POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 71 



how to handle such stock. They know— those men of quality — that 

 otherwise failure would result; and they place reputation above dollars. 



The beginner should buy good stock — birds good enough to show 

 if need be — but not thousand dollar birds, nor hundred dollar birds. 

 A trio at a hundred dollars, or a pen at a hundred and fifty, properly 

 mated for best results, is as high as any novice should go. And he may 

 well begin with cheaper birds than that. 



A common mistake — and this is a "secret" known to every ex- 

 perienced fancier — is that of the amateur who buys a blue ribbon win- 

 ner — especially a male — and places him at once in a breeding pen. 



Don't do it. 



Birds must be shown. Public interest demands it. Show birds 

 must be used — at the right time — as breeders. But if you possibly can 

 avoid it do not place the birds you have shown in your breeding pens 

 for weeks after; months would be better; a whole year would be best. 



Why? 



Well, here is another "secret", also well known to. every breeder 

 of experience: No bird that has been shown is fit to use as a breeder 

 until he has had a thorough rest and is again in condition for breeding. 



Show "condition" and breeding "condition" are not always the 

 same. Often they are very far apart. A bird, of the variety where 

 weight counts, which has been stuffed to make that weight, is not fit 

 for the breeding pen until restored to a normal condition. 



The selling of show stock is an art not easily mastered. The 

 beginner may as well understand at the outset that he cannot get the 

 prices paid to men of established reputation. He may have as good 



