LARGE aOALE J?OULTJiY MANAGliMENT. 37 



mal food in some shape per thousand fowls, which estimates are sustained 

 by the statements of other large poultry farmers. From our personal experience 

 we should say that the yield of eggs was put at the maximum, and the cost of 

 keeping at the minimum. Upon these data each of our readers may estimate 

 for himself the probable profits of poultry farming, according to the relative 

 prices of feed, eggs and fowls in his locality. 



H. H. Stoddard, editor of the PouUry World, has written a, series of articles 

 on this subject for the American Agriculturist, which have been republished 

 by that journal under the title of .471 Egg Farm, the object of which is to sug- 

 gest a modification of the ordinary methods of farm or village management lor 

 large scale poultry keeping. Mr. Stoddard reasons that the same methods 

 which enable the inhabitants of a village to keep flocks of fowls amounting in 

 the aggregate to many hundreds, might be successfully applied by a single 

 individual, and he gives plans and estimates for the management of such a 

 farm, in which the fowls shall be divided into flocks of not more than fifty, 

 each flock being furnished with a sepai'ate building, and these being located 

 ten or more rods apart. 



The buildings are constructed in the cheapest possible manner; fences are 

 dispensed with ; and the food and water are carried from house to house on a 

 low wagon, so that the capital invested and the cost of attendance are reduced 

 to the lowest possible point. In order to successfully dispense with fences, the 

 disposition shown by the fowls, on any farm where many are kept, to divide 

 themselves into smaller flocks or families^ each having its particular range, is 

 cultivated by raising them at their sepai'ate homes, and by feeding them in such a 

 manner that they shall not learn to expect food when they see their master, and 

 thus to follow him from place to place. 



Upon this system Mr. Stoddard estimates that five men can take care of 6000 

 fowls. Mr. Hawkins, above referred to, found himself able to care for 175 to 

 200 hatching henfe and their broods, and 1200 laying hens, without any help. 

 This was accomplished by having his buildings arranged with the utmost con- 

 venience. In ordinary management 600 to 1000 fowls would be found sufficient 

 care for one person. 



With regard to the capital required for this business, the lowest estimate that 

 can be made for housing the fowls will be fifty cents each, which would repre- 

 sent a space for each fifty fowls of twelve by sixteen feet in size by four feet high 

 at the back and seven at the front, both sides and roof being made of common 

 bam-board8,~and the whole costing, with a window in front, nails, door-hinges, 

 etc., not less than $25.00. If fenced runs are necessary these would cast from 

 $10.00 for each fifty fowls, upward. Extra coops, feeding vessels, etc., would add 

 $2.50 for each fifty fowls, making the minimum cost for buildings, fences, etc., 

 from 75 cents to $1,25 for each fowlj according to prices of material and labor. 



