SUCCESS WITH POULTR"S; 



89 



instead of having prize winners I again had disappointing 

 results— a lot of culls, and as long as we continue this 

 double or special mating system tlie same results will 

 follow. 



Buying eggs is the cheapest way to get a good start, 

 provided you can buy eggs from fowls bred from standard 

 ■ matings. I am not attacking double or special mating breed- 

 errs to injure their businea, but to compel them to breed ac- 

 cording to standard, so that their customers can rely on the 

 breeding of the fowls or. eggs purchased. My eflEorts to get 

 better birds each year have been rewarded since I got away 

 from that old theory of special mating. 



■ O. F.- SKINNER, Kansas. 



Start With a Pair or Trio. 



First I should determine the. breed I wanted, then I 

 should select some reliable breeder and give him to under- 

 stand just what I wanted. I should buy the best he had to 

 sell and that I could afford. If I had but little money I 

 should . not buy more than a pair or a trio and have the 

 breeder mate them as he thought best. If I found "he was 

 doing the right thing by me I should stay with him and 

 secure new blood from him from time to time, as I thought 

 my flock needed it. My preference would be to introduce 

 the new blood through the female line, as I do not like to 

 break the male line, if it can possibly be avoided. My 

 advice to a beginner is, not to see how little he can put 

 into a pair or trio, but how much. 



After one becomes familiar with a breed and knows a 

 good bird when he sees it, he can afford to buy eggs, for he 

 may secure some very choice birds at very little , cost. But 

 to sum the whole matter up, buying stock h^s always been 

 more satisfactory to me, and I have bought largely of both 

 from breeders of national reputation. 



Another point I would suggest is, do not breed too 

 many varieties. One will give most any breeder all he 

 wants to do to produce birds good enough to go into the 

 show room with any degree of success in carrying off the 

 prizes. Do not be in too much of a hurry. It takes time — 

 you will have to crawl before you can walk, and some- 

 times you will find that your foot ■ goes backward instead 

 of forward. Do not let this discourage you, it belongs to 

 the business, and the best of them have had the same ex- 

 perience. Attention, patience and industry are what it takes 

 to succeed. E. O. STJTTON, Missouri. 



To Establish a Strain of Barred Bocks. 



If I did not own a fowl but knew what I think I know 

 today, I should proceed to establish myself in the standards 

 bred poultry business again as soon as possible. The first 

 and most necessary thing to secure is a good location and 

 buildings; next, to decide on the variety or varieties. After 

 an experience of over twenty years with nearly all of the 

 most popular breeds and va;rieti6S, I should keep only one 

 variety, and that of course would be the Barred Plymouth 

 Bocks. 



Having made a selection of the variety, I should look 

 for the breeder who could come nearest to supplying my 

 wants. Of course I should wish to purchase of a breeder 

 who has a record in the show room, and I should wish also to 

 buy of one who has a record with his CTistomers — a record 

 of honesty and a willingness to part with some of his 

 good stock. I believe that there are breeders who are so 

 much afraid of losing prestige in the show room that they 

 keep all their good stock and eggs for themselves. 



Having found a breeder who is willing to divide the 



best with his customers, I should next size up "the pile" 

 that I wished to invest. Should this be less than $100, I 

 should start with eggs instead of stock, as I believe that for 

 any amount less than this a better quality of stock can be 

 oTstained by buying eggs than in any otker way. Should I 

 wish to invest $50 or $75 I should write to the man of whom 

 I wished, to purchase and ask him to send me as many egga 

 of his very best as that amount would purchase. I should 

 take particular pains to impress it on him that it was qual- 

 ity rather than quantity that I wanted. I should also state 

 that I wished them half from cockerel matings and half 

 from pullet matings, and I should ask that they be sent from 

 two pens of each, marked so that I might be able to mate 

 the cockerels of one with the pullets of the other in the 

 cockerel matings, and the same in the pullet matings. 



Let us suppose that the breeder in question should send 

 me two hundred eggs, and that from that number I succeed 

 in raising one hundj-ed chicks. I would select the best cock- 

 erel from pen A for cockerel and mate him to ten of the 

 best pullets from pen B for cockerels. Then I would select 

 the best cockerels from pen B and mate him to ten of the 

 best pullets from pen A. This would give me two pens 

 mated for' exhibition cockerels the second year, and if these 

 birds were line bred, as they should be, they should in this 

 manner prdduce a good percentage of exhibition cockerels. 



With the pullet matings I should follow the same plan. 

 I should select the ten best pullets raised from eggs marked 

 pen G and to these should mate the best cockerel from pen 

 D; thn'I should select the beat pullet bred cockerel from 

 pen to mate with the ten best pullets from pen D. 



This would gi''^e me forty-four birds selected from one 

 hundred raised, and with a proper knowledge of matings 

 these birds should give me a good foundation for my futuro 

 strain. 



On the other hand, should I not be limited for capital, I 

 should visit the yards of the same breeder and select two 

 pens of the best birds he would sell me, one mated for cock- 

 erels and the other for exhibition pullets. This plan would 

 give me a little better start in stock at the end of the first 

 year perhaps, .that is, give me a larger number of birds to 

 sell or keep over. In this case the male birds could be 

 mated to ten of their best pullets and the best cockerel from 

 each mating could be mated with the original pen. of 

 females. 



For the person who is limited as to capital I believe it' 

 to be far cheaper and easier to start by buying eggs. 

 M. S. GABDNEE, New York. 



Good Stock More Satisfactory Than Eggs. 



The purchasing of stock or eggs should, in my opinion, 

 be governed entirely by one's means. If capital be limited, , 

 eggs seem to offer the easier way fo get establishd, al- 

 though I believe the purchase of stock to be the better plan, 

 and far mor satisfactory to both buyer and seller. It en- 

 ables the buyer to know positively just what quality of 

 stock he IS breeding from ,and the satisfaction derived from 

 it is far greater than from eggs, even though the chicks from 

 the latter prove to be the equal of those bred from stock. 



Knowing what I now know, if I were to start anew in 

 the poultry business, I should do precisely as I did years 

 ago, namely, purchase A No. 1 breeding stock and breed it to 

 the highest state of perfection possible. This, of course, is 

 a somewhat slow and tedious process, but one that is bound 

 to be u'ccessful in the end, in fact it is the sure route to 

 successful breeding. 



DE. F. M. EOBINSON, New York. 



