l8 MAKING POULTRY PAY 



made from 300 hens, when the egg and broiler busi- 

 ness is combined, and when it is rightly managed. 



To erect a plant sufficiently equipped to carry on 

 a business like that just mentioned, will require about 

 $1200 for hen and brooding houses, incubators, brood- 

 ers and general supplies, and it would cost, in addition, 

 from $1.50 to $2 per head for the poultry. Three 

 hundred head at $1.50 would need $450. This would 

 give a total cost of $1650, but there must be money 

 for feed and money to pay the hired boy, as well as 

 money to maintain the owner. We should not advise 

 the attempt to be made with a capital less than $2000. 

 It will take several weeks before the hens become rec- 

 onciled to their new quarters and start in laying, and it 

 will take another several weeks until the machinery 

 etc., can be arranged for incubation, and the hens give 

 enough eggs to start the incubators. Then it will be 

 three weeks before the first hatch, and from fourteen 

 to sixteen weeks before the first shipment of broilers.. 



The income, however, will begin on a- small scale 

 after the hens have started in to do steady laying — 

 say, a month after being domiciled — and it will keep 

 them busy for a week to fill the three machines. Then,, 

 after that, say, the sixth week after starting, there will 

 be table eggs for sale. All these matters have to be 

 fully considered before starting. 



Now, in all this, we are assuming that the man 

 knows his business, for a novice could not secure this 

 success without experience. Therefore the best plan 

 is to begin in a small way. Start with 100 hens and 

 one incubator; next year make it 200 hens and twc 

 incubators; and the third year 300 hens and three 

 incubators. In this way the work can be gradually 

 done, and the experience will come in the same wav. 

 In running three incubators it would be best to start 

 one each week, and in that way, after rightly started.. 



