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The  Rural  New-Yorker 
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The  Business  Farmer’s  Paper 
Vol.  LXXV. 
NEW  YORK.  NOVEMBER  11.  BUG. 
No.  4403. 
The  Truth  About  Poultry 
What  Beginners  May  Expect 
[This  is  the  first  of  a  series  of  articles  mi  farm,  pro¬ 
ducts.  Mr.  Francis  F.  Lincoln  tells  what  a  man  may 
reasonably  expect  from  heps.  Few  people  are  better 
(nullified  to  do  this  than  Mr.  Lincoln.  Later  there  will 
lie  similar  articles  on  dairying,  fruit  growing,  garden¬ 
ing  and  other  lines  of  farming.] 
A  CHANGING  BUSINESS.— The  poultry  business 
has  a  more  shifting  personnel  than  any  other 
business  T  know  of.  People  are  constantly  starting, 
and  after  a  few  years  many  of  them  are  stopping. 
They  may  have  but  a  dozen  hens,  they  may  have  a 
hundred  or  they  really  make  it  their  business  and 
have  several  hundred  or  thousands;  the  establish¬ 
ments  vary  from  a  mother  lien  on  a  dozen  eggs  in 
a  little  A  coop  to  a  large-scale 
plant  complete,  costing  several 
thousand  dollars.  Almost  all 
expect  to  find  big  profits.  Gen¬ 
erally  there  comes  a  grand 
awakening,  and  many  give  it 
up. 
CLAIMS  AND  REALITIES. 
— The  causes  for  this  state  of 
affairs  are  several.  It  is  a 
peculiar  thing  that  a  few  hens 
will  do  very  much  better  than 
a  large  flock.  People  do  not 
fully  realize  this  for  many 
reasons;  at  poultry  shows  lien 
fever  runs  high,  and  many 
malignant  cases  of  “chicken- 
pox”  are  contracted.  In  their 
conversation  and  in  tlieir  ad¬ 
vertising  some  breeders  make 
all  sorts  of  extravagant  claims 
for  their  birds.  Equipment 
makers  reinforce  these  claims 
with  unnumbered  testimonials 
telliug  of  85-95%  hatches,  rear¬ 
ing  with  practically  no  loss,  and 
flock  after  flock  averaging  year¬ 
ly  from  175  eggs  per  hen  up. 
These  letters  may  be  genuine, 
but  they  are  misleading  and 
mischievous  in  that  they  lead 
people  to  expect  far  more  than 
they  are  likely  to  receive — 
yields  of  175  eggs  are  doubt¬ 
less  possible,  but,  with  a  size¬ 
able  flock,  highly  improbable. 
Beginners  may  not  expect  to 
get  180  eggs  per  lieu  per  year, 
but  after  reading  a  few  dozen 
letters  they  are  likely  to  think 
that  if  these  people  can  get 
those  yields  they  surely  can  get 
1G0  or  so.  Just  realize  that  in 
the  Connecticut  egg-laying  con¬ 
tests  the  average  has  been 
around  150,  and  the  1000  birds 
there  do  not  represent  the  run 
of  flocks,  but  the  very  cream  of 
many  flocks.  I  do  not  think  that 
the  average  output  on  a  great 
many  of  the  plants  where  egg 
production  is  the  central  feat¬ 
ure  reaches  120  eggs  per  hen 
per  year. 
SALES  OF  SURPLUS 
STOCK. — Furthermore,  many 
beginners  expect  to  dispose  of  any  surplus  stock 
at  the  same  price  that  they  paid  for  their 
foundation  stock.  A  moment’s  thought  will  show 
that  this  is  not  to  be.  The  demand  for  stock  is 
limited,  and  will  naturally  go  to  those  who  have 
been  working  over  their  hens  for  years.  In  fact 
anything  over  tlieir  value  as  food  that  breeding 
stock  commands  is  paid  in  recognition  of  the  work 
and  pains  behind  the  stock.  New  men  are  con¬ 
stantly  entering  the  ranks  of  the  established  lireed- 
i  rs,  but  beginners  cannot  expect  to  be  considered 
as  such,  or  to  receive  more  than  market  prices  for 
their  products.  Let  us  see  what  a  person  of  some 
slight  experience  making  his  first  start  with  poul¬ 
try  ou  a  considerable  scale  may  expect. 
HATCHING. — If  he  keeps  Leghorns  he  will  do 
most  of  bis  hatching  after  the  cold  weather,  and 
is  likely  to  average  00%  of  tlie  total  eggs  set;  lie 
may  average  00%.  With  heavy  breeds  tlie  average 
will  be  lower.  Hatching  should  lie  done  earlier; 
fertility  is  then  lower  and  many  fertile  eggs  do  not 
hatch;  50%  is  not  bad  at  all  for  a  season’s  average, 
and  often  it  will  be  below  this. 
REARING. — This  varies  greatly  with  different 
men  and  with  different  flocks  with  the  same  man. 
A  beginner  should  not  count,  on  rearing  moi*e  than 
50-00%.  He  may  do  better,  but  if  the  brooder  burns 
up,  if  the  lamp  nr  coal  fire  goes  out,  if  an  unex¬ 
pected  bail  or  thunderstorm  catches  young  stock 
outside,  if  rats.  eats,  hawks,  foxes,  etc.,  are  trouble¬ 
Two  Partners  in  the  Chicken  Business.  Fig.  569 
some — and  all  such  things  happen — the  results  may 
be  very  disappointing. 
CULLING. — Throughout  the  Summer  or,  it'  it  has 
not  been  done  before,  when  the  pullets  are  put  into 
tlie  laying  houses,  they  should  be  looked  over  care- 
lull. v.  Probably  10%  of  most  flocks  could  be  profit¬ 
ably  buried  on  October  1st;  robber  liens  are  as  bad  as 
robber  cows,  and  a  bird  that  is  backward  about 
growing  is  likely  to  be  backward  about  laying.  As 
dangerous  as  mathematical  calculations  are  when 
introduced  into  the  poultry  business  it  may  be  well 
to  summarize  probable  results  roughly:  1000  eggs 
set:  000  chicks  hatched:  330  chicks  reared:  165 
pullets  50%  :  150  pullets  after  culling  about  10%. 
These  figures  can  be  beaten,  but  they  represent 
I  HAVE  been  much  interested 
in  the  discussion  iu  your 
paper  both  for  and  against  tlie 
farm  bureau,  and  was  especial¬ 
ly  so  in  the  articles  of  Mr. 
Campbell  and  Mr.  Weaver  iu 
your  issue  of  Oct.  14.  I  was 
born  ou  a  farm  and  have  spent 
all  my  life  ou  a  farm,  being 
well  acquainted  with  tlie  re¬ 
verses  and  discouragements 
farmers  have  to  meet,  so  that 
what  I  have  to  say  is  not 
theory,  but  actual  experience. 
I  have  also  been  connected  with 
tlie  farm  bureau  for  three 
years,  being  a  member  of  the 
executive  board,  so  have  been 
able  to  acquaint  myself  to  some 
extent  with  the  real  value  of 
farm  bureau  work. 
In  reading  Mr.  Campbell's 
article  I  was  more  strongly  im¬ 
pressed  thau  ever  that  many 
farmers  have  a  decidedly  wrong 
view  of  the  real  idea  of  the 
farm  bureau  work.  Very  many 
of  them  feel  that  it  is  some¬ 
thing  that  is  being  forced  upon 
them.  This  is  not  the  fact. 
The  idea  is  one  of  service  and 
help,  and  can  only  be  useful 
when  the  bureau  has  the  sympathy  and  cooperation 
of  the  farmer  himself.  If  he  fails  to  grant  these 
he  is  himself  the  loser  rather  than  the  bureau. 
The  impression  that  the  agent  is  coming  to  our 
farms  ami  advising  absolute  change  iu  our  methods 
and  telling  us  that  we  are  all  wrong  is  a  false  one. 
In  some  eases  I  believe  be  might  be  justified  in  so 
doing,  yet  an  ordinary  student  of  human  nature 
knows  that  following  such  methods  would  not  only 
be  futile  but  dangerous.  To  be  sure  some  agents 
may  employ  such  methods,  but  such  cases  are  very 
rare  indeed.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  very  probable 
that  there  is  not  one  of  us  who  would  not  be  benefit¬ 
ed  by  listening  to  suggestions  from  those  with  whom 
we  come  in  contact  and  especially  those  who  have 
about  wliat  a  person  with  some,  but  not  a  great 
deal,  of  experience  can  expect:  it  is  easy  to  come 
<>ut  much  worse. 
PROFITS  PER  IIEN.— These  vary,  beginning 
quite  a  bit  below  zero.  It  should  be  remembered 
that  most  of  the  very  profitable  flocks  draw  income 
from  some  other  source  than  the  egg  and  poultry 
market.  I  was  talking  recently  about  wlmt  might 
be  expected  per  heu  per  year  with  an  incubator  ex¬ 
port  who  travels  constantly,  visiting  plant  after 
plant  everywhere,  and  who  stays  long  enough  in  a 
place  to  find  out  about  things.  He  said,  “They  talk 
about  $2,  $5  and  $7  hens:  well,  perhaps,  but  I  think 
that  most  men  make  between  90  cents  and  a  dol¬ 
lar.”  This  can  give  a  man  who  has  kept  a  few 
liens  a  fair  idea  of  what 
he  can  expect  if  he  decides 
to  make  egg  production  his 
business.  He  can  obtain  tlie 
above  by  steady,  careful  work, 
and,  after  a  few  years’  experi¬ 
ence  lias  taught  him  some 
things  he  can  learn  in  no  other 
way,  he  can  expect  to  do  a 
little  better.  Few  there  are 
who  will  ever  get  rich  ou  pro¬ 
ducing  market  eggs,  but  for  a 
man  who  likes  to  work,  is  will¬ 
ing  to  think,  and  likes  hens, 
there  is  an  opportunity  to  make 
a  living  out  in  the  open  where 
there  is  real  air  to  breathe  and 
all  nature  to  look  upon. 
FRANCIS  F.  LINCOLN. 
Connecticut. 
An  Advocate  of  Farm 
Bureaus 
