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The worst feature of the poultry business is its slavery. 

 The poultryman must be on deck 365 days in the year, and in 

 leap year 366. Sundays and holidays bring little relief, for 

 the stock must be fed and watered, the eggs collected, and the 

 chicks and sitting hens looked after as well as at other times. 

 On small plants it is difficult to get a man to step in for a few 

 days, who will not demoralize the whole .thing. No man 

 should go into the poultry business who does not have a real 

 love for it ; otherwise the monotony and slavery will become 

 intolerable. 



What rewards may a well-equipped poultryman expect? 

 Not a fortune. You can count on your fingers, almost, the 

 men who have made fortunes in the poultry business. And 

 these men have made their money by selling birds and eggs 

 to breeders rather than by catering to the regular trade. But 

 a careful, industrious man, one who has a real liking for the 

 work and has gone into it intelligently, may reasonably expect 

 a good living, a pleasant home, health, and the independence 

 that comes from being one's own master. 



Novel Way to Break Up a Hen After you have tried 

 every other method you can think of to break up a hen, with- 

 out avail, just tie a piece of red string or tape to her tail. Tie 

 it so that there will be two loose ends, each about six inches 

 long, to flutter behind. The hen will at once lose all interest 

 in a sedentary life, and will start out of the house as if she 

 was going to a fire. She will run until she is tired out, when 

 she will stop ; then she will start in and after a short rest run 

 again* When night comes you will find her on the roost, 

 cured. Take the ribbon off her tail, if she has not got it oft 

 herself. This may seem an heroic method, but as Shakespeare 

 observes ; 



"Disease desperate grown 

 By desperate appliance are relieved, 

 Or not at all." 



Economy, Practicability In preparing this book I have 

 been governed by two considerations : economy, practicability. 

 By economy I mean not only frugality in the use of money, 

 but also frugality in the use of time. I am aware that the 

 great majority of those who keep fowls are not able to devote 

 their whole time to the business, but must combine poultry 

 keeping with other pursuits. I have had this class in mind 

 in writing this book, and I have endeavored to show how the 



