The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1906-07-11
The Farm.
AN ACRE OF CHICKENS

chicken farms of forty or fifty acres
alive with chickens-chicken by the
hundreds and the thousands
rambling tiocks of fowls all dwelling
together III peace and happiness and
as prollfc III eggs as trees are in leaves
ali one glad summer day of gather
ing III the eggs, sending them to mar
ket and bringing home the dollars.
How nice, how pretty on paper! But
the cold, cherries fact is, that it will
not pan out that way
And yet, chickens may be kept bv
the acre, and managed so as to be
healthy and profitable, but first there
must be some well-defined plan-a
system outlined, and some money and
skilled labor expended before a single
chicken is turned out to Craze
An acre of ground, with suitable
houses and properly fenced, will &C
commodate between five and six hun
dred towls-that is, it will afford them
space for exercising, for sunshine and
air; but their feed would have to be
obtained from another source for they
would scarcely let a sprig of grass
grow within the acre limit The ground
would, of necessity, have to be fenced
and subfenced and houses erected at
certain distances apart.
An acre of ground is about two hun
dred feet square, and in preparing it
for the fowls it should be divided into
thirty-two yards, each twenty-five feet
wide by fifty feet in length This
would make four rows of yards, and
necessitate two rows of houses. Each
house should be at junction point of
four yards, which would call for but
eight houses for the thirty-two yards
rtr &c ;,,a
open passway should extend from end
to end of the grounds, in line with
each row of houses, and another pass
way midway from the upper to lower
center of the yarded space, so as to
make all of the houses easy of ap-
proach.
In each yard of twenty-five by fifty,
twenty hens and cock should be plac-
ed, which would give a total of $40
females to the acre, and some thirty
odd roosterS. In connection with each
house there should be an open shed
for the purpose of feeding and scratch
ing, so that the fowls could exercise
according to their natural instincts.
Hens SO yarded, with their grain
thrown in straw and leaves, to work
out and fed green cut bone ration
three times weekly, should average
dozen and half eggs a month per hen
during the first six months of the year.
This average in laying would make
total yield of nine hundred and sixt,
dozen of eggs a month, worth at least
ten cents a dozen, or ninety-six dol
lars From this gross income we
would average seven cents per hen
each monitor a total of $45, which
would leave net profit per acre for
the hens enclosed of Ssh.
If one should start early in the year
and become established by the middle
of April, it should be possible to get
good revenue for three months, or I'm
til the middle of July After that date
the yarded hens should cease to lay
profitably, and should be sold.
With experience, and sufficient help,
several acres of hens might be kept in
this way, and much larger revenue
derived than is possible from only one
acre. Fifty dollars a month income
for six months would mean 5000 per
acre for the season. Is there any other
crop that would pay as we'll?
The price of eggs is way up, and will
remain SO during the next six months
Next spring we presume that people
will begin to wonder whether it will
not pay better to sell the eggs at mar
ket prices rather than go to the trout
BILE of Matching and rearing the chicks
from them.