STARTING IN THE BUSINESS 



Many of our best fanciers who have means put their birds in the 

 shows in the pink of condition and win. But this is a case where 

 "milUons do not count," it is care and study that win oiit. 



A. 14. Buy the best you can; keep your eye peeled for 

 defects and cull Uke fury. No buyer ever went to Dunn's pv 

 Bradstreet's to see where he should buy his show birds, else the 

 ■writer would be awaiting his first order. Be sure you know 

 your choice of breeds and stick to it. One variety is plenty; 

 two should be the limit. Do not let another's success lead you 

 to discard your own first choice. Any one of many varieties 

 are "the best hens on earth." It rests with the fancier to put 

 on the gilt edge. Remember that many others are striving for 

 first place, and constant care and watchfulness is the price of 

 success in the fancy. 



A. 15 and 16. I could suggest no difference in methods 

 to be followed by these two parties, except that the beginner 

 with moderate means would exercise more diligence and care 

 because of his lack of funds, thereby outstripping the fellow 

 with means, unless the latter forgets his cash and "pulls off his 

 coat" himself. 



A. 17.. Single-Comb Black Minorcas. 



A. 18.' Experience of eighteen years with Black Minorcos 

 has convinced me that the demand for really good specimens 

 of this breed is far ahead of the supply, and at very good prices. 

 Not only the best birds are in demand, but birds of less quality 

 from a show point are in constant demand properly mated as 

 breeders. Other breeds may do well with their owners. The 

 Minorcas being splendid layers, quick sellers and easily confined, 

 make an ideal fowl for the fancier. There is no speculation as to 

 the outcome; a sure profit awaits the breeder if he but lets the 

 buying pubHc know he has the stock and will deHver quality 

 •equivalent to the buyer's cash. Quick growers, early layers, 

 unlimited demand for a Umited supply, make the Minorcas an 

 ideal breed. ' 



A. 19. White Wyandottes. 



A. 20. White Wyandottes are probably bred in larger 

 numbers both for the fancy and market than any other breed 

 or variety. Believing as the writer does that "fancy and market 

 poultry should go together," and the fact that White Wyan- 

 dottes dress plump, as broilers, light and heavy roasters or 

 mature fowl, together with their early maturity, excellent laying 

 quaUties, docile disposition and hardiness, easily commends 

 them as the peer of aU breeds or varieties for market poultry. 



A. 21. Black Minorcas and White Wyandottes. 



A. 22. Both are very popular, quick growers, good 

 layers, in good demand both as fancy and market poultry; large, 

 plump bodies with excess of breast meat. Being popular and 

 in great demand, makes these two varieties of as great if not 

 greater as a combination for fancy and market than any other. 



COST OF STOCK 



AVERAGE COST OF RAISING PURE- 

 BREDS FROM EGGS AT $i A SIT- 

 TING—KEEP A RECORD OF CHICKS 



FRANK McGRANN, Lancaster, Pa. 



BREEDER OF SINGLE COMB BLACK MINORCAS; BARRED PLYMOUTH 



ROCKS; WHITE WYANDOTTES AND SINGLE 



COMB WHITE LEGHORNS 



A. 9. Without much money to invest I would purchase 

 eggs, but with ample funds would purchase the best stock that 

 money could buy. 



' A. IQ. Figuring eggs at $5. per sitting, from pure-bred 

 stock, one can expect at least a 75 per cent hatch, and should 

 raise 75 per cent of the chicks, and should have at least a trio 



of breeders to each sitting. A trio of pure-bred birds will cost 

 on an average $25., and the cost of rearing chicks will be about 

 $1. per chick. Therefore a trio of birds hatched and reared will 

 cost $8. In buying eggs, one never knows just how good the 

 stock which produced the eggs really is until the chicks have 

 matured, therefore if you are not certain that the poultryman, 

 who sells you eggs, is perfectly honest you will often come out 

 at the small end of the horn. In buying stock direct, you can 

 have the birds sent on approval, and if they fail to come up to 

 your expectations you may return them. 



A. 11. Let him select the best females out of his entire 

 flock and mate them separately to pure-bred Plymouth Rock 

 or Wyandotte males. Hatch only from these pens, and in several 

 years he will have a fine flock of market poultry. 



A. 12. Let him select a variety of fowls which will answer 

 his purpose, both for fancy and market. He can sell the best of 

 his stock for good prices and sell his eggs for hatching, and his 

 culls will make fLue market poultry. I am of the opinion that 

 thei'e is no better fowl for this purpose than the Plymouth Rock 

 or Wyandotte. 



A. 13. Purchase a pen of the best bifds which you can 

 secure, and request the poultryman from whom you purchase 

 to mate them for you. Place leg bands on all of your females. 



A SMALL COLONY BROOD COOP 



and use trap nests. Keep a strict account of all your eggs, by 

 numbering them. When it comes to hatching the eggs, if you 

 use an incubator, place each hen's eggs in a separate compart- 

 ment of a pedigree tray just before they begin to pip, and if 

 you prefer to hatch with a hen, give to each hen, eggs from one 

 hen only. 



When the chicks are hatched, and are ready to be removed 

 from the incubator, or from under the hen, punch mark them in 

 the web of the foot giving each hen's chicks a separate mark, 

 where there are not more than fifteen hens in the pen. Where 

 there are more than that number, give a special mark to what 

 you consider your best hens, and give all other hens in the pen 

 the same mark. By following this method,, you can find out 

 just which of your females breed the best exhibition specimens, 

 and will also know just how to mate your birds in future seasons. 



As soon as you have any birds which you believe are fit to 

 show, do so and go to the show with your birds. Here you will 

 meet various poultrymen with whom you can compare notes, 

 and receive some valuable information. 



A. 14. Buy eggs from some good reliable poultryman, and 

 proceed as in No. 13. 



A. 15. Same as Nos. 12 and 13, only purchase more birds. 



47 



