The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-04-10
AGRICULTURAL.
ABOUT POULTRY.
Some Practical and Timely Topics |
About Hens and Their Ha bits-HOvv |
Many Eggs VIII Hen Lay:-What

About Hens and Their Habits-HOyv
Many Eggs VIII II Hen Lay :-What
and How to Feed.
Eggs are cheap now, but poultry is COM
paratively high, live hens selling for 10
cents per pound and eggs 10 cents per
dozen; the supply of eggs is abundant, but
good poultry is scarce. In the same mar
ket three months ago eggs were scarce
and sold readily at % to 80 cents per doz-
en-, while the market was overloaded with
poultry at cents per pound
Those who sold poultry then are selling
eggs now while many who were selling
eggs then are now getting so to IS cents
a piece for the hens that have been lay
ing all winter
Ther1 is money in poultry. Some can get
1t QUO; but many miss it. That there Is
good margin for profit in the intelngent
production of both eggs and meat IS Wen
known to all who understand the men ana
her habits. The poultry business, IKE any
other, must, however, be run on business
principles to insure success.
The March number of the Poultry Keeper
has in it SO many good things about mems
that would like to quote the "noie
paper. This not being practicable we Will
ask the COW, pig and sheep to excuse US
this week and we will devote whole CHAP
ter to the hen.
BRINGING IN THE RETURNS.
There is no reason why the farmer
Should not have something for sale from
his poultry yards every week In the year.
There are times when the hens will not
lay because they are in the mOulting stage
which takes away about three months In
the year, mostly during July, August and
September, perhaps beginning and end
ing later. AS eggs will then not be so
plentiful the chick should be made fat
and sent to the markets. The poultry DuS--
ness permits of something coming In all
the time, which provides the capital for
operating the business. After one has be-
come established in the poultry business
the receipts should exceed the expenses
every month in the year, and chicks may
be Matched early and late, or as long as
the hens will become broody and sit, but
they should be sold before the winter sets
in, as by that time the hens should have
finished the moulting process and be ready
for laying again and will need the room
that is occupied by the chicks. By selling
chicks during the la tier part of the year
there will not be the usual intervals be-
tween the profits that come in.
GENERAL PURPOSE OR SPECIAL,
WHICH?
The branch of the business aiming princi-
pally for the production of market eggs
usually consists in disposing of the hens
every summer and relying upon early
Matched pullets to take their places in the
fall, and furnish a supply Of eggs in DC
tober, November December and January,
covering the period of best demand and
usually highest prices and, in fact continu-
ing the supply more or less successfully
until the once pullets in their turn are dis
posed of to make room for the next new
corners, and deriving the main income from
the sale of eggs, chickens being merely in
cidental to the business and sold as best
they can be. Where the poultryman is very
favorably located his eggs may range in
price, by the quantity, from Is to SO cents
per dozen, but the lowest and highest
prices being of but comparatively short
dura ton, however. He rarely obtains over
over 80 cents by the case in our large mar
ketS, unless occasionally for something
extra choice and unusually inviting in ap-
pearance, and after feeding his poultry he
may receive annually, as compensation for
his labor, from 81 to perhaps $2.7 and pos
sbly, in occasional instances. with small
flocks So per fowl We regard these as the
very outside figures. They are, in fact ex-
ceptional, although they have been reached,
but to do So even in our highly favored
Massachusetts, We can meet with no disas-
ter during the year, but must enjoy con-
tinued success in every department OF the
business. Thus a person keeping 800 hens
in this manner may possibly realize, say
$780, as his wages for his years work. We
would not name larger amount, and If he
exceeds this he is certainly very fortunate
and is certainly to be congratulated, for he
may be so situated, or so small a measure
Of success may attend his labors, that this
sum will shrink to $500, or a net earning OF
81 per hen.
This branch of the business to which we
have referred and which is so generally
practiced may be called extreme, and Is
good SO far as 1t goes. The other branch
consists mainly in raising poultry for mar
ket letting the production of eggs occupy
a secondary place, except as required for
matching chickens. Indeed, this latter
branch is sometimes carried on quite extern
sively by persons who own no fowls, but
who purchase their eggs within a. radius
of 10 or a dozen miles of their residence.
So far as our personal observation in this
last named direction extends, those who
pursue this branch Of the business exclu-
sively start their incubators in December
and confine their Matching to the winter
months disposing of all their chicks by
early summer, and then SuSpendlng tnelr
poultry operations until another December.
In our own case, however. were we pursu-
ing their plan, we should prefer to COM
mence our hatchings somewhat earlier, Tor
reasons which we will state farther on. by
their method, which may be called the
other extreme of the business, one man
alone usually seems to clear as much or
more money from his six or seven months
of labor as does the first-named in year.
novice however, could not do this. The
ultimately successful men made compare
tive failures at first, and only perseverance
and determination enabled them to hnally
overcome all obstacles.
Each of these two branches has it's fol-
lowers and supporters. Some pursue one
and some the other, but it is comparatively
rare to find anybody who adopts both AMI
pushes them to the extent of their posi-
biities. Now why is this? We do not
know for 1t is beyond our comprehension
Let us venture, however, to suggest pos
Bible reason.
We are apt to like what we have beer
accustomed to, and we are prone to kicl
vigorously against any innovation on ole
methods. We incline to old fogyism, ant
to despise anything bordering upon modern
IDEAS Some of us are so far gone in this
respect that we cannot fully appreciate
many of the most common sights tha
hourly meet our astonished vision. Such
for instance, as the disgusting and contag
ious so-called art printing" of the period
which disfgures not only our dairy jour
nails, our mercantile paper, and even oul
street signs, but also our popular maya
zines and our choicest literature, by
motley mixing in the same word, of un
couth letters both large and small, tina
would do discredit to child years O
age. Or, again, the modern sharp-toet
Shoes that meet us wherever we meet al
most anybody; the carefully creased pant
formerly held in holy horror and avoided
by the fastidous as indicating ready-mad
cheap trash), the profound youth with hi
hair parted in the middle; the choker col
lar which render it as impossible for tn
Wearer when properly seated at the dime
table to discover what is on his plate, a.
to behold what is on the summit of hi
Uranium, to gaze upon segment of hi
own spinal column, and numerous othe
idiotic, deporabe nuisances so much il
vogue with brainless dudes.