CHAPTER III 



LOCATION 



Every business is a bigger success when it is in the right location. 

 In the poultry business location means several things in one. For 

 instance, it must include nearness to market for the product, nearness 

 to food supplies, to water; then the quality of land must be considered. 

 As to the land, a rather light friable soil is the best for poultry, because 

 it has plenty of drainage for water. All fowls do better on well drained 

 land than on wet, swampy land, where they must wade through water 

 during the rainy seasons. 



If the beginner must buy a place it is much better to take these 

 things into consideration before than after. As for sunshine, there are 

 very few places in California where there is not an abundance of it and 

 to spare. 



But right here let me say that the most ideal poultry ranch is one 

 that is combined with a prune or plum orchard. There is no other 

 fruit that responds so well to poultry droppings; besides the hens keep 

 the trees free from many insect pests and furnish ideal conditions for 

 the full maturing of the fruit, while the hens in turn are benefited by 

 the shade and insect life found in the ground or on the trees. 



A five acre prune orchard and two thousand c'hickens will support 

 in comfort and give many of the luxuries of life for the average family 

 of today. True, the green feed would have to be grown outside of 

 the five acres, but a good sized oat sprouter would supply that and it 

 could be placed in an old hen house. 



This would be rather intensive poultry raising and would require 

 good sanitation, but all the care given in that respect would pay both 

 in prunes and poultry, so that it would work both ways. 



Location very properly includes nearness to market, and constant 

 knowledge of what the market demands. And these things are among 

 the most vital if you are going to depend on poultry for a living. 

 Getting your product to market at as low a cost as possible, and your 

 feed the same, makes all the difference between profits and loss. The 

 wise man looks up the market situation first, then chooses his location. 



