STARTING IN THE BUSINESS 



possible begin advertising when ever you think you can spare 

 either eggs or some surplus stock. 



A. 14. Assuming that the beginner has other means or 

 other work that bring in money, he has but to buy some choice 

 eggs, hatch and raise some stock. In a local way he will soon 

 begin to grow, and by painstaking efforts succeed eventually in 

 chmbing up the ladder. He will fall back occasionally but this 

 only adds to his determination and fires his ambition all the 

 more. 



A. 15. Engage the services — if possible — of some ex- 

 perienced poultry keeper or manager and do as he suggests. 



A. 16. Begin small, save a surplus to bridge over any 

 set-backs and gradually grow step by step. Perseverance — 

 strict attentiotj to the work — ^will count here as in any business. 

 Begin with some known bred-to-lay stock and feed liberally for 

 eggs and thus get started in increasing the profits so that all 

 earnings can go toward the growth of the business. 



A. 17. White Wyandbttes. 



A. 18. White Wyandottes are very interesting fowls in- 

 asmuch as they afford much study (which proves a pleasure) to 

 breed them to standard requirements. Being white in color 

 they look more beautiful than any other fowl when seen in a 

 yard or upon a green lawn. To realize that many people really 

 enjoy seeing White Wyandottes one has only to listen to the 

 remarks of visitors at poultry shows. As they view the various 

 birds they suddenly come upon your favorites and with a burst 

 of enthusiasm remark, "See those beautiful white chickens, 

 are'nt they simply lovely?" What more does a fancier want 

 than such indorsement to convince him that the White Wyan- 

 dottes are worthy of being loved? 



A. 19. White Wyandottes. 



A. 20. We have had other breeds and after experimenting 

 with White Wyandottes have learned that they are of more 

 value and, being finer-boned, are always preferred by the dis- 

 criminating dealers. As broilers there is nothing to equal 

 Wyandotte chicks, as they develop flesh rather than feathers. 

 They will stand close confinement, responding readily to good 

 treatment and when dressed are as plump and toothsome meat 

 as it's possible to conceive. The feathers being white are worth 

 considerable, to say nothing of the pin feathers not showing as 

 in colored varieties. 



A. 21. White Wyandottes. 



A. 22. Being known as the best all around purpose fowl. 

 From a fancy view they keep you "busy" raising them to stand- 

 ard quality. As layers they are hard to beat. When selling 

 alive, in the market, nothing looks quite as nice or clean, and 

 when dressed nothing as plump, fleshy and tempting. 



ONE MALE AND SIX FEMALES 



WILL GIVE A GOOD START AND SHOULD YIELD 

 75 TO 100 GOOD CHICKS THE FIRST SEASON 



J. C. MACOMBER, Reading, Mass. 



BREEDER OF PARTRmGE WYANDOTTES AND 

 BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS 



A. 9. I should buy both stock and eggs. 



A. 10. The best and surest way to get the right start is 

 to buy stock. It is more expensive, but if you get what you 

 want, you may know what to expect of your chicks. Buy the 

 fowls early enough and allow them to be well settled before the 

 breeding season commences, so that the eggs will be more fertile 

 and the results more satisfactory. One should be able to raise 

 to maturity 75 to 100 chicks from a pen of six fernales and one 

 male. While buying eggs is more or less of a speculation, one 

 is more than likely to get several birds out of a stting, each one 

 of which is worth more than the cost of the eggs. 



A. 11. I should advise him to buy a couple of pens of 

 pure-bred stock from a reliable breeder, at moderate prices. 

 One can pick up pure-bred stock, that is not fancy, at from $2. 

 to $3. for females, and $5. for cockerels. These pens should be 

 kept separate, breeding as many birds from them as is possible, 

 keeping along with his mongrels until he increases his pure-bred 

 flock to as many as he desires to keep, then discard the mon- 

 grels entirely. 



A. 12. I should advise that he purchase a couple of pens 

 of as good stock as he can afford, breed them entirely separate 

 from any stock that he might have, watch their breeding by 

 marking and keeping a pedigree of all chicks each year. Save 

 out the fanciest stock for breeders another season, using the 

 fair to good youngsters for market purposes and sending a few 

 of the fanciest to the fall and winter shows. When he finds that 

 he is able to breed really fancy stock, advertise well, and when- 

 ever he makes any sales, be sure that his customer is pleased, 

 even though in pleasing him he may be taken advantage of. 



A. 13. Buy a pen — or, if it is necessary, in order to ob- 

 tain exhibition specimens, to resort to double mating — buy two 

 pens of the very best stock it is possible to get. Don't stop to 

 consider price, if you can only get quality, then use a system 

 of line breeding, and by the aid of trap nests, keep a careful 

 pedigree of each chick so that you will know the breeding on 

 the female side as well as on the male side. By carefully study- 

 ing this system, you will soon find where your good birds come 

 from, and you will soon be able to breed the kind you are looking 

 for with very little trouble. 



A. 14. I should advise him to stay out of it as a business, 

 unless he could handle it on the side in connection with some 

 other. In such a case, he should buy eggs until he succeeded 

 in getting at least a pair of fancy exhibition birds, then start 

 with them for his foundation stock. Such a course would take 

 several years to get the business on a paying basis, but without 

 much money, I believe it is useless to go into the fancy poultry 

 business, excepting as a side issue. 



A. 15. If the beginner you refer to here does not thor- 

 oughly imderstand the business, I should advise him to start in 

 a very small way with the fanciest stock he can get, and learn to 

 breed and care for fowls by handling them himself exclusively, 

 and when he feels that he is thoroughly competent to master 

 the business go into it on as large a scale as he thinks best. He 

 should have by this time plenty of foundation stock, and if he 

 has not the stock to suit him, he will surely know where and 

 how to get it. 



A. 16. Same as in No. 15. 



A. 17. Partridge or Columbian Wyandottes or Barred 

 Plymouth Rocks. 



A. 18. All three varieties are attractive, handsome, and 

 leaders in the show room. The Barred Plymouth Rock is an 

 old standby and the only objection to them for a beginner — con- 

 sidering the business end of the fancy — ^is that he would need a 

 great deal of experience and advertising before he could command 

 the trade, there being so many well known breed.ers of this 

 variety already. With the Partridge and Columbian Wyan- 

 dottes there are practically no old and established breeders, 

 inasmuch as both breeds are comparatively new and especially 

 the Columbian. There has been very httle attention given them 

 by breeders generally, until within the past two or three years. 

 Both breeds are bound to be popular and a beginner would stand 

 a better show and get a big trade quicker on these varieties 

 than he would by taking up the older ones. 



A. 19. Barred Plymouth Rocks, Partridge or Columbian 

 Wyandottes. 



A. 20. All three of the above breeds cannot be bettered 

 for market purposes. They are great layers, and are splendid 

 table fowls, besides they are attractive in your yards, and a nice 

 flock of any one of these varieties is a great satisfaction. Per- 



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