The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1943-11-04

seemed raLner O1SCOurdSlnS.
Disregarding all cost of equip
ment and labor (Which was plen-
tyD the cost per chicken was
$1.45. 1t was broken down this
way:
Cost of chick ------------ .19
"a lbs. of mash --------- go
8 lbs. of scratch - 70
Litter IL
Crit .02
I admit that, through ineXperi-
ence, l may have wasted consid-
cradle feed, but if costs which
I didn't consider were taken into
consideration, I doubt if even an
authority on chicken raising
could do it for much less.
Of course l may have expect
ed too much. I had the idea that
chickens sort of supported them
selves like birds do. But I soon
found that they act as if their
sole duty in life is to eat as much
mush as possible And as for
rooSters-when they go at their
eating seriously they make pigs
look like pikers.
EGGS profit
Although the investment in
raising a chicken to egg-hood
seemed high to me at first, an
analysis of future possibilities
became intriguing In fact, ac-
cording to the advertisements, l
could probably sell those chick
ems right now for at least $500
apiece-Which would mean a
profit of almost 40 per cent in
five months.
But to look into it further,
figured that if l keep the chick
ems and let them lay eggs for a
year, normal expectations should
mean a profit Of about $500 per
chicken and l would still have
the chicken to eat or sell. l think
I have figured that $500 profit
conservatively. l estimate that
the chickens will average 13 doz-
en- eggs each over a year, that
the eggs will be worth so cents
a dozen and that the cost of
feeding won't be over 7 cents
per chicken per week.
On this basis, if 1 made a clear
$500 profit on eggs and then
sold the chicken for $500 it
would mean a total return of
$500 on my original $1.45 invest
mentor more than triple my
money.
This thing is getting more and
more fascinating. Maybe my
arithmetic is all wrong. Maybe I
ought to think more about equip
ment, chicken disease, casualties,
cuts in egg prices, feed scarcities
and all of those pessimistic things
farmers talk about.
But if I'm right I ought to be
able to make a killing on Wall
Street by telling those finan-
ciers of the biggest buy of the
century-300 per cent profit
Observation-Disclosures, Inc.
$4,000 multiplication
When I told a man who was
raised on a farm that I had fig
ured you could make an annual
profit of over $4,000 a year by
raising 5000 chickens, he just
laughed at me. He didn't tell
me what was wrong with my fl
cures, but he told me a story of
his experiences with chicken
raising.
He said that when he was a
boy his father gave him and his
brother 100 chickens. That was
when he was in school and didn't
have much time to take care of
them so his father had the hired
man feed them, clean the coops
and do all of the work. His ia
Their paid for all the feed, too.
But every afternoon when he
got home from school he would
20 out and gather the eggs, take
them into the house and sell them
for the full market price to his
mother. Sometimes he would
kill a chicken and sell that to her
for $500.
make a deal like that" he
said, land you can really make
money out of chickens!
But until l learn the hard way,
I'll continue to think Of chicken
raising as good paying business.