The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-03-31
POULTRY IN CALIFORNIA.
A Business Almost Sure to be Success
 full if Properly Attended To.

poultry raising In California is the fact that nearly five million dollars is sent to other States each year to buy poultry products which ought to be raised in the State. California is the ideal State for poultry raising, yet it cannot supply half the demand of it's own people, let alone the rapidly grow ing demands from the Pacific islands and the Orient.
 Poultry raising especially appeals to the average Fastener who comes to California, for 1t gives him the means of making both ends meet for the first few years he starts in the new life. Many of those who come to this State from the East do so because of bad health or because they have worn themselves down with arduous work Thse men and women are desirous of entering some occupation which give them plenty of outdoor exercise, with out being too strenuous. Poultry rais- ing does not demand a large amount of capital to start with, and there is no occupation that one can engage in that is more healthful If a man or woman is strong enough for outdoor employ ment caring for handsame flock of fowls is a most pleasurable business as well as most profitable one.
 There prevails a widespread opinion in many parts of the East that poultry in California is subject to strange dis eases, to attacks of vermin and to many other evils. This fallacy is one that has been exploded so often that it seems out of place again to contradict it. If there is a place on the face of the earth where poultry thrives better than in California that place is yet to be discovered.
 So far as the commercial end of poultry raising in California is con- cerned an ample income for an average family can be realized from five acres or less within twelve months from the start. The failures in the poultry busi- ness in California are due either to ignorance or shiftlessness.
 There are three things which are ab- solutely necessary to success in the poultry business anywhere, and they are as necessary in California as any where else. These are industry, per severance and cleanliness. They are prime essentials, and without them 1t is unwise to go into the business of raising chickens To the man or woman with small capital the same difficulties present themselves as in other lines of business, making it ne- cessary for one to begin modestly or carry mortgage for time, but there is no other business in which man or woman can get as good returns for his money as in the poultry business.
 Two plans of poultry raising are fol- lowed in California. The extensive and intensive plans both have their ad- vocates. The colony idea is one which demands less care and those who fol- low it say they have as good results as the man who has small yards and pens for his focks. This controversy proves but one thing conclusiyely. and that is that either plan will be successful if followed with persistence. The colony plan demands larger farms and gives the poultry farmer less insight into the workings of the individuals of his flocks. The attention is less than that demanded by the small pen plan, and the food suply is smaller To offset these advantages the advocate of the intensive plan says he gets better re- suits, knows what each hen is doing and can thus cull out the poor layers, and gets more eggs at the time ot the year when eggs are highest in price
 Under the colony plan the poultry is housed in small movable buildings, which are scattered over large field. The estimate is that there should be one hundred hens to the acre. If man desires to raise a thousand hens he must have at least ten acres for them in addition to the necessary ground for his own house. barns and outbuildings This ten acres, however, can be planted to orchard and both hens and orchard are the better for it. This plan gives the chickens plenty of exercise. as they will roam over the entire ten acres, each colony returning to it's own house at night. The feeding of these colonies is simplified by having hoppers which are self-feeding, thus obviating the necessity of attention eX- cept at stated periods when the hoppers are to be filled. Water is supplied from continuous founts on the same plan. In addition to this, feed of mash is usually hauled around to the different houses once every three days This sort of poultry raising minimizes the work, making the egg gathering the most ardous of it all,
 On the intensive plan fifteen hundred hens can be cared for on four acres Of ground and they will be constantly un- der the eye of the owner. The poultry houses and pens are built in such man. ner that the whole can be gone over in fifteen minutes, The houses are two story affairs, the upper parts being for feed bins, and the feeding of fifteen hundred fowls can be accomplished in seven minutes. In addition to egg production, the intensive plan will give better results when it comes to the care of the chicks raised in broders.
 A properly managed poultry farm of five acres will raise enough chicks to pay all the expenses of running the place, including the keep of the family, the horse and the COW. This will leave the egg production clear profit, and as each hen will lay $2 worth of eggs each year there will be a nice bank account of $S,OOO each year for the owner, It is estimated that the net profit on eggs alone will be $1 a year for each hen It will cost an average of $1 a year to feed each of the flock, This caleula- tion does not take into account the