The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1910-08-01

mOSC Valuable anu yleluS CHe SredbeSI
profits.
Another conspicuous and potent ele-
ment of failure is erronerous or care
less selection of breeding and laying
stock.
There are perhaps three or four
small but successful commercial pOul-
trymen on WILDLY island where the
climate and all other conditions are
try. In fact, there has never been a
failure in the poultry business on
| WILDLY island and that mild and sun
ny region will in the near future
dou btless develop into decidedly i'm
portant and productive source of sup
ply for the metropolitan markets of
western Washington. prospect that
is already beginning to be realized.
One of the cardinal rules of the
WILDLY island poultry grower is to
Gull out all the old hens. This is fol :.
lowed further by the establishment of
producing standard. and when a
hen tails to reach that mark in
years fair trial we'll, there s chick
en- dinner for somebody just as soon
as the record of the delinquent is an
allied and verified.
The producing standard on WILDLY
island is 100 eggs per hen per season,
and it Is to the credit of WILDLY is
land that very few hens are killed for
any reason except the encrOachments
of old age. In tact, one farmer Iesid-
ing not very far from Greenbank,
near the southern end of WILDLY, last
year rejOiced in the possession OF
bunch of hens that averaged 16O eggs
each for the year Of course, these
were brown and white leRhOrns, kept
strictly apart in colonies of not more
than fifteen hens to the colony.
One man can readily take care of
l, 900 hens and at the same time at
tend to the details OF cultivation to
provide food or them, his family, his
cows and horses on, say ten acres OF
land having the right proportions OF
different soils suitable for the various
products required. This land can
still be secured at less than $50 per
acre and within easy access to Seattle
Tacoma and to the eager and eXtens
i've local markets. This is true at the
present time on the southern portion
of WILDLY island, where all condi-
tions are ideal or the poultry bust
ness.
Surprising that 1000 hens average
$50 eggs each year. Twelve dozen
OF these per h9D, or total of 1900
dozen, can be sold in the markets at
an average price Of at least % cents
per dozen, bringing total revenue
of SIS, 900 for the year from the sale of
eggs alone. But besides, this would
leave surplus of eggs from each
hen, or little more than 1888 dozen
from the entire flock. Allowing for
domestic uses. spoiled eggs waste,
etc., the poultryman would, even
after all is accounted for and allowed
for, have an incubator surplus sutfici-
emit to duplicate his flock. 1t is in
deed an industry worthy of anybody s
serious and material study and careful
consider alton in this egg hungry land.
Raising geese, ducks and turkeys in
this region is too often considered an
incident for DEPRESSION in regular in
tensive farming. 1t should be no
such thing. 1t is doubtful ii any
thing else will pay better, all things
being considered, than either or any
of these.
We have to pay 80 cents a pound
for our Middle West turkeys In the
Seattle markets about every time
Thanksgiving and Christmas come
around. 1t isn't true that turkeys
are not successfully grown in the
Puget Sound region. One of the
most important contributors to the
Seattle market is woman who raises
scores of fine birds every year, and
has done so for many years without
single failure. This woman has a
regular turkey farm on one of the
favored islands of the San Juan archi-