THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 



Chapter I 

 HOW TO MAKE A BEGINNING 



WHEN a man — or for that matter, a 

 woman — is smitten with the poultry- 

 fever, he usually knows little about 

 breeds or methods or " systems." Only one fact 

 presents itself — he wants to keep a few hens. 



Too often the beginner makes so little distinction 

 between hens in general and those of particular 

 breeds, that he accumulates a flock of mongrels. 

 Beginning in that way, he may, perhaps, get as many 

 eggs in a year as though he had started with a 

 flock of pure-bred fowls, but the chances are that he 

 will soon tire of poultry keeping. It is impossible 

 to work up much enthusiasm over a lot of birds 

 which have uniformity neither in color nor size and 

 which show in their feathers an intermixture of 

 many breeds and varieties. 



I 



