Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1896-02-14
Poultry Keeping
the Profiss.
THE USE OF INGuBATORS
One View of the Relative Value OF COWS
and Hens--CannOt Afford to
Miss Either.

ma CAL poultererS estimate their
gross returns at fully So per hen an
nually. They report that one nj N can
easily care for 800 hens. Some of them
have several thousands divided into col
onies or pens of from so to 100."
c. H. Wyckoff of Crotch, N. Y, has
flock of 1900 Leghorn hens, from which
he gets an average of over 200 eggs per
hen a year. He has for many years
systematically bred from only his best
layers. He is rich man today, making
his money almost entirely by selling
eggs in the New York market. There
are hundreds of men in the east who
raise from one to four thousand fowls
a year.
Duck raising on a large scale is also
very profitable and successful.
NO OvERPRODUCTION
Not long ago said the Poultry Keeper
under the heading mo Overproduc-
tom
within the past five years thousands
of incubators have been put in use, and
the cold storage process of preservation
has enabled merchants to hold poultry
for months, yet the prices have been
greater than ever before, broilers and
large chickens selling at times for 20
cents pound, dressed, even in the
summer months. The high prices thus
maintained are not due to a lack of
supply compared with former years, for
with the incubatorS to aid the hen in
Matching, and ice to retain the stock
to an indefinite time, the market should
have been crowded, and every buyer
feasting on poultry, but those who were
compelled to buy found that they had
y To-, l,D;,, t1,r,
ever before.
Some attempt at explanation may
be made by stating that the great sup
ply attracts more buyers, and adds
them to the list of regular purchasers.
The populations of the cities are in
creasing, and the demand accordingly,
but the main factor is that a greater
number are being educated to feast
on choice poultry. The field is still
large, for hundreds of persons never
buy a chick more than two or three
times a year, and they may yet be con-
verts to poultry as regular diet. What
ever may be the influence at work in
enhancing the prices the farmer may
congratulate himself that If such a
thing as overproduction has been posi-
BILE with grain or fruit, it has not yet
reached poultry and eggs-that is, if
the prices quoted in the large cities give
any indication of the true condition of
affairs. 1t is an encouragement to the
farmer to turn his attention in that di-
rection and to seek his profits where
he knows there is surer prospect for
his efforts"
Eggs are cash in the market at all
seasons and the returns from hens
come in daily. The home market 0he
farmers table, is most important. With
choice flock of hens it enables him
to have a fresh supply of eggs at all
season Qf he understands their man
agemenD, while fresh meat is always
within his reach. AS a premium over
the market price is gladly paid by
those DESTROYS of having fresh eggs, the
income from a properly cared for flock
will amount to a very respectful sum
at the end of year.
COW OR HEN?
AS to which is the more profitable
and requires the least work, 500 invest
ed in cows or hens, must be decided in
favor of the hens.
The Western Poultry Journal has the
following:
Michael K. Boyer last year made a
test, for profits, between one good fam
lily COW anu w hSllc, " DEC WLlSi WOuAh
yield the most profit. The result was
the cows milk was worth at market
rates $144.10, and the poultry account
(Which was mainly for eggs Sold
equaled $150S1. 1t cost $52 to feed the
COW one year and $50 for the hens. The
value of the manure Of both were about
equal in value. But the biggest item
in favor of the hens was in point of
labor it requiring double the amount
to attend to the COW that it did to the
fowls. The test goes to show that James
Rankin's claim that his $50 hens gave
him a better profit than his 16 COWS is
not wild assertion. More poultry and
less cows on the farm would certainly
be a profitable change in the manage
ment."
A year ago the Otsego Farmer made
this calculation:
''In the first place, a good COW will
cost $780, which is our principal. She
will average during the year about two
gallons of milk per day, and about five
pounds of butter per week. Two gal
Ions per day for 365 days would be 73
gallons per year, which, at 20 cents pc
gallon, would be STAG per year for milk
Five pounds of butter per week for s.
weeks would be 26O pounds per year
which, at 20 cents per pound, would b,
$50 per year for butter. The cow woult
raise a calf, which at weaving tim
would be worth about $40. So that tn
receipts from the COW would amount t.
sos, from which must be subtracted tn
expense of keeping, which would b
about 81 a week, or $52 per year. w
then have $156 profit from our $50 in
vestment in the COW. We will now in
vest $50 in chickens, and for this amour
can be bought 100 good hens. The av
erage egg production of a hen is abou
1875 per year. We then have from 10
hens 1880 eggs, or 1042h dozen eggs pc
year, which, at an average of 171s cent
per dozen, would be $1S2.25. Each he
will raise, on an average, 10 chicks pc
year, which will make 1000 chicks raise
from 100 hens, and at 10 weeks old wi
be worth 25 cents each, or $3.50 for tn
1000 chicks; this added to the $1S2.25 TO
eggs, and we have $4S2.25. from whic
subtract the expense of keeping, whic
will amount to $75 per year for the IL
hens; and 121a cents each for the 100
chicks 10 weeks, would be $125. or tC