The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1910-04-20

On some Of the we'll known egg farms
one man feeds and cares for from
2,0oO to 5000 hens.
The village poultry plant where but
few dozen fowls ere kept must neces-
sarily have larger feed bill! than the
farmer and higher labor expense
per fowl than either farm or COM
mercial poultry plant For these rea-
sons the vil!aSer who hires man to
take care OF his poultry or expects 1t
to earn wages for his own time IS, II
the product is sold 1t ordinary market
rates. very likely to be disappointed.
Now, IL the villager takes up fancy
poultry breeding and devotes his time
to the art he has excellent chances Of
becoming well known as breeder and
making 4 good profit in the business.
Meanwhile he should have enough love
for his work so that he will be content
to get back & little more than his
actual money outlay and give his time
for the pleasure Of the work and the
hopes Of profits later on
Poultry Farming a. susiness-
I presume there will be some who
read this course in poultry keeping
who will be desirous OF engaging in
poultry production as business. To
those. | would say that after many
years Of precarious existence poultry
farming is now established as sound
branch Of agriculture. Although there
Is no greater money to be made from
; poultry than from many other branch
es Of modern scientific agriculture.
there is something about ths business
that has induced large numbers Of !s-
| norant people to invest their savings
IN poultry ventures. hopelesSly bury
Ing their money in ezpensively equip
ped plants designed by themselves or
others equally ignorant Of the business.
AS is generally recognized. the only
sensible plan for one who proposes to
go into poultry keeping as business
Is to begin in q small! way, either in 4
village or on farm, and keep poultry
for a few years in conjunction with
| some other occupation II be IS sue
cessful IN this, it will then be time tc
consider the keeping OF poultry on
more elaborate scale. 4 few general re
! marks on commercial poultry farming
I will append, however, as matter OF
general interest.
The branch Of poultry keeping that
mas proved most universally success
full in q large way IS esq farming. The
! broiler farms have almost invariably
been failures. and the principle is now
i; pretty thoroughly recognized that the
broilcr should be considered as by
product Of the egg business. just as
skimm!lk is i byproduct Of the produc-
ton OF butter. Half or more Of al
chicks hatched viii be cockerels and
must be disposed Of as broNers. 1or
with Leshorns and other egg types OF
fowls ria!e birds are worthless II al
lowed to mature. This large surplus
Of broilers from egg farms and from
the genera! farm Of the country Is SUI
dcient to meet the demand and to re-
duce the price to a point which VIII
permit Of little profit to the man who
produces broi,ers exclusively.
The idea Of the broiler business as
attempted fifteen or twenty years ago
was to produce chickens during the
winter and early spring season by the
use Of incubators and brooGers ard
secure fancy prices at the season OF
! the year when no young stock was
coming from the general farm his
business, which did not prove success
tul then. would De even more imprac-
teal now, as our modern methods OF
cold storage have become so efficient
that it IS entirely practical 10 freeze up
4 supply Of inexpensive summer broil-
ers and to meet the demand the fol-
lowing winter and early spring with
this cheaply produced stoc.-
Another phase Of poultry production
which is successfully prosecuted IN
limited localities is the growing OF
roaSterS.
In this style Of poultry aesh pro-
duction heavier breeds OF slowly ma
turing fowls are used. and both sexes
are allowed to reach maturity and are
; then marketed IS fancy stock. The
possible profits Of the production OF
extra fancy market fowls in tais nan
ne- have been limited. however. by
the custom Of fattinS or crate feeding
farm grown cockerels as now engaged
In by poultry packers and by many
farmers as well. Crate or milk fed
chickens offer prime quality OF young
poultry flesh. and hence. except for ::
few markets where roasters from GER
tain communities already have rcpu-
tation. It would hardly be advisable to
take up this line OF poultry production.
a recent development in specialized
poultry work is the public hatchery.
This business IS usually conducted IN
conjunction with large poultry plants.
The shipping Of day old chicks long
distances by ri! IS now quite fad
and has probably been overdone. An
other abuse Of the puS!:c hatchery IS
the selling Of chicks from esss Of un-
certain origin. Beginners should not
undertake public Matching.
Misunderstood.