The same psychology that creates an interest in small pets makes the fuzzy little 
“Silkies” appeal to many 
Looking into 
the Poultry 
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KEEPING QUALITY CHICKENS, A HOBBY WORTH 
WHILE—AN ANALYSIS OF THE VARIOUS BREEDS 
FROM THE STANDPOINT OF THE AMATEUR- 
EGG LAYING AND GOOD APPEARANCE 
by E. I. Farrington 
T HE old jest of the commuter's chicken yard and its nuisances, 
of the foolish, useless, wandering birds that destroyed your 
garden and your temper at one fell scratch — these conceptions 
are going. One is beginning to hear the conversation of the coun¬ 
try dwellers adopt the phrase of the poultry stock raiser. It is 
astonishingly like that of the old-fashioned “horsey” man; that 
is, the man who followed the shows and discussed points of con¬ 
formation. But with poultry it is a little different; for, besides 
the interesting facts about the breeds, and there are a great many 
interesting breeds, there are the points of breeding by selection to 
discuss. All over the country, raisers of stock are not only de¬ 
veloping attractive breeds, but they are breeding races that lay 
eggs. You can buy a thoroughbred of any stock, but you can go 
some places where, just as horses are bred for speed, birds 
are bred to lay well, or as table fowl. 
So poultry keeping has become a favorite recreation, a 
profitable recreation in these days of the soaring cost of 
food. The best thing about such a sport is that you can 
practice it yourself. Professional and business men all over 
the country are taking it up. Physicians are giving half an 
hour of personal attention to their Hocks each day, and 
recommending a similar plan to their patients. The old-time 
neighborhood rivalry as to egg production still endures, but 
there has come, in addition, a genuine pride in owning finely 
feathered, aristocratic-looking birds which are a delight to 
the eye. There is quality in the poultry yard now. 
Poultry keeping is one of the few hobbies which pays its 
way. That may or may not be a matter of importance to the 
man who rides it, depending upon the fatness of his purse, 
but it is an interesting point. Even the wealthy poultry 
keeper finds satisfaction in the fact that his hens keep the 
egg basket full. And to own a 200-egg hen is to have some¬ 
thing to boast about. 
It is difficult to say whether the breeding of better poultry 
has caused the increase in interest, or whether increased in¬ 
terest has raised ■ the standard of breeding. Perhaps it 
doesn’t matter. At any rate, the fact remains that splendid 
flocks of pure-bred, well-kept fowls are now to be found 
throughout the countryside, and particularly within the com¬ 
muting radius of each large city. A large percentage of the 
birds seen at the poultry shows come from small, home 
plants, and are bred largely for recreation and pleasure. 
It isn’t necessary, though, that one should have show 
birds or to exhibit them, in any event. Many amateurs own 
fowls which might easily prove prize winners, yet never show 
them. The first important point in assembling a flock of poultry 
which will delight the eye is uniformity. The average farmer’s 
flock is a mixture of many breeds and many colors. Some of the 
cocks are dressed in hues that would rival those of the famous coat 
which Joseph wore before his brothers sold him into Egypt. By 
turning a variety of breeds into the poultry melting pot, the farmer 
thinks he gets more eggs. What he actually gets is a mongrel 
flock, the sight of which is sufficient to rob any man of whatever 
poultry-keeping enthusiasm he may have acquired. It is possible 
that a first cross of pure-bred birds may give extra prolific pullets, 
but these pullets should never be bred from. Their progeny will 
be scrubs. That is where the farmer’s system fails. 
Those who complain that chickens are uninteresting never saw the expression of personality 
upon a Plymouth Rock cock objecting to an intrusion in his harem 
(166) 
