Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-05-02
How to Begin Poultry Keeping.


The location of market poultry fsrm
Is matter of no little Importance: A
near market is a necessity. but 4
"near" market is not necessarily one
that is within few miles of the farm.
A market may be five hundred miles
distant and yet be NEAR" because il
can be reached quickly and cheaply by
direct line OF railroad. Before buy
ing land for poultry farm. or decidino
to go into the poultry business on YOUR
present farm, find out all about the
marketing facilities, and take all THINGS
into consideration. Manufacturing and
mining villages are often better mar
kets than the larger cities. The poultry
raiser who lives within teamino dis
lance OF one of these villages, and is
also upon direct line of railroad lead
ing to a city, is about as well off for
market facilities as one need be. Nearly
all parts of New England, New York,
Pennsylvania and New JERSEY offer
superior advantages to those who desire
to engage in market poultry raising.
The soil OF the poultry farm should be
such as can be protitably cultivated, for
it is not good economy for the poultry
raiser to buy anything that can be more
cheaply raised on the farm. (Which
branch of poultry raising pays best?' is
one of the problems that these beginners
expect me to solve. The question can
only be answered in a general way.
Near the crowded cities and manufact-
uring villages of the East it pays to
keep fowls TOR eggs alone. In many of
these places the average price of fresh
eggs is fully twenty-five cents a dozen
the year round, and when hens can be
made to produce from ten to twelve
dozen piece In twelvemonth, any,
body can see that there is big profit
to be made. If you know the average
price of eggs in your locality, and the
cost OF keeping hen for a year, YOU
can soon tell whether it will pay YOU to
keep fowls for eggs alone. For farmers
wives and others who can not devote
their whole time to business, it seems to
me that the egg business is Just tho
thing-provided they live where it viii
pay; and when it comes to that there
are but few places where it Will not paw,
Tor where eggs are cheap grain is gen
orally cheap.
Raising early chickens for market
pays remarkably well when the poultry
transportation and marketing does not
eat up nearly all the profits. 1t requires
more skill to succeed in this branch of
poultry farming than any other, and it
should not be attempted until after con-
siderable knowledge of poultry keeping
has been. acquired. Raising chickens
out of doors with hen mothers. in
spring and summer, is one thing, and
raising chickens indoors in winter and
early spring, wholly by artificial means,
is another thing altogether. as those
who have tried it know. Raising chick
ems to sell alive or dressed in the fall
and winter is profitable in most local
lties-very profitable in some, especial
ly where the poultry is raised of extra
size and quality; and you should all re-
member that there is but little differ
ence between the cost of raising poultry
that will sell for the highest market
price and that which will sell for bare
ly enough to cover the cost of rails ng.
Raising capons is a very profitable
branch of the poultry business, but
there is at present no market for them
except in the largest cities.
From my own experience l say to
those who expect to devote their whole
time to poultry, that it pays best to run
the business for all that it is worth.
Taken one at branch time, and as soon
as you have that on paying founda-
ton 60 on to the next. Right here
seems to be a good place to remark that
it will surely pay to have all your poul-
try products of the best. If you deal in
eggs, sell only clean, fresh eggs; if YOU
raise spring chickens get them out early
and see that they are plump and we'll
feathered when sent to market; if YOU
sell dressed fowls sell those that are
large, fat and dressed in the style that
your market demands. Aim to have
everything the best of its kind; therein
is the secret of the high prices that
some poultry raisers always obtain for
their products. Ohio Farmer.