American Agriculturist, November 29, 1924 
Making Poultry Pay 
Selection, Care and Breeding Show Results 
W E grew into the By MRS. C. A. UMOSELLE learned I must have 
poultry business no cracks near the 
on our farm so gradually that our 
mistakes were not very expensive. The 
chickens paid for all equipment, and 
helped keep the bank account on the 
right side of the ledger besides. I want 
to state right here that we have done 
nothing extraordinary; indeed, the aver¬ 
age of laying was not high, but we made 
money. 
By breeding up the flock we expect to 
do better. 
The hens did fairly well in the fall and 
winter, with the exception of the year 
1917. That year was a hard one for the 
poultry keeper. The price of eggs did not 
advance to keep pace with the price of 
feed at all worth mentioning, but we 
found it difficult to get feed at all worth 
feeding. Twice in the year 1917 we got 
some bad bran. The hens refused to eat 
their mash, and there was no other to be 
had at any price. This stopped their 
laying twice, and it took time to get 
them back. As a result they did not 
make a good showing. 
Breeding Selected Birds for Winter Eggs 
We thought it was worth while to try 
to secure better eggs in winter, so we bred 
only winter layers. During the months 
of December, January and February we 
trap-nested to tell which were laying. 
From these winter-laying hens we selected 
from fifty to seventy-five of the best look¬ 
ing ones that had the most egg record, for 
our breeders for spring. We trap- 
nested them three days, about the seventh, 
twenty-first and twenty-eight of each 
month, marking all that laid in that 
month with leg-bands. Every three 
years we sent off for our males to put with 
our flock. This year we are going to get 
the best we can find, and believe it will 
pay us well. Now, that such strides 
have been made in judging hens by the 
pelvic-bone test, I do not know that trap¬ 
nesting will be necessary, but we knew 
nothing about that at first. 
I don’t think there is any short-cut to 
fortune by way of the poultry-farming 
route. One works for all he gets, but 
that holds true in most walks of life. A 
person who is not physically able to farm 
or do any heavy work can care for a fair¬ 
sized flock of hens. I am not a strong 
woman, but, besides doing a good share of 
my own housework, I have taken the 
entire care of our chickens until last year. 
Since then my daughter has kept the hen¬ 
houses clean, and helps in other ways in 
bad weather. But the poultry is a side 
issue with her. 
Anconas the Favored Breed 
In the summer of 1910 we moved on a 
farm knowing nothing about the care of 
chickens. There was a small flock of 
hens on the farm, which were very in¬ 
different layers. A brother of mine sent 
us ten Ancona eggs, saying he believed 
we would like that breed of hens. We 
raised five pullets which were such per¬ 
sistent layers that winter that we con¬ 
cluded that they were the breed of hens 
we wanted. 
In 1911 we raised thirty-two pullets 
from these five making thirty -seven in all. 
In 1912 we got an incubator and hatched 
about 350 chickens, raising about 125 
pullets. We used lamp brooders, and 
kept them warm, losing only two chickens 
from sickness that year, With the ex¬ 
ception of some that were hatched 
crippled. The hawks got quite a few, 
though, and at night rats got into the hen¬ 
house and destroyed a number of them. 
My husband decided that a cement floor 
was a necessity. This was our first lesson. 
Experiences With Roup 
In 1913 I didn’t try to raise any 
chickens, as I thought I had enough of the 
chicken business. That year we had our 
first experience with roup and cholera. 
The hen-house had cracks behind the 
roosts, and I had several cases of roup. I 
perches, and must have the hen-house in a 
well-drained location with a raised cement 
floor, and this was lesson number two. 
Sells Eggs at Year-’Round Price 
In 1914 I decided to keep books on the 
poultry, so I would know what they were 
doing. On January first, I had a flock of 
130 hens. The following table shows the 
feed the hens consumed, with the cost 
from January 1, 1914, to January 1, 1915. 
It also shows the number of eggs laid, 
with the price received for them. We 
shipped all our eggs to a commission 
merchant in New York only ninety miles 
away, and the price is net after deducting 
expenses. Receipts in 1914; Eggs, 1,444 
dozens at 50 cents per dozen; sold 75 
pounds of broilers, $17.75; raised 70 
pullets valued at 75 cents, $52.50; four 
cocks kept for breeding, $4.00. Total 
receipts $796.25. Supplies, $150.00 
In 1916 I had 195 hens and pullets 
to start with. The hawks got several, 
and a few died from sickness and accident. 
I also sold a few of the older ones. In 
1917 I raised 250 pullets. Receipts for 
the year 2,004 dozen, eggs sold all to an 
Atlantic City hotel at a yearly price of 
50 cents a dozen; poultry sold, $75, 
raised 250 pullets, at one dollar, $250; 
feed, supplies, etc., cost me just $425.00. 
In 1918 I set an incubator and 20 hens 
at the same time, then gave all the chicks 
to the hens. They got along nicely, 
except when the roof sprang a leak during 
a heavy rain-storm, wetting the chicks 
and causing them to pile up in a corner, 
where over 50 were smothered. 
Work of Culling Shows Up 
I am going to give you my last year’s 
results, to make a long story short. I 
raised 125 pullets. We could see the 
results of our trap-nesting, as this was the 
best-looking lot of pullets we had ever 
raised, broad-shouldered and deep in the 
back. Receipts 2,425 dozen eggs, all 
sold to the same Atlantic City hotel at 
50 cents a dozen; 150 pounds of broilers 
at 35 cents a pound; feed other supplies, 
etc, cost $400.00. During all this time I 
kept no account of eggs and chickens 
which supplied our own table, and our 
family is ten children. I could get 
sometimes 75 cents for my eggs in the 
market but I contract the year around at 
50 cents, and that pays well when nothing 
happens to the flock. Keep them clean 
and you will get eggs. 
An Ambitious Pullet 
HAVE been reading with interest of 
all the early laying pullets in our good 
paper and wish to tell of one of mine. 
I can not give the date of the first egg, but 
she could not have been much more than 
4 months old when she began laying, as I 
found her sitting on a nest of 18 of her 
own eggs the 20th of September. She 
was hatched April 5, which made her just 
5 >2 months old. She had been sitting for 
a week or 10 days when I found her. She 
is a large Single Comb White Leghorn 
and if I had allowed her to sit she would 
have laid her eggs and hatched her chicks 
by the time she was 6 months old. I 
think this is quite a record. Several of 
her sisters have been laying since August 
10th and are fine large birds.— Mrs. 
Floyd Owen, New York. 
Juniors To Go To Madison Square 
This year New York State will be 
represented at the Madison Square 
Poultry Show by a team of junior project 
workers who will compete with teams 
from other States. Through the generos¬ 
ity of the Tioga Mill and Elevator 
Company, of Waverly, N. Y., a team of 
junior project workers will be sent to 
New York City in January to compete 
in the National Poultry Judging contest 
for 4-II club members. 
The pullet that lays the 
greatest number of eggs 
is the pullet that can digest 
its food most easily 
“Ever since I started feeding Yeast,” writes 
H. Borden, of East San Gabriel, Calif., owner 
of the yeast-fed fowls shown here, “my flock 
has been in a very healthy condition. Mortality 
has been nothing to speak of.” 
“I have used Fleischmann’s Pure 
Dry Yeast for a period of four 
months,” writes Burton Steere, of 
Springfield, Mass. (One of his yeast- 
fed flock is shown here.) “The birds 
showed a larger egg production than 
in previous years and the whole flock 
were kept in the pink of condition.” 
‘ ‘I have been using Fleischmann’s 
Pure Dry Yeast for three years,” 
writes Mrs. Alfred Kramer, of La 
Crosse,. Wis., “and think there is 
nothing better for chickens.” 
“A HEN which lays heavily or 
x \ poorly eats very nearly the 
same amount of feed,” writes one 
of America’s foremost authorities. 
gested) and making them ready for 
quick absorption. The results are 
positively amazing—quick growth, 
increased vigor, more eggs! 
What makes the difference? 
Breeding? Care? Of course. But 
chiefly this: the good producer 
assimilates her food easily. 
Fermentation of the feed with 
Fleischmann’s Pure Dry Yeast 
makes it easier for the fowls to 
turn their food quickly into sound 
flesh, bone, and energy. 
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Full directions in every container. 
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supply you. If not, order direct 
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prepaid. 
As soon as the Yeast, dissolved in 
water or milk, is added to the feed, 
it begins at once to ferment. It 
acts upon the feed in a way similar 
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the food elements of the grain 
(which must be broken down be¬ 
fore they can be completely di- 
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FLEISCHMANN’S 
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These 
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