II 



MAKING THE REAL START 



Waiting on the Hens — Imprisonment for Life — Buying 

 Sitters — Imperiling Success — Prices of Hens — Cost 

 of Chicks — Quick Product from Hens — Maturity of 

 Pullets — Large Investments Unsafe — Who Furnish 

 the Failures ? 



Now we strike a puzzle : hoiv are you going to start ? 

 In a large, or a small way ? With machines, or hens ? 

 Or with baby chicks, made ready for you by some one 

 who has experience? I cannot decide this for you, al- 

 together, because so much depends on what you are 

 going to put into the proposition, aside from the money 

 investment. 



One might begin with half a dozen hens, a dry- 

 goods box for a house, and with a cracker box or two 

 for nests. One might be very intensive, and keep these 

 hens shut within their box all the time. That would 

 mean that every morsel of food and water and litter 

 which they receive must be supplied them, and all the 

 waste incident to the life of the hen must be removed 

 carefully and promptly by you, if you are to handle 

 them yourself. Are you ready for the task ? And 

 what if you eventually increase to several hundred 

 fowls ? Will you then be willing to become such a 

 slave to your expected money-makers .'' Again, are you 

 willing to imprison for life these sociable helpers of 

 yours .'' If so, any poultry supply house can furnish 

 you a book which will tell you, in detail, almost every 

 move you must make in thus handling the birds. There 



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