Arizona republican., 1891-04-15
THE CHICKEN BUSINESS
How to Start in to Make Poultry Rais
 ing Pay.


 ing Pay.
 Let us imagine two energetic young people who are going to invest their sav- ings in the chicken business" One, a girl, has $50. and wants to know how to spend it, The other has $5o0, and has also much grander ideas,
 If were the fifty dollar girl l would buy hens likely to lay, and work for winter eggs and pure bred early chickens. would build as cheaply as possible warm house in two sections, each ar ranged to shelter fifteen hens, The house should be lined with thick layer of corn husks, fastened in place by laths, and it should have a window in the eastern slope of its steep roof-a second hand hotbed sash if could find one. would consult the kindest and most knowing farmers in the country side about lumber and workmen.
 Such house, 20 feet by 10, with par tition of wire netting, could be built of rough boards for SIS; 8 more would build outside fences. Ten dollars should be spent in food; $10 more for trio of really good birds of breed had chosen as my speciality, and the remaining $l0 should buy twenty or thirty bullets and young hens, of any kind, sort or descrip- tion, provided only they had "the laying look" As those barnyard hens neces- sarily would be brought from all quar- ters, they should not at first go near the pure bred stock, lest they should bring contagion of some disease. Often roup enters clean yards with new poultry. l trust this imaginary girl would take the advice of the reliable breeder of whom she bought her trio, unless she thoroughly understood the question of mating that especial breed. There are queer ins and outs about breeding that he would know, and that are not easily learned by read ing.
 Then, provided with her "plant," she should give earnest care to coaxing the common hens to lay. They must be "forced," as it is called, by much nitrog enous food, to lay sooner and more than is normal, but she must beware of so treating the breeding stock. She to uaNC "lbh NhN most successful henwife in her neighbor. hood, and learn how those full baskets of eggs have been gained. She should keep her house comfortable and clean, and give her hens all the fresh nests, nest eggs, dust baths and gravel that they need. They ought to pay for the. food long before the ten dollars supply is exhausted.
 In winter there is more danger of underfeeding than of the reverse. My hens always laid best when they had free access to wheat screenings. It is not safe, however, to let hens help them- selves to whole corn. If that is the staple of their diet they should be made to hunt for it. A fair share of meat, plenty of wheat or buckwheat-th best of all grains for poultry-and frequent feasts of cabbage, turnips or onions, will get hens into condition to lay abundant ly later in the winter, even if they can not be induced to do so in January. If the kitchen authorities are favorable she should keep big pot-au-feu, in which all the table scraps should be cooked with coarse meal for the hens break fast.
 On the other hand, were the 500 dol lar girl or boy would, if possible, take a trip to the excellent brooding houses near Boston, and see just how the "broiler factories" should be managed. Then l should consult nursery gardener about plans for building which would be a brooder house below, with benches above for forcing plants. A good little house for 800 chicks, with capital heating ap- paratus, can be built for 500. The ad- ditional cost of the green house arrange ments would be considerable, but it would be worth while to have them, for plants and little chickens need the same pure warm air, cleanliness and unre- mitting watchfulness. They fit in well together if one uses plenty of wire net ting.
 It is too late in the season now to be- gin work with incubators and breeders. The highest prices are missed unless the machines are started in November, al. though chickens matched in February will bring fair prices in May, and the learn- ing "how to do it" this year is the only way to do it just r1ght in another.-Miss E. K. Winans in American Agricult- urist.