The Florida agriculturist., 1905-11-15
Start Right and Go Slow.

S1Dle anu plODdDlS plOhto VI 'hN
poultry business keeps coming up. /
A reader of the Feather asked it and
received the following answer from
the editor:
| would like to have some 1nforma-
ton regarding poultry raising, and,
being a reader of your paper, take
the liberty of asking your advice. My
mother has some money to invest IN
some business, which must pay her
an income. She would like to invest
in a small poultry plant, if certain
that this would give us good returns,
Not being familiar with poultry rails
ing we would like to have advice.
Would you suggest raising poultry tor
market or eggs for market, or both!
How much money would be necessary,
and how much land would it take for
raising both poultry and the feed for
the same? The sum named being all
that we have to invest, would you con-
slider it enough for us to embark IN
the business?
And the Feather makes this reply:
This is a question quite difficult to
answer. We could not advise any one
to go into the poultry business as
means of making living who did not
understand something about caring
for poultry 1t is quite as necessary
to be familiar with the poultry busi
ness to succeed as it is to be acquaint-
ed with any business to prosper in it.
If you can have a small piece of land,
say four or five acres, we would ad
wise starting in small way, with not
over one hundred hens, and grow
slowly into the proper management of
same for profit Poultry, fruit, bees
and squads would be a much better
combination to grow upon such
plant than to attempt to grow the feed
for the poultry and raise poultry as
we'll. Above all things we would ad-
wise you to visit one or two success
full poultry plants and see what they
are doing and how they are conduct
ed before you attempt to go into the
some necessary experience and go
slow, and you will surely succeed. But
if you jump into more than you can
manage at first you are likely to fail.
Experiments in Flavoring the Eggs.
Eggs are one product of the farm
that never improve with age and
should not be kept any longer than is
necessary. But while they are on
hand they should be carefully pro-
tected from all strong odors.
Whether they can be affected by the
food eaten or not they do very easily
absorb odors from their surround
ings. AS to the question of feed
changing the flavor of eggs the
American Poultry Journal says:
While the composition of eggs is
but little influenced by the rations fed,
marked changes in flavor can be
brought about by feeding. AT the
North Carolina station chopped wild
onion bulbs and tops were fed to lay
ing hens at the rate of one-half ounce
per hen daily. 1t was fifteen days be-
fore the flavor of the onions could be
distinctly noticed in the eggs. After
that an ounce of the mixture was fed
to the hens for four days and then
omitted entirely. During this period
the eggs were favored SO strong ly of
onions that they could not be eaten.
Onion flavor could be detected in
some of the eggs seven days after the
feeding of onions had been stopped.
The New York State station notes
one experiment in which hens fed a
ration of wheat shorts, cotton seed
meal and skim milk, produced eggs
having a very diSagreeable flavor and