HOW A SUCCESS WAS MADE WITH ANCONAS f 



By Jamet W. Gibbom in Suburban Life. J 



■ HAD one advantage that perhaps some of the readers of this article 

 did not enjoy — I was raised on a farm. Aside from this incident, there 

 was not the slightest difference between the things that made for my suc- 

 cess in the poultry business and those that are coincident with the efforts 

 of any person in a similar position. 



Please note that I use the term "poultry business." To many this 

 will suggest acres of land, hundreds of fowls, and a heavy outlay of cash 

 in buildings and equipment. But let me correct that erroneous idea, for 

 to me "poultry business" is but a few fowls on a village lot in a country 

 village of less than 2,500 people. 



I had for several years had a good position in an office, at a com- 

 fortable salary. But it was a daily grind. I was but a cog in a wheel, 

 and the wheel turned by the clock. 



We had a comfortable home (I say "we," for I was blessed with a good 

 wife) in the outskirts of the little village. There was but one-half acre of 

 land, a large lawn, and the balance in garden. I tended the lawn, shrubs 

 and vines, and did some gardening, but had not time to work all the 

 ground, so had to hire much of it done; thus the large garden was a source 

 of expense rather than a profit. We did not own an animal except a cat; 

 and so all the table scraps, lawn clippings, and gleanings from ths garden 

 were wasted. 



After a few years of buying peddled milk, store eggs and butter, and 

 yearning for some of those table luxuries that are unpurchasable even in a 

 country town, we decided that we would keep a few hens. Our sole idea 

 at that time was to produce, for home consumption, a few dependable 

 fresh-laid eggs and broilers. We started in with one setting hen and thir- 

 teen Ancona eggs. Could there be a smaller begirming? 



And here I wish to state that I believe many failures in the poultry 

 business are a result of too expensive a beginning. Our success has 

 seemed quite phenomenal to our friends and neighbors, but I can see that 

 it is but a natural growth from a proper beginning, and that the outcome 

 is but what may be achieved by anyone who is interested, and will give 

 the venture the same reasonable care and attention to details that is de- 

 manded by any other line of work. 



The nine little Ancona chicks resulting from our first hatch were a 

 source of much real pleasure to us. The old white Wyandotte hen was 

 not more proud of her family than were my wife and I. I made a little 

 movable coop and separate park, that we moved about on the lawn, and 

 kept the "flock" clean and healthy. Every chick matured, and we had a 

 nucleus for a flock that has since made quite a record. 



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