Mexico weekly ledger., 1903-02-26
GOLD MINE IN POULTRY.
Money Can Be Made By Little Effort
in Keeping a Small Flock Of
Chickens-A Local Estimate.


To the Editor of the Ledger;
MEXICO, Mo-, Feb. Is. = Counting
the entire poultry product a farm In
dustry and taking the nation as I
wholei 1t excels any other farm indus
try. The last census shows this to BIZ
a fact and yet nothing like correct
statistics have been secured regarding
this gigantic industry. Poultry sta
tistics were gathered in taking the
last census as heretofore-on the farms
only-and the hundreds Of thousands
Of small breeders and families who
except a few hens'' in the towns and
cities were left u~naccounted for, like
wise the many hundreds Of broiler
plants, some Of which have attained
mammoth proportions.
AS a purely farm industry the states
which excel in the production Of poul-
try are In the middle west and are In
the following order: Iowa, Illinois,
Missouri and Indiana. This places
Missouri third among the.states which
lead in this industry; this is true in
regard to chickens, ducks and eggs, but
she is really second in the production
of turkeys and geese.
This is not a bad showing for our
State, yet we ought to do much better.
In 1899 we produced and sold poultry
and eggs to the amount Of 81, SAC, 623.
With the splendid natural facilities
which this State affords fer poultry
culture we ought to double or even
q%uadruple the above annually. There
are thousands of acres OF low-price
land in this State that might te
utilized by people with limited e
with a small outlay for stock and
buildings in raising poultry, thus
bringing them in a comfortable in
come, but who are working for small
wages or living on small rented farms
and have a hard time to make both
ends meet at the end of each year.
The writer has demonstrated by
actual tests that from 50c TO 75c win
feed a hen a year where she Is yarded
nearly all the time. On a farm where
she has free range it will not take near
so much. She will lay $50 eggs a year
at a very low estimate. At the price
eggs have been FOR the last year the
$50 eggs will bring about 1925. That
will leave a net prolific at least ST. so,
nothing about two or three
broods Of chickens which she will
bring of and raise. At that rate, 300
or 500 hens would yield an income suf-
ficient to keep any ordinary family
In the country. To properly
care for 500 hens would be very light
work for any man or woman. One
man can readily ARE for 1000 fowls
on a properly constructed farm. The
investment Of 800 hens at the present
prices would aggregate about $20G. 1t
would take about an equal amount to
properly house them In winter. Thus
an outlay TO start on of about 800
would start anyone In the poultry
business so far as the stock and build
Ings are concerned that would yield,
under proper management, an income
Of from 500 to 81, 900.
Many will say OF the above that sit
looks very nice on paper, but the
actual results would be very differ
Anticipating such remarks by
our readers the writer has to say that
be has demonstrated by actual tests at
different times = In a smaller way,
however-that such results can be
obtained by anyone who has a mind to
devote his attention, or a part Of IL, to
the business. ii. b. GREEN.