you will succeed. If you can't start with a few birds, get a 

 setting of eggs from a good laying strain. It is the eggs that 

 make the hens pay. Bend your every effort toward the egg 

 laying function. It is up to you to make her lay. If you suc- 

 ceed you need not ask, "Why have I failed ?" 



Commercial egg farming is considered generally to be 

 more profitable than any other branch of poultry keeping. 

 But it requires care, regularity, and close attention for every 

 day in the year. It seems that I make so many trips to the 

 hen house with feed, etc., throughout the day and am always 

 sure that they have plenty of fresh water, but every time 

 I come back well supplied with eggs. If neglected for a single 

 day, you are liable to send the hens into the molt and away 

 goes your egg production for four or five weeks. To some, 

 the care of poultry is monotonous. The work is the same 

 from day to day and does not differ much from month to 

 month, but the work requires our best attention. There is 

 always something coming up that requires study. There is 

 surely enough uncertainty in the business to keep one won- 

 dering how things are going to turn out. The main source 

 of profit is from eggs, either hatching or for the market, 

 also in small flocks for table use. Every effort should be 

 bent toward a large production of eggs, especially in the 

 winter months. There is no money in mongrels. The strain 

 is of much more importance than the breed. A hen lacking 

 vim, vigor, and vitality, will not make a good egg machine. 

 Some hens are so inbred that they will not pay for their keep. 

 Also the kind, amount of feed, and the method of feeding 

 has a great deal to do with egg production. A hen to be a 

 good layer must be well fed. I once knew of a successful 

 poultry man to feed corn until they would tire of it, then he 

 would change to something else and continue these changes 

 until he had exhausted the list of grains when he would start 

 on the com again. He said that it was the change that they 

 wanted and that was what made them lay. They will never 

 tire of a mash fed every day with a grain fed in the litter. 

 If a hen is going to lay, — well, she must be sent to the roost 

 with a full crop. If you are changing the feed, work from 

 one into the other gradually, but I rather disagree with the 

 man who fed first one thing and then the other. System is 

 the word that I apply to the poultry game, for system is 

 what pays. Have you ever gone into the hen house when the 

 fowls have gone to roost and examined some of the crops of 

 some of the hens? If a hen's crop is empty you may be sure 



