Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1902-07-03
ONE woMAN's EXPERIENCE.
She Has Succeeded With Fowls and
Enjoys Being a Poultry Crank.

She Has Succeeded With Fowls and
Enjoys Being a Poultry Crank.
The family pocketbook on the farm is
often lean one, and however free it
may be to all members of the family 1t
Is not ample enough to supply the de-
mands, modest though they may be, of
the girl on the farm. So l had long
thought of poultry keeping as a means
of adding income, but the poultry and
henhouse on the farm were of the typ
ical kind. or. in other words, no kind.
l was absolutely ignorant of breeds-in
fact, all the booklore of poultry farm
ing-and had a private opinion not at
all complimentary of fancy poultry"
With all the rest the "head of the fam
lily" considered hens an unmitigated
nuisance, with very few redeeming
qualities and none at all where the bal
ance sheet was concerned. AT this time
fortune dropped into my lap in the
shape of present from friend of a
setting of pure bred Colored Dorking
eggs, and to give further interest in
them the mother hen died when they
were a day old, and seven dear little
fluffy fellows, with their funny upturn-
ed fifth toe, looked to me for mothers
care No incubator full of possible
prize winners with imported ancestors
have ever given me the pleasure of
those funny little fellows. They came
to believe themselves members of the
family and pretty nearly became so.
They proved to be good stock and in
oculated me into most aggravated
case of the chicken crank disease.
For several years l kept only the
Colored variety, but the assistance of
the friend who gave me the eggs and
the premiums I won gave me so many
calls for stock that added the White
and Silver Gray varieties and have
now about 800 fowls. have five hem
houses, three colony houses for chicks,
incubators and breeders, bone mill and
root cutter Hens are all yarded except
chicks, which have free range. The
fowls have paid for the whole plant,
and they never net me less than 81
apiece a year. They pay not only for
feed, but every expense of houses, re-
pairs, additions, subscriptions to poul-
try papers, entry fees-everything, in
fact, that pertains to the business.
With the help of my sister. who be-
came my partner several years ago, l
do all the work, and as one of us can
drive a nail we do nearly all our build
ing. We have also converted the "head
of the family" to the belief that prop
erly managed "hens do pay"
Our line of work is principally rails
ing fancy stock for breeding and for
sale to the fall and winter exhibitors,
especially TO the men with strings Of
BIRDS" and eggs for Matching, which
we ship to all parts of the United States
and Canada. Side issues are broilers
of chicks off color or for cross breed
ing, for which the Dorking is largely in
demand from its value as a table fowl.
We exhibit at few of the larger
shows. 1 have been II years in the
business, and while every year I real
ize more fully how much there is to
learn in the care of poultry-and that
it is no easy road to wealth. do enjoy
the business, with its modest income,
that is my Every own"
Among the many mistakes was the
lack of courage to branch out, adver-
tise and spend money. l have been
penny wise and pound foolish too many
times. With what fear and trembling
did I make my first importation Of
eggs, yet nothing ever paid Inc better
than the two lone chicks 1 raised from
them. And did not actually dare to tell
my friends the first time paid up into
two figures for a bird. have no fabu-
lous returns to give, as l go over my
books, but | believe that one who will
''stick to it, through all the myriad
trials and discouragements of breed
er, who is no more ready to give up in
times of failure than Of success, will
enjoy, as l do, being poultry crank
L. Goedell in Poultry Monthly.