14 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



side-line poultry keeper who has a taste for good 

 birds, there is much to be said in favor of buying 

 breeding stock to begin with. You get fewer birds 

 for your money, but you get better ones — that is, if 

 you pay a fair price for them. For $25 you can buy 

 a trio of thoroughly good birds, and the chicks you 

 hatch the first year from these will give you a good 

 start toward a flock of choice birds. Sometimes it is 

 a good plan to raise your pullets and then buy a 

 pure-bred male of good stock to mate to the best six 

 or eight of them. 



3. — Buying Hatching Eggs. — Many persons 

 consider hatching eggs the very best way to get a 

 start with first-class stock, but there are more 

 chances to be taken than in buying either chicks or 

 breeding stock. If you are fortunate in your hatch- 

 ing, you will probably get more birds for your money 

 than in buying stock, but eggs that have traveled a 

 long distance do not always hatch satisfactorily, and 

 even when infertile eggs are replaced, hatching one 

 or two with cheaper eggs is troublesome, and there 

 is always a chance that the birds hatched will be 

 just ordinary stock. When the eggs are purchased 

 from near-by breeders there is a better chance of 

 success. 



LOCATING THE POULTRY FARM 



Most of us have to raise poultry where we find it 

 convenient to live, and poultry is so adaptable that it 

 will thrive wherever human beings can live. There 

 are, however, three essentials in the location of a 

 profitable poultry farm. 



Three Essentials 



1. — Water. — In California, especially, a good sup- 

 ply of water for irrigation is of prime importance. 

 Other things may be managed without, but water is 



