CHAPTER TWO 



VALUE OF STANDARD BREDS 



FANCY FOWLS BRING HIGHEST PRICES 



"FANCY" MEANS FOWLS BRED BY EXPERTS TO STANDARD REQUIREMENTS COMBIN- 

 ING BOTH BEAUTY AND UTILITY— SYMPOSIUM BY LEADING SUCCESSFUL BREEDERS 



|ACTS count, and in this symposium we present 

 facts showing the high prices, — ^fabulously high 

 when compared with the popular idea of the value 

 of "chickens", — that are paid from time to time 

 for standard-bred fowls of exhibition quaUty. 



Leading successful poultrymen testify herein, 

 concerning prices paid and received by them for 

 first quahty exhibition or fancy, breeding fowls. 

 No theory or dreaming here but good soUd facts, positive 

 evidence from well known breeders who produced and sold 

 these best specimens of standard-bred poultry. 



To obtain this evidence we sent out a Hst of eight questions to 

 twenty old-time patrons of the Reliable Poultry Journal, — 

 men who have a national or international reputation as fanciers, 

 owners, breeders and exhibitors of fine standard-bred, "fancy" 

 poultry. Fifteen of the twenty have favored us with prompt 

 rephes in time for publication, and we are pleased to present 

 them herewith. We quote and number the eight questions 

 asked, the answers thereto are numbered to correspond and are 

 given in condensed form: — 



THE EIGHT QUESTIONS 



Q. 1. What was the highest cash price you ever paid for 

 a single specimen of standard-bred fowl? What was the highest 

 price ever paid by you for two specimens? For three? For 

 more than three on one order, stating number bought, and 

 price paid? 



Q. 2. What was the highest cash price you ever paid for 

 standard-bred eggs for hatching, stating- number and price? 



Q. 3. What was the highest cash price you ever received 

 for a single specimen of standard-bred fowl? 



Q. 4. Why were you able to obtain the above namfe'd 

 prices, i. e., what special merit did the specimen possess? (Note: 

 — ^if it had received a high score, state score, tell by whom 

 scored, also where and when. If it had won prizes, state where 

 and when.) 



Q. 5. Please state highest average price you ever received 

 for any three standard-bred fowls of exhibition quality, sold 

 by you since you have been in the poultry business. 



Q. 6. Please state highest average price you ever re- 

 ceived for any five standard-bred fowls of exhibition quahty, 

 sold by you since you have been in the poultry business. 



Q. 7. Please state highest average price you ever re- 

 ceived for any ten standard-bred fowls of exhibition quahty, 

 sold, by you since you have been in the poultry business. 



Q. 8. Please state highest average price you ever re- 

 ceived for any twenty-five standard-bred fowls of exhibition 

 quality, sold by you since you have been in the poultry business. 



A. & E. TARBOX, YorkviUe, 111. 



BREEDERS AND EXHIBITORS OF SILVER WYANDOTTES EXCLUSIVELY 



two, $50. For three, $60. 



A. 2. $10. for thirty-nine eggs. 



A. 3. Highest price received for single specimen, $40. 



A. 4. We were able to obtain prices quoted becaiise these 

 birds were of high exhibition quahty. The bird we received the 

 highest price for ($40.) was a cockerel, winner of first prize at 

 Philadelphia. We sold two pullets at $35. each, one won first 

 prize at Chicago, December, 1904; the other won third at Chicago, 

 December, 1904, and won fourth at the St. Louis World's Fair. 

 We sold one pen to South Africa, consisting of five birds, a male 

 and four females, for $75. This pen won first and Silver Cup 

 at Kansas City, Mo. 



A. 5. Highest average price received for three, $36.66 

 each. 



A. 6. For five, $28. each. 



A. 8. For twenty-five, $18. each. 



ARTHUR G. DUSTON, South Framingham, Mass. 



SPECIALTY BREEDER OF WHITE WYANDOTTES 



A. 1 and 2. I have not paid high prices for stock and 

 eggs. I find it cheaper to breed them. 



A. 3. Highest price received for a single specimen, $150. 

 I have refused higher prices than this, where I did not wish to 

 sell. 



A. 4. Bird was sold on its merit as described by me, with 

 four pullets. They went to the west and were the highest 

 scoring pen ever shown up to that time, in that city. The buyer 

 lost the females and mated the male to other stock of my strain. 

 That year he sold $900. in stock and eggs from the pen, besides 

 replenishing his stock. 



A. 5. Highest average price received for three standard- 

 bred fowls, $115. each. 



A. 6. If to one customer, at one sale, is meant, my 

 answer is, $250. for one pen, four females and one male. This 

 average would be $50. 



A. 7. I sold from the New York Show, three years ago, 

 two pens of five birds each, for $450. each, or $45. per bird. I 

 have sold ten show birds, mostly males, at an average of $105. 

 each. 



A. 8. As I seldom get more than $100. for a bird I would 

 not say that I could take you to my order book and show you 

 twenty-five sales that would go much over $100. each, but if 

 competition becomes much keener and the demand much sharper 

 in Wyandottes, there is no teUing where prices will go. 



I. K. FELCH, Natick, Mass. 



VETERAN JUDGE AND BREEDER OF BRAHMAS, WHITE AND BARRED 

 PLYMOUTH ROCKS AND WHITE WYANDOTTES 



A. 1. Highest cash price paid for a single specimen, $50. 

 For five specimens, $225. I have been a breeder and seller, not 

 A. 1. Highest price paid for single specimen, $25. For a buyer. 



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