The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1911-01-20
Big disabilities mp oulty
RI. Leitch and H. L. Blanchard Tell
How to Make Hens Earn Dividends

year we paul Ou1 Sf,OOo,OOo i'i
poultry and eggs which had to be
brought in from other states. These
figures he cited to show that poultry
raising is big business, that the
market is here at our door and that
there is money and good money in
it for those who will take it up and
90 at it right.
There is far more money in poultry
said the speaker, than in any other
branch of the farming industry, in
proportion to the capital required.
Last year the average price of eggs
in this state was SO cents, while
the cost per dozen to produce should
not exceed Is cents. The business
is derided by many farmers as being
too small for their attention, but
the speaker said he could cite scores
of instances where the poultry ward,
under the management of the wife
or daughter had turned out to be
the money making end of the farm
and had even saved the household
from utter failure.
In this connection he advanced a
solution of fthe question of how to
keep the boys on the farm, and that
is, teach the daughters the poultry
business, so they won't leave for the
city, and the boys will be certain to
stay where the girls are.
In establishing their experimental
farm they started with $50 laying
hens, pure bred White Leghorns
and White Plymouth Rocks. They
got an early hatch of 1 100 chickens
from which they developed $50 pull
lets which began laying in Septem-
Der. From these pullets, ~ 10
months after Matching, they re-
ceived a net return of SO. 10 per pull
let or $1,000. Concerning these
returns, a bulletin is now in course
of being published by the station,
which will be sent free to all who
ask for it.
Poultry breeding, says Mr.. Blan-
chard, is an interesting and profit
able study, and may be acquired by
anyone who will give it intelligent
thought and attention to details.
Profitable egg production can
only be accomplished by getting the
eggs while eggs are high in price,
namely, in the winter months. To
do this, the breeder must get his
matches early, from February to
April, so that he will have flock
of pullets developing which will
begin laying in early fall. Dispose
of the old hens every fall. Pullets
lay II months out of 1S, old hens
only six or seven. Leghorns should
lay before five and one half months
old. Identify the layers for breed
ing purposes. Work always to
build upa strain of winter-layers..
Mr.. Blanchard recommends the
open-front roosting house with mus
lin curtains instead of glass for
windows. These houses will actu-
ally average two degrees warmer
than those with glass windows, and
afford the purest air at all times.
In using such houses at the station
O2x15 feet to accommodate rs to
80 fowls) they have never had one
case of sickness among their hocks.
AS to the question of feed, the
speaker advised the poultryman to
get the various bulletins on this
subject from the experiment station
and to take at least one good poultry
journal for the information that
could be gained. Milk is one Of
the best foods obtainable, while beef
scraps and some kind of green food
such as alfalfa meal, is absolutely
essential in winter.
After the lecturer had finished
speaking, he invited questions from
the audience. One query was
whether the incubator Matched chick
would be as hardy as the one
Matched in the natural way. He
said he could see no difference.
That in using the incubator the
breeder got as good chicks, got them
when he wanted them and at a cost.