2l6 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



poultry, and, from this point of view, the quoted state- 

 ment would mean little or nothing. 



Should you ask any old hand with poultry just about 

 where he would expect a Beginner to lose money, he 

 would doubtless answer, " In the things he overlooks, 

 thinking they do not affect the main question." I 

 suspect that slow and poor development of the chicks 

 may be counted the one great common source of loss. 

 This, you may notice, is a "loss" of something the 

 worker never had. But it is surely one great hindrance 

 to profit. It tells in the meat sales and in the egg sales. 

 In avoiding the causes that make for poor development, 

 the skill of the worker is most severely tested, and his 

 timbre most fully shown. 



When it comes to the ne.xt great source of loss, the 

 matter again depends much on the one just discussed. 

 If there are many poorly developed birds, there will 

 almost surely be weak-kneed culling. Many fowls will 

 be left to crowd and sponge on the good birds. This 

 means relatively large feed bills — big bills and little 

 returns; another loss of something one has never had ! 

 The poullryman's profits are in Ids hopes and aims ful- 

 filled ; his " losses " are in his hopes blasted. This just 

 about covers the situation. 



The mental attitude of the grower is one real key to 

 success. A good poultryman is, in nearly every instance, 

 a good business man. His habit of mind will not allow 

 him to let things ^o at loose ends. He needs a liking 

 for poultry as one of the fundamentals, but that liking 

 will not take the full place of systematic business methods, 

 the resultant of business instinct. 



I believe it to be an almost universal rule that the man 



