188 POULTRY REARING AND FATTENING IN SUSSEX. [Dec. 1894. 



ihroughout the district. Barley meal and maize are considered 

 " too heating." 



As a striking instance of what can be done by means of 

 poultry, attention is directed to the ease oF a young man 

 33 years of age who started life as a labourer. He took to 

 rearing a few fowls, gradually increasing his stock b}^ thrift and 

 hard work, and then started fattening. Last year he was able 

 to purchase a holding of 27 acres. He rears 600 chickens 

 himself, and collects once a week for his fattening shed. The 

 stock on his small liolding, which is now all grass, consists of 

 five cows, a horse, and a few sheep. On a still smaller holding 

 of 19 acres, all grass, 600 chickens are reared annually. Five 

 cows are kept, and butter is made. The chicken industry on 

 this small holding is managed mainly by the occupier's wife and 

 son who maintain that rearing pays them better than fattening, 

 the margin of profit in the fattening business being small owing 

 to the competition for chickens among the higglers. The cost of 

 rearing a chicken on this holding is reckoned at Is., while the 

 prices realised range from Is. 8d. to Ss. 6d. for each bird, the 

 majority fetching the lower price. 



Most of the labourers and cottagers in the Heathfield district 

 keep a few fowls and rear chickens for the higglers. A typical 

 example is furnished of the way in which a man can make a 

 start. A labourer's wages were 15s. a week, out of which he 

 paid 2s. a week for his cottage and garden. His employer lent 

 him 24 hens, 2 cocks, and a movable house, and allowed the 

 fowls to run over the fields. From this stock, chickens were 

 reared all through the year and sold at prices ranging from 

 Is. 8d, to 3s. 6d. each, a large number, by good management, 

 being ready in April when prices are high. The outlay for oats 

 and maize amounted to 17^. ; but by the end of the year a clear 

 profit had been made of 20^., and after returning the 26 stock 

 fowls there were 6 pullets left to go on with. This, it is pointed 

 out, is a fair instance of the way in which, with intelligence and 

 thrift on the part of the man and a little generosity on the 

 part of his employer, the labourer may obtain what is really a 

 start in life towards independence. 



Many farmers have pointed out that cows and chickens are 

 complementary to each other, as the chickens thrive upon, and 

 indeed require, skim milk. Some rearers even find it necessary 

 to buy up skim milk in considerable quantities. It appears that 

 several attempts have been made to establish " poultry farms " 

 exclusively devoted to poultry, but that they have all been 

 given up after more or less perseverance. Practical farmers 

 who rear large numbers of chickens insist that only in connexion 

 with, and as a branch of farming, would many fowls pay. It is 

 said that no poultry farm lasts more than three or four years. 



Fattening establishments vary considerably in size. One of the 

 largest in the Heathfield district turns out about 100 dozen 



