THE POULTRY BUSINESS 5 
tion so many times that some have answered 
in books usually in the affirmative and with 
glowing accounts of big profits—one as high 
as $6.41 a year a hen! 
The profits a man can make a hen are gov- 
erned by a great many things such as the par- 
ticular market he may have, whether he can 
sell his surplus hens and roosters at a high 
price, or his eggs for hatching or day old 
chicks at extravagant figures. 
I have selected the utility branch of the 
business, the supplying of table eggs and 
poultry, and will endeavor to show how, dur- 
ing three years I have averaged from $1.50 
to $2 a hen a year and how it will be much 
safer for the beginner to take these figures, 
which he will find many others will approve 
rather than the extravagant estimates of so- 
called “experts,” under conditions which the 
beginner cannot hope for, at least for several 
years. 
COMPARATIVE INCOMES 
First of all, what is your income that you 
purpose to give up to enter the chicken bus- ° 
iness, and what are the profits you have in 
mind that you expect to get from chickens. 
A thousand dollars a year? Then you must 
plan to keep a flock of 500 to 750 fowls, Two 
