14 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 
Granted that you have pretty near decided 
the breed that you want to use, let us see how 
we can secure our first birds, if we have none 
as yet to start with. There are generally three 
different ways in which we can secure our 
foundation stock. The first way is by buying 
adult birds and mating them, and raising the 
resulting chicks. Another way is by purchas¬ 
ing hatching eggs, either from a neighbor or 
from a regular breeder or hatchery. The third 
way is by buying day-old chicks from the vari¬ 
ous hatcheries, and raising these to maturity. 
Let us consider each of these methods sepa¬ 
rately, and thereby inform ourselves on the 
advantages and disadvantages of each method. 
In selecting adult birds for breeding pur¬ 
poses, and thus relying on these birds to pro¬ 
duce the hatching eggs, a few points are neces¬ 
sary to bear in mind, if one wants the best 
results. As these birds are to be the founda¬ 
tion of your future flock, don’t buy them too 
hastily, and also do not try to buy the cheapest 
birds that you can find on the market, as you 
usually get just what you pay for. Therefore, 
the first thing to do is to look through poultry 
papers, farm weeklies, etc., or to inquire locally 
