WHAT BRANCH OF THE BUSINESS? 
DUCKS. 
For table—green or spring ducks. 
By-products, old ducks and duck feathers. 
For breeding-stock. 
GEESE. 
Food, Feathers, Breeders. 
TURKEYS. 
Food, Breeders. 
PIGEONS. 
Squabs, Breeding Stock. 
GUINEAS. 
Broilers, Mature Fowls. 
I will now discuss these products more in detail. Poultry, 
other than chickens, I do not care to discuss at length, because 
it is not for the purpose of the book, and because the demand 
for other kinds of poultry is limited and the chance for the 
growth of the business small. 
The Duck Business. 
The duck business is the most highly commercialized at the 
present time of any branch of the poultry business. The duck 
is the oldest domestic bird and was hatched by artificial incu- 
bation in China, when our ancestors were knawing raw bones 
in the caves of Europe. The duck is the most domestic of 
birds and will thrive under more machine-like methods and 
without that touch of nature and of the owner’s kindly interest 
so necesary to the welfare of the fowls of the gallinaceous 
order. The green duck business is about twenty years old and 
has become an established business in every sense of the 
word. The largest plants now produce about one hundred 
thousand ducks per annum. The profits at present are not 
large even for the most successful plants, because the demand 
is limited and the production has reached such a point that 
cost of production and selling price bear a definite relation 
as in all established businesses. The green duck business is 
not an easy one for the novice becatise the margin between 
cost (chiefly food cost) and selling price is low, and unless 
the new man can reduce the cost of production or raise his 
selling price in some way, he will have no advantage over the 
old and successful firms. 
21 
