HOW TO BEGIN AT 
probably be more neighbourly. No one likes to be wakened in the 
silent watches of the early morning by the shrill calls of another 
man’s chanticleer. It is quite bad enough to be awakened by your 
own male bird ; it is anathema if it happen to be your neighbour’s. 
Therefore the backyarder who wants eggs only should dispense 
with the rude brawler of the early morning. 
He can replenish his stock in two ways—either by purchasing 
new pullets or by buying day-old chickens. And those who 
begin poultry-keeping in the spring or early summer cannot do 
better than buy eggs for setting or by purchasing the one-day-old 
chick. If I wanted to start on a large scale I would probably use 
both methods. There is no doubt a certain fascination about 
rearing one’s own chickens either from the egg or from the day-old 
stage. It is not difficult to bring them to maturity either way, 
but of course it entails a large amount of personal attention that 
many have not the means of giving. 
The whole art of hatching and rearing chickens is reserved for 
a special chapter later on, but in the meantime I may propose 
another method by which the amateur may furnish his fresh stock. 
In the months of May or June, when the weather is beginning to 
be warm and fine, it is often possible to buy chickens varying 
from a month to two months old. If one can buy six-week-old 
chickens at the end of May they may be very easily reared. Little 
or no artificial heat is required. If frost is suspected, a litt'e storm 
lamp hung up in their sleeping quarters will be quite sufficient, 
and more often than not they will grow and develop without any 
artificial heat whatever. Certainly after two months old they will 
be strong enough, provided they have a cosy house at night, to defy 
any ordinary falling off in temperature. You will, of course, pay 
a little more for your six-week-old birds, but probably not more 
than you would have spent had you bought them when a day old. 
Besides, you have all the advantages of having got your chicks 
over the most dangerous period. The greatest mortality among 
chickens is during the first fortnight, and again just at a month 
old. If one gets them safely over the first five weeks one should 
lose very few indeed. 
