The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-03-29
Keeping Books in Poultry Raising.
Editors Progressive Farmer:

Poultry keepers who have never kept any ac-
count with their fowls, and then start in and
keep a careful record of the OutgO and income,
are apt to be somewhat surprised at the end of
the year. With some the surprise may be very
agreeable, while with others 1t may be the OppO-
site. At any rate it is apt to result in some
changes for the better with the owner. If the bal
ance is on the right side and he or she is well
satisfied, it is likely to encourage them to do a
little better next year. If the books foot up
against them they will be apt to make an effort to
improve matters, either by giving more attention
to the hens or by going out of the business en-
tirely. The latter, no doubt, would be the most
sensible move for some.
l will tell of a farmers wife who decided that
| will tell of a farmers wife who decided that
it would be better to know exactly what the hens
were bringing in; so three years ago she procured
a poultry and egg record for the purpose, and she
has learned by this bookkeeping that her Leg
horns lay about one hundred and twenty eggs per
year, the weight of the eggs being more than four
times the hens own weight, which is about three
and one-quarter pounds. She has learned the
value of the feed given the hens, and says that the
cost of eggs produced in her yards is three and
one-half cents in the summer and five cents per
dozen in the winter. These fowls are given bet
ter care than the average farm flock gets, yet no
special pains has been taken with them, only good
aL-rOund care. The point | wish to impress upon
the minds of those who keep poultry is this: if
this person had not kept an account with her
fowls she would not have known the profit they
were turning in, and it would be difficult to make
others around her believe that her hens were do
ing so we'll except for those figures in "black and
white"
Even in a poor market this woman would clear
more than a dollar per head on her hens. But
there are a great many people keeping poultry
who are not doing this; no, they are not even
making both ends meet" but they don't know it.
Then, there are others who say that the hens
don't ~ay their keep, and are a nuisance, when,
if they really knew what they were talking about,
they would find the hens the most profitable stock
on the place. But these are matters that you will
never know about as they really are until you keep
a book account with the fowls. Many people dis
like to be bothered setting anything down; they
prefer to let things go on, and guess at the profit
or loss.
The ones who make the most money, no mat
ter what they are into, are those who have a
system for carrying on their business. They have
things in the proper place, and when the eggs are
gathered it takes less than a minute to set down
the number brought in. When the eggs or poultry
are sold it's not much trouble to put down the
amount received, and at the end of the year it is
not much bother to foot it all up, but it's dread
fully interesting all the way through. Don't take
my word for it; try it for a year.
APOULTRYMAN,
C1o1a1and 10 NJ n