36 EGGS AND POULTRY 
pay not only for the keep of the hens but also 
for raising a considerable number of young 
chicks. 
It seems to me that a man, dependent to 
some degree upon the new business for rev- 
enue, to start business with no hens to help 
his income, nothing but day old chicks from 
which he would get nothing for three 
months when he could begin selling a few 
broilers, then to wait three or four months 
before his pullets begin to lay even in small 
numbers, but meanwhile paying out money 
for feed, houses, etc.—that man would have 
to be a dyed-in-the-wool optimist to keep up 
his courage the first year. That first year is 
the hard year always in this business or until 
you have say 500 fowls. Then the outlook 
begins to brighten as you really see some 
chance of making your living from chickens. 
If you hold on up to this point you will prob- 
ably stick. 
Provided you think these arguments cor- 
rect, buy say 200 fowls for which you have 
already made provision as to housing. If 
you expect to breed from them, choose a fair 
strain, but almost anything if you do not. 
My idea as to building up a flock rapidly 
is not to depend the first season upon incu- 
