POULTRY-CRAFT. 203. 
CHAPTER XIII. 
Exhibiting Poultry. 
297. The Business Breeder Should Be an Exhibitor. — The educa-- 
tional and advertising advantages which a breeder may get from poultry 
shows, have been mentioned more than once in preceding pages. There is 
another and a stronger reason why every business breeder of thoroughbred 
fowls ought to do all that he can do in reason to make a poultry show in his 
section a success and a permanent thing. A live poultry show extends the 
interest in poultry as few other agencies do —increasing the demand for the 
poultryman’s goods, and thus affording a better market for what he has to 
sell. In this way the show benefits him, though he shows and fails to win, 
and even though he does not show at all. (If he never goes near the show, 
he still is indirectly benefited by it). 
The breeders’ duty on this point is, when the matter is looked at in the right 
light, clear. Poultry associations are not money making affairs. Those who 
promote them often have to go down in their own pockets to pay deficits. It 
does not often happen that there is a balance on hand when the bills are paid. 
With the simple fancier, maintaining a local poultry show is only a matter of 
pride; with the breeder it is a matter of profit as well. While he ought not 
to put himself in a position where the support of a show would fall too heavily 
on him, he is much at fault if he allows the benefits, direct and indirect, which. 
alive show gives him, to be withdrawn or reduced for lack of his support.. 
Where the interest in poultry is already strong, the support of one breeder 
does not often matter greatly; but in the many sections where the pure bred 
poultry industry is still in its infancy, the support of one breeder may mean 
a great deal to a show. 
A fancier to whom poultry breeding is recreation, the competition of the- 
show room ‘‘sport,” is not in any way under obligation to support shows 
unless he chooses to make such obligation his. The breeder, as a business 
man, owes it to himself, to those dependent on him, to his community,— to 
all interested in his success or affected by his failure,—to use every means in 
his power to make the business successful. Of aids to the breeders’ success, 
there are not many more efficient than a live nearby poultry show. 
298. General Care of Exhibition Stock. — The general preparation of | 
birds bred specially for exhibition, begins from the time when they leave the- 
shell. The chicks are given every opportunity to make the best development: 
of which they are capable. Nothing that would hurt them is permitted ;- 
