280 COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



stores. Hundreds of thousands have been sold to eager buyers 

 in this way, mostly to women and children who find it difficult 

 to resist the attractiveness of little chicks. Seemingly nothing 

 arouses the human interest so quickly as a flock of chicks, which 

 fact constitutes a potent advantage, in that the chicks advertise 

 themselves. Every child and most women have an impulse to 

 love and fondle a tiny chick, though generally to the discomfort 

 and injury of the latter. 



It is doubtful if this phase of the business should be encouraged. 

 The chicks are sold almost exclusively as pets, and the stores 

 handle them largely as a drawing card, often at prices less than 

 they have to pay, simply to attract buyers for other goods — an 

 advertising scheme. Very few of the chicks outlive the pet stage 

 or serve a useful purpose, thus the practice amounts to a waste. 

 If stores insist upon retailing chicks, they should distribute a 

 pamphlet on the care of the birds, or make some attempt to en- 

 lighten inexperienced persons not to kill their pets with kindness. 



Many of the objections against the baby chick trade were raised 

 by fanciers who claimed that the increased sale of chicks had 

 seriously impaired their business in breeding stock and hatching 

 eggs, for which they were accustomed to receiving good prices. 

 If there is any truth in this belief, which is doubtful, to complain 

 about it is working on the wrong tack. Poultrymen must sell 

 what the buyers want, and not what the breeders choose to offer 

 them. It is quite evident that customers want chicks, because 

 they represent the most convenient form of acquiring stock, in 

 which event it is up to the fanciers to get into the chick game, 

 as many are now doing. To oppose the progress of the chick 

 trade is a policy that is almost certain to result in a reaction 

 against the fancier. 



Appeal to Farmers. — For years State Experiment Stations and 

 agricultural organs have been endeavoring to induce the farmers 

 to substitute standard-bred poultry for their flocks of mongrels. 

 But the farmer has never been a heavy buyer of hatching eggs 

 from thoroughbred stock, chiefly because of the uncertainty of 

 success with his hatches. Now that he can buy well-bred poultry 



