2 00 



32 Fowls purchased 15 09 



3 Turkeys purchased 1 13 



$8847 

 Poultry-yard, Or. 



By 3978 Hens' eggs, at $1 per 100 $39 78 



175 Turkeys', Goose, and Ducks' eggs. . 2 56 



41 Fowls sold for 46 31 



30 do. consumed by family 7 00 



5 Geese sold 7 06 



3 do. consumed by family 2 00 



2 Turkeys do. do 1 00 



32 bushels Manure, sold for 6 00 



54 Hens on hand 20 2 



18 Cocks do 900 



6 Geese do 6 00 



1 Duck do 1 00 



16 Turkeys do 5 00 



2 Guinea-fowls 50 



153 46 

 Deduct 8846 



Net Profit $6699 



It is also stated in the Report of the Wayne 

 County Agricultural Society, that David Gush- 

 ing keeps 25 hens, and feeds them with oats, 

 corn-meal, broom-corn seed, and refuse meat, 

 and supplies them with ashes, pounded shells, 



etc. They were confined to a warm and dry 

 room in winter. His account is as follows : 



Poultry. Dr. 



To investment of stock and fixtures $50 00 



Interest 3 50 



Feed, 25 bushels of Oats at 20 cts 5 00 



Attendance > 5 00 



$6350 



Poultry, Cr. 



By 75 dozen Chickens, sold early at 12 cts. . . $9 38 



200 Chickens " 10 cts. . . 20 00 



Stock and fixtures on hand 50 00 



$79~38 



Leaving a net profit of $15 88 on an investment 

 of fifty dollars, or an interest of more than 25 

 per cent, on the capital employed. 



FOOD. 



Fowls are, of all birds, the most easy to feed. 

 Every alimentary substance agrees with them, 

 even when buried in manure ; nothing is lost 

 to them ; they are seen the whole day long in- 

 cessantly busied in scratching and picking up a 

 living. 



In well-fed fowls the difference will be seen, 

 not only in the size and flesh of the fowls, but 

 in the weight and goodness of the eggs ; two 

 of which go farther in domestic uses than three 

 from hens poorly fed, or half starved. 



The finest, the most imperceptible seed can 

 not escape their piercing eye. The fly that is 

 most rapid in flight can not screen itself from 

 the promptitude with which she darts her bill ; 

 the worm that comes to breathe at the surface 

 of the earth has no time to shrink from her 

 glance it is immediately secured by the head 

 and drawn up. 



It is customary to throw to the fowls in a 

 poultry-yard, once or twice a day,* a quantity of 

 grain, generally corn, and somewhat less than 

 that which they would consume if they had an 

 abundance. Fowls, however, are more easily sat- 

 isfied than might be supposed from the greedy 

 voracity which they exhibit when they are fed 

 from the hand. It is well known that, as a 

 general rule, large animals consume more than 

 small ones. There is as much difference in the 

 quantity of food consumed by individual fowls 

 as there is in animals. 



It has been found by careful experiments 



