I ANCONA EXPERIENCE I 



I spent my first nineteen years on the farm, just as uneventfully as the or- 

 dinary farm lad finds it. One of my farm chores was caring for the 

 hens, and they were a typical farm flock of about 50 mongrels of various 

 sizes, colors and ages, representing half a dozen different breeds cross-bred 

 to the queen's (dis-) taste. 



When I quit the farm and went to town to live I cut out the farm 

 duties; no horse, no cow, no hens. After a dozen years of office life, and 

 I had married and had a home of my own, I became interested in poultry 

 in a small way. My wife's cousin sent me, as a present, a sitting of Aa- 

 cona eggs — a breed of fowls quite rare at that time. I borrowed a sitting 

 hen from a neighbor, and the result was 9 fine chicks from 13 eggs. For 

 two years I used a neighbors hen-house addition, as I had no housing room 

 of my own, and my little flock of 20 fowls furnished us a remarkable num- 

 ber of fresh eggs and several dozen broilers. 



I then began to study the poultry business, especially my own breed, 

 built a roomy henhouse, advertised pure-bred stock for breeding and egge 

 for hatching, named my poultry plant, used good printed stationery and 

 in two years time was shipping Ancona stock and eggs all over the United 

 States and Canada, and making from $400 to $600 per year profit from 

 my flock of 125 fowls. This was only a side line and did not iaterfere with 

 my office position 



I had a very large garden, from which the expenses and income nearly 

 balanced. The most of it I divided into hen parks, set out fruit trees, and 

 always keep my fowls confined to these parks. In winter my hens are 

 never let out, but they have cement floor, open-front scratch sheds, 



I buy everything my hens eat, except a few vegetables from the gar- 

 den and clippings from a large lawn. 



I have found that the greatest profit is in the "fancy," and that thers 

 are hundreds of breeders in all parts of the country who are willing to pay 

 from $5 to $25 for a high-class pure-bred exhibition bird. 



My experience and observation have proved to my satisfaction th« 

 following: 



1. It pays to speacialize on one breed, and stick to it. 



2. Poultry keeping pays big, if conducted along business lines. 



3. Advertising is necessary to the success of the poultry business. 



4. No big money can be made from fowls outside of the fancy. 



5. Poultry keeping is easy and pleasant, but demands attention to 



details. 



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