Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1914-02-20
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 20, 1914
Chicken Farming
throwing Industry.

eSSdry 10 De OuCCcSSIul'
There is no agricultural sub
iect of greater interest to all
classes of people than poultry
keeping in some form or other.
Over eighty out of hundred
farmers, large and small, the
country over, keep hens. About
forty per cent. of the household
ers in small towns and villages
keep back yard hocks, and the
number of flocks in the great
cities is positively astounding.
Almost every man you know
has at some time been possessed
with the idea that the easiest
way on earthto make living is
with chickens. If you doubt it,
ask the next man YOU meet what
he thinks about the chicken bus
mess.
Go to a few poultry shows next
winter, after having Industrious
" read the monthly issues of
couple of good poultry journals
this summer, and by the time the
incubator salesman gets in his
work it will take a straight jack
ct to keep you from starting to
keep chickens. And really, it is
a very fascinating occupation.
No one need be ashamed of be-
ing a chicken crank" in these
days, because the poultry indus.
try of the country is assuming
such vast proportions that it
bids fair to overtop any other
single agricultural product in
value at the time of the next
census. Further than this, no
other product can equal it for
net profits to the producer, be-
cause the investment in stock
and equipment is exceedingly
small compared to the returns.
The labor, land and building in
yestment represented by one
dairy COW would take care of
enough heus to bring in three
times the profit.
Now then, can a man of ordi-
nary intelligence, no experience
and a small capital, hope to get
rich by raising chicken There
is but one answer and that is,
that he may hope to, but he will
not make good.
The writer is personally ac-
quainted with prominent poultry
men II nearly every state in the
Union, and while many of them
are we'll to do, not one of them
is rich, even from the farmer S
standpoint.
The poultry business offers the
hard working, thoughtful man a
good living, a steady job and an
assured home.
The production of eggs is the
safest, and easiest field for the
beginner and where this is to be
the speciality, the White Leghorn
breed is pre-eminent for large
fiocks, outside of New England
and other districts demanding
brown-shelled eggs.
In order to be successful, the
start must be made in a small
way, and the ideal plan is for
the prospective owner to work on
some successful poultry plant for
at least six months or preferably
a year, in order to learn the bus
mess from the inside. Do not
underestimate the Importance of
this, as this business is the most
detailed and intricate of all the
agricultural industries.
The returns are very satisfac-
tory when the plant is intelli.
gently handled. Thousand hen
plants may be equipped with an
investment of from four to six
thousand dollars and the net re-
turns are from a dollar per hen
up to the high figures secured
by the fancy stock breeders.
We know three men in South
ern New England, one making
s., 800 from thousand hens,
another making S., with only
tour hundred liens, and the third
spent hundred thousand dollars
on his poultry plant and lost it
all. The first two started small
and grew slowly. The last one
. =.
started big and ended small.
Exchange. /