Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-09-03

supply of eggs in the market, and it is
necessary to import them in large
quantities..
HAS not this growth of the business
increased the demand for poultry sup
plies?'
Eyes, very largely. Among the ar
ticles in great demand are ground bone
and oyster shells, which are fed to the
chicks. Why, we sell at least fifty tons
of this material year, and the demand
has made new way of disposing of
bones and oyster shells. Not long ago
man started a mandatory at Yonk-
ers for the special purpose of grinding
bones and oyster shells for the chicken
trade. and has big trade in it already.
1t has also made great demand for
wire netting for fences to poultry
yards. The other day we sold and put
up for one party q mile of this wire
netting"
you spoke of 3 chicken ranch.
What is 1t ike?"
''Ours at Franklin covers six acres of
ground. 1t is inclosed by fence about
six feet high. 1t contains number of
wooden buildings. built especially for
embarrassing One of these meas
ures sixty by eighty feet and is twenty
feet high. 1t was originally built for
the fattening of poultry. 1t is divided
into pens for f1ocks of chickens of diff
ferent breeds. The pen measures about
ten by twenty feet, and each contains
nest boxes. roots and feeding troughs.
Another building on the ground is long
and narrow. 100 feet by ten. and is
divided into pens, the same as the
other. Still another is forty by fifteen
feet, which we use principally for ducks.
1t has a small pond adjoining. On a
knoll back of these buildings we keep
a large number of the artificial brood
ers for young chicks taken from the
incubators at the store. They are kept
in these brooders four weeks, and are
then old enough to be put in with the
larger s ock.'
What is the capacity of such a
ranch?"
Without crowding, it will accom-
modate nicely one thousand full-grown
fowls, five thousand young chicks and
one thousand ducks. The cost of such
a ranch complete without the land, is
about $4,000. One man and boy can
attend to it nicely. Their duties are to
feed and water the fowls regularly and
keep the buildings thoroughly cleaned.
Ii this is properly done it keeps the
fowls in perfectly good health. Such
a business, properly carried on. will
yield a profit OF at least 100 per cent.
on the capital invested and even that
is a low estimate. Take fancy bred
fowls and they bring from 81 to $40
apiece and know man who has a
partridge cochin cock which 500
couldn't buy. Then take broilers.
- 81,
dull season, twenty-five cents a pound,
live weight. Each one will weigh two
and one-half pounds, and the cost to
winter they bring from fifty to sixty
cents pound, or 81 pair.
The demand for eggs for Matching is
great, and large part OF our business
is to supply eggs for this purpose. In
fact. our ranch is carried on for rails
ing thoroughbreds. not for market
poultry. Do we allow visitors? Yes.
we set apart Fridays for any who want
to see the place. But there have been
number of such ranches lately start
ed in the neighborhood of this city.
One on Long Island and conducted by
stock company is the largest. The
capital invested is $40. 600, and the
place is conducted for the exclusive
production of broilers. 1t now has a
capacity for Matching seven thousand
eggs, and they are putting up more
buildings. so that the place will have a
capacity for Matching out one thousand
chickens day. They find the bust
ness profitable. and their trade is in
this city. Another somewhat different
ranch is in New Jersey. which IS de-
voted to the production of eggs exclu-
sively, it's owner having contracts with
parties in this city. The man who
owns it started the business three years
ago with capital of just S25. He has
now one thousand laying hens, and his
present buildings cost i'm $4,000, all
of which he made out of the business.
Yet. all this time he has been engaged
in regular business in this city, and
has come in every day.-h. Y MaiL
anu Express.