Awgust 1, 1905 a 
THE POULTRY 
TILE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
3 
Clippings from ‘‘ The Australian Hen.” 
11 
YARD. 
The best Journal of its kind in Australia. 
How to Begin. 
20; 
A Word=to Beginners. 
10: 
Br E. D. O}DONNELL. 
Tux first thing the beginner in poultry farming 
has to do is in the language of military men to 
determine his objective. In other words, he 
should carefully think out and definitely decide 
upon the line along which he is to proceed and 
the end he desires to reach. 
There are three courses open to hin— 
1. To raise stock for show and stud purposes 
only. 
2. To raise birds and eggs for the market 
only. 
3. To combine both the aforesaid lines; each 
of, these lines has its own characteristics, and 
calls for certain qualifications if success is to be 
won. 
1. To breed for stud and show purposes only. 
The beginner must, is he is to succeed, recog- 
- nise certain facts. In the first place he must be 
a good judge of stock himself,in order to be 
allowed to select his birds when starting, and 
also Le able to select the quality of his young 
stock when he breedsthem. We would strongly 
advise the beginner, if he be not an excellent 
judge himself, to get some reliable authority to 
select the birds for him. Another essential is 
a good amount of capital. It is simple folly to 
try to breed for stud and show purposes, with 
anything but the best stock, if only for the 
reason that one handicaps himself from the 
start with those breeders who are already in 
that line. For the best birds you must pay the 
best price. Then again, it must be remembered 
that in this branch of the poultry industry 
there are usually far more blanks than prizes. 
Happy is that breeder who can secure 25 per 
cent of prize birds from his year’s work. Again, 
it must be also remembered, that in this section 
of the field the competition is pretty keen, and 
the constituency to which you appeal is neces- 
sarilyl limited. 
2, To raise eggs and stock for market pur- 
poses only. ‘To start in this line you need far 
less capital than in the branch referred to, for 
the reason that you can purchase birds of good 
utility quality without much reference to their 
feathers, and get them cheap. But we strongly 
advise that from the start none but pure bred 
birds shall be kept, and let it be from proved 
and tested laying and flesh-producing strains. 
The advantage of this branch of the industry is 
that you are sure of a market for your produce, 
and with the exercise of a little skill in breed- 
ing winter layers of a very fair and regular, 
income. Of course, to secure a good living out 
of it you will need a large flock, and the larger 
tho flock the greater the profit. The most 
successful operator along these lines of whom 
we haye any knowledge is Mr Ellis, of Botany, 
N.S.W. 
3. To combine the aforesaid lines, that is to 
say, let your breeding pens contain only pure 
bred birds, and from them draft out every year 
a large flock of pullets to lay eggs for the 
market. The advantages of this system are 
many. In the first place you will have a regular 
supply of market eggs, which means a steady 
source of income. Then you will have quite a 
number of cockerels to send to market to pay 
for the cost of their own rearing and that of the 
pullets. In addition to this, you will havea 
considerable source of revenue in eggs for 
hatching and birds for breeding. We are more 
than ever convinced that it is along this line 
that the truest success in the poultry industry 
is so be found. 
And now a word of Caution— 
The vital point in this connection is the 
selection of your breeding stock. A mistake 
here will be fatal to your whole business. 
The key word to the whole situation is 
Utility, Utility, Utility. Success in the pen is 
no criterion of profit in the egg basket. 
Rub it into your memory until you cannot 
forget it—that egg production is more a matter 
of strain than breed 
The fact. that-Mr X’s Silver Wyandottes lay 
well is not a criterion that Mr Z’s will do the 
same. 
Because the White Leghorns owned by Mr B 
lay 200 eggs a year it does not follow that Mr 
©’s will reach that mark. A careful study of the 
Laying Competitions will satisfy you on this 
point. The breed that heads the list is not un- 
frequently also at the bottom of the poll. From 
this we conclude that in egg production we 
must recognise the law of the survival of the 
fittest and only breed from proved laying 
gtrains, 
What to do. 
20: 
Get busy. 
Be up-to-date. 
Don’t grumble, 
Buy fresh blood now. 
First come first served. 
Kill off all the weaklings. 
Never sell your best birds, 
The thorough-bred is a winner. 
The best obtainable is not too good. 
Upwards of ten thousand pounds worth of 
poultry and eggs were produced in Great 
Britain last year. 
Yet nearly twenty million dozen eggs had to 
be imported into that country. 
Seems as if there is a market for all our pro- 
duce there, if we can only land it in good condi- 
tion at a profit. 
A few years ago the poultry industry was 
regarded as a little thing by most people. 
Now, however, it is generally acknowledged 
that the lay of the humble hens is a startier. 
Not only eggs, but marvellous accumulations 
of figures are produced by the little workers. 
Provide every pen with a dust bath. Remem- 
ber this is as essential as your own shower or 
plunge. 
‘ Every hen her own dentist’ is a true bill, but 
the poultryman has to provide the false teeth. 
The hen, however, will see to the fitting, and 
there will be no expensive fillings, or gold 
© crowns’ and plates. 
Ever invite your fowls into the shade to have 
a drink ? 
Cool water costs little, and ¢ shouting’ fer the 
hens is not an expensive undertaking. 
The scalding of the drinking vessels is very 
essential. Better wash-up with poultry samo ag 
in the home. 
Don’t have the roosts so high that imagina- 
tive hens believe they are doing a parachute 
decent every morning they fty down. 
Marvellous what a lot of sport you can get ~ 
-out of poultry raising, properly conducted. 
Marvellous what a lot of money you can drop 
breeding fowls for profit on a no-experience 
mismagement basis. 
It is impossible to exercisee too much care in 
the selection and purchase of breeding stock, 
Constant culling of unproductive birds and 
breeding from known layers only, will soon 
result in the establishing of a good laying 
strain. P 
H. V. Hawkins, in the Victorian Journal of 
Agriculture, gives the following excollent 
system of keeping the houses clean; 
