CHAPTER XXIII 
SALE OF NEWLY HATCHED CHICKENS 
F late years an enormous business has sprung up in newly 
hatched chickens, and there seems no limits to the demand. 
As a rule the man in the day-old chick trade has only to 
insert an advertisement in the poultry papers to be inundated with 
orders. The day-old chick trade is also one of the most profit- 
able departments of poultry-farming. With a little extra labour 
one can usually get from three to six times the price for day-old 
chicks that can be got for eggs. With ordinary luck the profits 
are at least doubled, so that if one’s egg-production, during the 
four months or so when this branch of the trade is brisk, is, say, 
5000 eggs per month one can count on the natural profit of the egg 
and in addition not less than twopence each on each chick sold. 
At 5000 eggs per month for four months at twopence each this 
would yield approximately £167 additional profit over and above 
the normal profit of the incubated eggs. 
There is no doubt that a large number of egg-farmers and others 
have made large sums out of the sale of newly hatched chickens, 
and there is still room for many more. It is only possible to en- 
gage profitably in this branch of the business by using incubators. 
Day-old chicks from broody hens are probably the best of all, but 
it is difficult to do anything on a large scale by means of natural 
hatching. The incubators used ought to be of the very best—not 
necessarily the dearest—and as there are now large numbers of 
reliable machines of different makes on the market there ought 
to be no difficulty in getting a perfect incubator at a moderate 
price. It is not possible, however, to get a good new incubator at 
a small price—material and labour will not permit of it. The 
wise farmer will therefore give a good fair price for the machine, on 
which almost all his success depends. No man, however skilful, 
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