20 The Truth About the Poultry Business 



give you later, as I know only enough about feeding poultry 

 to know what a vast and scientific study it is and how much 

 I do not know. 



When feeding anybody's poultry food or system, feed it 

 exactly as directed. If the directions say to feed so much of 

 this kind of grain and so much of that, it is because the 

 inventor knows that it requires those amounts and those in- 

 gredients to balance his mash properly. If you are going to 

 feed his system, follow his directions; if not, then feed some 

 other system that you like better. 



It has taken me fifteen years to learn what I know, still I 

 know some people who learn more in one year than others 

 learn in fifteen years or a whole lifetime. 



When the beginner finds his hens are not laying on the 

 egg-food, his chicks dying on the chick-food, and his hens 

 dying with roup, his vision of a happy home begin to fade, 

 and he probably gives up in disgust. If he is made of "sterner 

 stuff" (which the poultry papers say you must be made of to 

 succeed), he sticks it out a little longer and if he can hold 

 out until spring when the old hens begin to lay he thinks 

 he will win out. But at that time of the year the price of 

 eggs may go down to a point where it costs more to produce 

 them than they will sell for, and he is as bad off as he was 

 before. After losing all he has and all he could beg or 

 borrow, he is forced to give up. Was it because he did not 

 work hard? No, he did work hard and he was willing to 

 slave to succeed. Many, with their last dollar gone, have not 

 a friend or a place to go to. What man wants to go to the 

 poor house? What man wants to suffer the humiliation of 

 a failure? I had several and I know that each one hurts 

 more than the one before. What man wants to give up his 

 home? 



