INTRODUCTORY 



THIS book fs, to be compiled in dead earnest. Poultry 

 ke^ging may be a ftid with a limited few, but ik a 

 vasf- majority of, cases it is a serious matter, a ques- 

 tion hi bread and butter, of a liveliiiood, and any 

 book written or compiled on the subject of Success with 

 Poultry should view the poultry business in this light. We 

 shall not put into jihis book a single statement nor a bit" of 

 advice in, which we have not full confidence. We do not 

 wish to misrepresent in the least, or to deceive anybody. We 

 do hope that this book may be the means of helping a large 

 number of people who wish to better their condition in life 

 and are in a position to handle poultry with both plfeasure- 

 and profit. We shall put into this book therefore, only the 

 best information and best advice at our command, doing so 

 with a full understand- 

 ing of our resp-onsibil- 

 ity. 



Success with Poul- 

 try depends upon much 

 the same things that 

 success does in any un- 

 dertaking or business 

 enterprise. To be suc- 

 cessful in any line of 

 work slothful, careless, 

 extravagant habits 

 must give way to 

 thrifty, pains - taking 

 methods. Thought 

 must be put into your 

 worl^. 



Cause and « x x e c t 

 must be studied; all 

 the details must be 

 looked after with in- 

 telligent care, and the 

 hand that receives the 

 ' income must constant- 

 ly watch the hand that 

 pays out. There is money — "good money," as the saying 

 goes — to be made out of poultry, but this business, like any 

 other, must be learned before great things can be accom- 

 plished. Like, other human enterprises, poultry-raising pays 

 better and better accordingly as you put more aid more 

 thought into the business. In the poultry business, above all 

 others, ordinary common sense is the thing most useful. 



It is not within the scope of this book to eover every, 

 case, but no matter where we go, certain things are true 

 about poultry and poultry keeping, among the number being 

 these: That poultry and eggs at all times of the year meet 

 with u. ready sale for cash; that as a rule the price for poul- 

 try and eggs does not fall below the cost of production, where 

 intelligent methods ar« employed; that extra or gilt-edged 

 prices can everywhere be obtained for gilt-edged stock, that 

 is, for extra choice, uniform and neatly dressed fowls and 

 strictly ...resh eggs; that it costs practically no more when 

 one is rightly equipped for the work to produce a gilt-edegd 

 article than an inferior one; that by the proper use of arti- 



ficial- means the highest market price can be. obtained at all 

 seasons of ^he year; that by' adopting up-to-date methods, 

 hundreds of dozens of eggs can be produced during the sea- 

 sons of the year when they will command the higher prices, 

 and that hundreds, yes, thousands of chickens or ducklings 

 can now be raised with success and profit on a comparatively 

 small plat of ground. A surprisingly amount of poultry and 

 eggs can be produced on an acre of ground, while a full- 

 fledged farm can be conducted on a five acre piece, where 

 knowledge and good sense go hand in hand. 



Not all men are qualified to succeed to the same extent, 

 but we claim it is fair to -cite exceptional cases of success 

 in the poultry business, where the methods employed and 

 the man or woman who employs them is not a wonder-worker 



jn any way, except 

 that he or she has put 

 heart and brains into 

 the work. There are 

 several branches of 

 the poultry business 

 that are separate and 

 distinct from each oth- 

 er, although a number 

 of successful men and 

 women whom we know 

 combine two or more 

 branches of the busi- 

 ness with s u.c cess, 

 What one man or wo- 

 man has done, or is do- 

 ing, others can do; 

 hence, when we cite 

 actual cases of success 

 that have come under 

 dur personal observa- 

 tion, we feel that we 

 are simply pointing out 

 what others can do. 

 It is no doubt true 

 that where one person succeeds with poultry several fail. If 

 this were not true there would be no excuse for publishing 

 this .book, the chief object of which is to describe success 

 as it exists, and to explain fully how it was achieved. It is 

 not tlie object of this book to induce thoughtless, heedless 

 persons to rush pell-mell into poultry raising. All such per- 

 sons will do well to give poultry raising a wide berth. Their 

 habits will not win in this busiiiess. We do not mean to 

 convey the idea that it takes a specially high order of intel- 

 ligence to succeed with poultry, for it does not, but we are 

 frank enough to warn the reckless, the sWftless and the 

 indolent that they will make a flat failure with poultry. 



THE SO-OAUiED FANCY POULTRY BUSINESS. 



Let us describe briefly the leading branches of the poul- 

 try business. We hear most about the fancy or standard-bred 

 poultry business, and for good reasons, or no dout it is really 

 the most important when we come to consider how insignifi- 

 cant the poultry industry was thirty to fifty years ago as 



A Pen of Barred Plymouth Bocks as Bred by Reliable Poultry Farm. 



