ON A TOWN LOT 19 



Starting on a Small Scale 



I have told you the importance of selecting the proper breed. Now 

 you ask whether one ought to start on a small or on a large scale. The 

 commercial agencies will tell you that 90 per cent of the business houses 

 fail some time during their lifetime. Probably the principal reason for 

 this is because they start on too large a scale. It is like a boy learning 

 to swim. If he jumps in deep water he drowns, but if he stays in shallow 

 water until he learns, he then can go into deep water with safety. 



On the other hand, I started my chickens on a small scale, and from 

 the very beginning they were paying for their keep and a little more. 

 I found it better to have the chickens working for me than for me 

 to be working for them. I would suggest that you start in a small way 

 and buy good stock to start with. You will find that it pays. There is 

 always a demand for good stock, while the demand for poor stock is 

 limited. It is a common error to invest in expensive chicken houses and 

 buy cheap stock. Whatever breed you buy, go to some reputable 

 breeder and secure good stock. Remember that it is quality of stock that 

 pays the large dividends, and not the expensive poultry houses. You can 

 raise good birds from good stock in a cheap building, but you cannot 

 raise good birds from poor stock, no matter how good your buildings. 

 If you have twenty-five, fifty or one hundred dollars to invest, buy a 

 pen of five birds in place of a dozen. 



I made the usual mistake beginners make by buying ordinary stock 

 to start with. I went to a certain breeder and bought from his utility 

 ^ock,^and from other breeders the same quality. At the end of the 

 first year I found I had rnade a serious mistake, as I had lost a year's 

 time and had ^nothing but utility birds — something that intelligent chicken 

 people don't want. It taught me a lesson, however, and I resolved to 

 get the very best birds money could buy. At the end of the first year I 

 had discarded my other breeds and had secured the best stock that money 

 could buy of my favorite breed. At the end of the second year I had 

 a flock of strictly high-grade birds, and found I was on the right road 

 to success. 



While this book is written mainly for the information and inspiration 

 of the family with but limited space for their poultry plant, it has a 

 direct application to the flock kept by the farmer's wife, and the far- 

 mer's children as well. 



