10 POULTRI-CRAFT. 
5. Is There Danger of Overdoing the Business ? — The United States 
imports annually about one million dozens of eggs. This fact is often cited 
to show that the’business is in no danger of being overdone. It is assumed 
that, as long as eggs are imported the domestic supply must be inadequate. 
A comparison of the amount of imports with the total home’ product, shows 
that this assumption is a fallacy. A million dozen is less than one-tenth of 
one per cent of the (estimated) total annual egg crop. In effect the nation 
produces all the poultry and eggs it uses, and consumes all it produces. Dur- 
ing a considerable portion of each year the markets are glutted with stock of 
inferior quality. The kind of poultry keeping which produces such stock is 
already overdone. On the other hand, the demand for stock of superior 
quality is in advance of the supply, and there is every reason to believe that 
this condition will continue for a long time. A poultryman making a wise 
choice of location with reference to this demand, and producing articles of the 
grade it calls for, need have no fears of overstocking his market. In the trade 
in breeding and exhibition stock, conditions are different. Successful sales 
depend much on reputation and skillful advertising. Lacking these, breeders 
often fail to sell really fine stock of varieties in good demand. 
6. Comparison of the Different Branches of Poultry Keeping.— 
Attention has already been called to the advisability of combining branches 
of the industry. As a matter of fact, poultry keepers doing an exclusive 
business cannot keep to one branch. A living from poultry requires com- 
binations, and some branches depend on others. The egg farmer who rears 
his layers, as nearly all do, has large quantities of poultry to sell. The 
broiler farmer who produces on his own plant the eggs for his incubators — 
and this is the only way to get reliable eggs in quantity — has eggs to sell 
during a part of the year. Besides, broiler raising is a business for a season. 
It has never been made profitable on a large scale as an exclusive business. 
In connection with an egg farm, or as winter employment for those whose 
regular occupation leaves them idle in winter, it pays. Sales of eggs for 
hatching are limited to a few months in the spring. The bulk of the trade in 
breeding stock is done in the first three months of the year. Expenses keep 
steadily-on through every twelvemonth. So it comes about that, though one 
may start business intending to confine himself to a single branch, he is 
obliged to make a combination like that suggested in 44, in order to 
handle his stock to best advantage and have a regular income. He may give 
relatively more or less attention to the various branches than is suggested 
there, but that combination, in some proportions, is the one to which a 
poultry business, large or small, inevitably tends. 
7. Poultry Keeping as an Adjunct of Another Business.— The 
greater number of those deriving a considerable income from poultry keeping 
conduct it as an adjunct of another business, as farming, fruit growing, 
