Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-03-15
Raising Poultry for the Market.

= Raising poultry for the market can he
made quite a profitable business if prom
erly managed. By faulty management
the profit can be made very small or be
made to disappear entirely. In raising
chickens for market it makes a great
difference whether they attain a. good
size and are sen: in early in the season
when poultry is scarce and high. or are
marketed late when there is plenty of
poultry offered at low prices. The
prices of chickens in August and Sep
TENDER are usually fifty to one hundred
per cent. higher than they are in Octo-
Der and November. By having the
chickens Matched early in the spring
they may easily be made ready for the
market early and then secure the HIGH
prices which prevail during the latter
part OF summer and first part of autumn.
In order to succeed in raising poultry
extensively, plenty of room must be pro.
vlded for it. There must be suitable
shelter, and plenty of yard room. The
yard should be large enough so that a
large part of the ground can be kept in
grass, to afford the poultry a supply of
green food. They need daily supply
OF green vegetables. Cabbage and let
tuce are best, but Young and tender
grass is good. Shade is needful in the
yard to afford the birds chance to re.
treat from the hot rays of the sun in
summer. Fruit trees NAV adyanta-
geously be placed in the yard. They
will afford the needed shade, and the
presence of the fowls will help to pro-
tect the trees from insects and insure
their thriftiness and fruitfulness. Poultry
yards are generally too small. If the
yard is large enough the fowls will keep
healthy. a New York hotel-keeper a
few years ago had a poultry yard which
contained fifteen acres, in which he Ike pt
large numbers of turkeys, ducks and
fowls. They had the range of the lot
and during the summer obtained large
part of their food from the yard, and
were free from diseases usually incident
to poultry. The owner was wont to de-
clare that he could raise thousand
pounds of poultry as easily and as
cheaply as he could a thousand pounds
of beef, mutton or pork. Under good
management it is probably true that a
thousand pounds of poultry can be pro-
duced as cheaply as thousand pounds
Object, mutton or pork. The fact that
poultry usually sells at two or three
times the price of beef, mutton or pork,
sufficiently indicates how much greater
the profit must be in poultry raising
than in raising beef, mutton or pork.
In raising poultry for the market the
Importance of having the chickens
Matched early should be insisted upon.
Next in Importance. is tine feeding of
them to insure their rapid and continu-
Gus growth. The food for the young
chicks should be such as is adapted to
promote growth, and should be album
dant in quantity. SKINNED milk either
sweet or sour, is an excellent article to
feed young chicks, along with Indian
meal or oat meal or bread made of
these articles. The chickens should be
given about all the food they will eat so
as to keep them growing thrifty, all
the time. Many allow their young
chickens to be only about half fed for
the first three or four months and then
by extra feeding endeavor to bring
them into condition for the market. By
feeding well from the first the chickens
are fastened to maturity, kept in good
condition and are ready for the market
at an early age. If poultry can be
brought to maturity early in the season
and sent to market when there is a
scarcity of poultry offered, a high price
will be obtained for it. The quicker
poultry can be grown ready for market,
the cheaper can it be produced. A GER
tain amount of food daily is required to
supply the waste of the system, main
tain animal heat and so forth, and what
is consumed in excess of that amount
increases growth and flesh. If a flock
of chickens can be brought to maturity
ready for the market in four months
instead of six, the cost of keeping them
alive. or, simply maintaining their con-
dition for two months will be saved.
The more the chickens can be made to
eat and digest the faster they will grow
and the less will be the cost of maturing
them. Neglect to feed generously is
the cause of many failures in raising
poultry for the market. The greatest
profit is obtained only by feeding all the
birds can eat, while the least profit is
obtained by keeping them about half
starved. Generous feeding and profit
go together and that fact should be suf-
ficient inducement to secure good treat
ment of poultry.-Practicat Farmer.