The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-17
Most of the Farm FIOcks Are Taken Care of by Women With Marked Sue cess-POultrymen Will Do We'll to Take Their Wives Into Partnership
By MICHAEL K. BOYER


 mand. As a pin money" enterprise
 hens have no equal.
 On many of the farms, especially in the west, the poultry is given in charge of the women of the household It is work naturally adapted to wome- en; it calls for patience and atten- tion, and at the same time kindness and gentleness-traits that do not al-
 ways dwell in the sterner sex There is no event in connection with poultry culture during the year which
 has not it's interest for those who care
 for innocent creatures of the farm yard-whether it is feeding the stock gathering the eggs, hatching out the chicks, or culling the flocks in the fall to meet the capacity of the win ter quarters. They all have their charm and excite the interest and sym pathy of those who have love for the work.
 Psychologists tell us that our Amer ican women lose health and beauty earlier than they should, for want of sufficient out of door air and exercise Whether or not this is true, we may be certain that the poultry business has among it's other benefits the vir- tue of sending the caretaker into the pure outer air and melting. a love for natural beauty not found among those whom no such duty tempts from the fireside.
 Take Women Into Partnership It seems that woman is fitted by nature to care for young animals; het instincts teach her to understand their wants Consequently when she becomes interested in any living creature nei- l ther time nor labor is spared to pro- I mote it's welfare. It can also be said | that woman is much more ingenious l than man and quicker in devising new | ways and means of doing things. Tom Barron, the English poultry raiser, who came to America in 1914 and de- livered lecture before poultry con- vention held at Storrs, Conn.,, dwelt at considerable length on this very sub iect. It will be remembered that MT. Barron, previous to his visit here, won in one egg laying contest after an other, and it made our poultrymen sit up and take notice.
 As Mr, Barron said. when he con cluded to go into the poultry business, he felt he must first consult Mrs. Bar ron He talked the matter over with
 her because he believed that good wife could be of great help in this line. She encouraged him, and he was confident ot success with her help Hl can tell that I would not have been where I am to-
 day only for my wife" was the way MT
 Barron put his tribute. Many times sensible woman can help a man out Of hole great deal better than lot Of friends
 I like this wife partnership, and I be-
 lieve with Barron, that if man takes
 his wife into his confidence he seldom
 goes wrong. She is more careful and quick to notice details. Poultry culture is business of details
 Here in New Jersey the wives of our
 poultrymen are great helps on the farms
 Some of them have the care of the incu-
 bators, some attend to the chicks, some
 look after the shipping, and others take
 charge of the correspondence. They work
 together, and the partnership is not only
 profitable but pleasant.
 What Some Women Have Done
 A woman of my acquaintance who de votes a few moments daily to three dozen
 hens kept in small run. clears sS0 year, which is her pin money" Another instance is told of woman who raised 700 chicks from 250 hens in
 one season, and sold s375 worth of eggs during the same period. The following
 autumn she disposed of $500 worth of stock.
 Two young women set 46s eggs in an
 incubator, matched 2l9 chicks. lost 40 of
 them From 3 hens reserved they net
 ted a profit of $162. F, in the sale of
 eggs and surplus stock.
 A quarter of mile from the home of
 the writer lives a middle-aSed woman
 who averages $4 9 week raising broilers
 and selling table eggs. The broiler orders
 generally come on Saturday, and it keeps
 her pretty busy killing and dressing stock for those orders. Not more than 15o head
 of breeding stock is kept and all Of the work is done at regular hours so ar
 ranged not to interfere with household
 duties.
 l have the testimony of another poul-
 trywo man here in New Jersey who, with
 50 hens is able to pay taxes, insurance
 and other minor bills.
 Wears ago l visited farm in New Eng
 land. owned and managed by two spin sters With 800 hens these women made
 a good living They did all their own
 work, such as running the incubators
 and breeders, feeding and caring for
 the stock, besides performing all the household duties
 In the writer's experience some of the
 most successful broler raisers were women. I know of one woman who
 raises and markets 5000 broilers year.
 I could cite many more instances, such
 as the wives of laborers devoting a DOT
 ton of their time to raising fowls for market, realizing enough to pay the rent,
 or buy the groceries, or clothe the chil- dren Again, l know of women who
 were compelled to support the family on
 account of an invalie husband or some other misfortune, and where raising and
 selling eggs and table poultry solved the
 difficulty And I know of another case
 where a woman earned enough money
 from her hens to pay for her boys educa-
 ton at college
 Hen as a Mortgage Litter Here is story that shows quite forcibly what can be done. It happened in the writer's own town. A certain farmer made dairying the feature of his farm: he did not have sufficient ready
 money, so he put mortgage of $400 on
 the farm. He bought F cows and re-
 tailed the milk to residents of the town.
 He had to work hard, and yet he found a little spare time to raise some vege-
 tables and fruit He was reasonably succe ssfu1 but there were many
 things needed that he was unable to cut down his mortgage. In the meantime h.s wife kept poultry. She began with flock of purebreds and eventually en-
 larged her flock into tho hundreds. The enterprise being her own, she bought and paid for the food and saved the in come. She never told of her profits to her husband. For that matter he never thought much of her enterprise.