Two dollars a day from poultry and eggs. A book for beginners. How to start a poultry plant and make it pay ...

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CHAPTER I. The Poultry Business

it must be apparent to all who keep posted on current affairs that interest in the poultry business is increasing by leaps and bounds. Talk with your friends and you will be surprised to see how many of them are thinking" seriously oi some day retiring to a poultry farm. There are in the United States at least 100 papers devoted to poultry keeping, and the prosperous appearance of many of these shows that they do not lack patrons. The agricultural press is devoting ever increasing space to poultry ; and the papers that deal with the poetic, picturesque side of country life are exploiting with pen and camera the possibilities of the hen. Large capital is invested in the manufacture of incubators and brooders, and poultry supply houses are springing up on every hand. Visit one of the big shows, such as are held at Boston, New York, Chicago or Washington, and you will find the great hall thronged day after day with those who are interested in the various forms of feathered life. Rich men are having their attention called to poultry keeping as a profitable investment; and clerks, mechanics and professional men are asking themselves if it is not possible for them to make money with poultry on the side.

MAGNITUDE OF THE BUSINESS.

Some months ago the Success magazine published a very readable article by Franklin Forbes, entitled "Raising Chickens — Our Largest Industry," in which the author demonstrated by figures and diagrams the magnitude of the poultry business. According to the writer the value of eggs and poultry produced in one year in the United States was $280,000,000. Vast as this amount is, it does not approximate the present facts, for the figures are based on the census of 1900. Since then poultry keeping has largely expanded, and Government estimates for last year (1907) of the value of poultry products of all kinds footed up to the enormous total of $600,000,000. One of the most appalling disasters of modern times was the destruction of San Francisco by earthquake and fire, April 18, 1906. The loss approached $300,000,000. Thfe mind is staggered when it attempts to measure such figures. And yet the great city by the Golden Gate could be rebuilt from the earnings of the humble hen for six months.

NOT LIKELY TO BE OVERDONE.

Is there any danger that the poultry business will be overdone? This is a question that must suggest itself to every thoughtful mind. Enormous as the consumption of eggs and poultry is, may it not be matched and passed by production, so that those who venture into the business will meet with loss? The possibility of this cannot be denied. With our modern methods of artificial incubation, by which chicks may be produced at any season of the year and in countless numbers, with so many constantly preaching the profits of poultry keeping, there is a real danger that the business may be overdone. There is a limit to everything finite. But on the other hand there are reassuring considerations. This is a big country, and it is growing bigger all the time. There are 2,000,000 more people in the United States to-day than there v/ere a year ago. and there will be 2,000,000 more next year than there are now. And all these have to be fed. Game is becoming scarcer each year. Meats are constantly advancing in price. People are being driven into increased consumption of eggs and poultry. When eggs fall in price in the spring their sale enor- :mously increases. This shows that the American people could ■consume many more eggs than they do now if they thought they could afford them. It is probable that with the advance in scientific methods of production and storage, the price of eggs throughout the year will become more uniform — not soar so high in the fall nor drop so low in the spring. And with an equalization in price, eggs will be used even more than they are noAv.

EXHIBITION POULTRY.

There is a department of the business not represented in the Government reports, which must foot up to millions of dollars each year — the production of birds for exhibition purposes. There is a large and increasing number of persons in the United States who keep fowls not primarily for poultry and eggs, but to gratify their love for the beautiful. To a genuine lover of fowls there are few more attractive sights in nature than a specimen of his favorite breed that approaches his ideal of perfection. There are rich men who are willing topay ahnost fabulous sums for birds that can win the blue-ribbon at one of the large shows. And the market for such fowls is not confined to the limits of the United States, but isas wide as the world. George H. Northup of Raceville, N. Y.,. recently sold to Henry Schultz von Schultzenstein of Berlin. Prussia, two rose comb Black Minorca cocks for $500 and $1,000 each respectively. The 19 birds which he sold to this gentleman brought him in $3,400. Mr. Northup gets $25 a sitting for eggs from his best pens.. William Barry Owen of Vineyard Haven, Mass., has in his circular a list of 30 fowls, the value of which is $10,000. The leader of the list is a Black Orpington cock which won first New York, first Boston, 1906, first world's trophy. Crystal Palace, London, 1905, and is valued at $750.

The record, however, was reached in March, 1908, when Madame Helena Paderewski of Morges, Switzerland, wife of the world-famous pianist, paid to Ernest Kellerstrass of Kansas City, Missouri, $7,500 for five Crystal strain White Orpingtons, the highest price ever paid for standard-bred birds since the world began. Mr. Kellerstrass refused $2,500 for one hen, "Pegg," as it was named after his little girl, and, being a rich man, he did not need the money.

These of course are top-notch prices, and are paid only for world beaters, but $100 for a single bird and $10 a sitting for eggs are everyday occurrences. Even at one of the smaller shows a winner in one of the popular classes will bring from $25 to $50. The beauty of this branch of the business is that it does not require a large amount of land nor a large outlay for buildings, and a man who has skill in mating may grow a blue-ribbon winner in his back yard.

POULTRY AS A SIDE LINE.

Even where a man has no thought of embarking in poultry keeping as a vocation, he still may find pleasure and profit in it as a side line. As a matter of fact, more than two-thirds of the chickens and eggs produced in the country are produced by men and women to whom poultry keeping is an adjunct to some other business. In some ways it is pleasanter and more profitable to engage in poultry keeping as a side line than as a regular means of support. The man who engages in poultry as a side line, as a general thing, will have more money at his command at the start than the man who must make his living from his fowls. Consequently he caii buy better stock, can supply himself with all needed appliances, can build better houses, and as a result his profits will be larger. I could tell story after story where the hens have paid the grocer's bill, have sent a son or daughter to college, or have even paid off a mortgage. Sometimes I think our National emblem should be not the American eagle, but the American hen.

DRAWBACKS.

Are there no drawbacks to the business? Candor compels me to confess that there are, and that their existence should be recognized. 1. Poultry keeping is dirty work. It is not hard work, in the sense that la3ang a stone wall or swinging a scythe is hard ; but it is dirty. Xo matter how much care one may exercise, it is impossible to keep the houses strictly clean, and some of the dust and dirt will communicate itself to the person of the poultry keeper. One has to wear old clothes when at work about fowls. The money that comes in, however, is clean. 2. Poultry keeping is confining. In many kinds of business one can get away for a day or two now and then, and even for a vacation of two or three weeks, but in poultry keeping it is dift'erent. The fowls have to be fed and watered and the eggs gathered each day, and when the incubator and brooders are running and the chick season is at its height one is almost as much a prisoner as if confined behind iron bars and stone walls. 3. There are often quite serious losses. There are times when eo'es will not hatch, and other times when chicks will die. After the chicks are hatched and arc tided over the first few weeks, there are enemies to meet in the shape of hawks, skunks, cats and even human thieves. Disease sometimes makes its appearance in a flock, and the poultrvman finds two or three dead hens under the roos*-s evcrv morning. There are times when the hens will not lay, and these are often the times when eggs are in best demand. The poultrvman "s jjath is not strewn with roses by any means.

ADVANTAGES.

On the other hand there are decided advantages connected with the poultry business. 1. It is healthful. The work is steady, but not hard, and much of the time one is in the open air. 2. It is interesting. There is a constant variety to the poultryman's day. He goes from one thing to another, and is not held to a cast iron routine. 3. The products always sell. Eggs are in steady demand, and poultry does not go begging for buyers. 4. It is independent. One is his own boss, and need never fear getting out of a job. 5. It is profitable. There is good money in the poultry business for those Avho knoAv how to get it.

A HOME AND BUSINESS OF ONE'S OWN.

Poultry keeping ofifers pleasant and profitable employment for those who are advancing in years. In all lines that I know anything about, youth is at a premium, age at a discount. It makes a man who is approaching middle life and has a little family dependent upon him, wonder what he will do when he comes to the point ahead when he is no longer wanted in his trade, business or profession, but is ruthlessly pushed aside by younger men. To such the poultry business makes a strong appeal. Hens will lay as well for the veteran as for the young man, and the ground will as freely bring forth fruit. The small farm ofiers a haven of refuge to a man in his declining years. It is the part .of wisdom for a man to look facts in the face and to make provision for the time that is sure to come when he will be no longer wanted. If he has managed to lay aside a few hundred or a few thousand dollars and has made a careful study of the poultry business he need not fear, for he can at least make a living on the soil, and his last days ma}' be his best. Released from the necessity of toiling early and late under the watchful eye of a boss, removed from the heated and poisoned air of the shop to the free and life-giving ozone of outdoors, with no fear of losing his job or beiing displaced, he will grow young again, and life will take on new interest and charm.

EASY TO GET OUT OF IT.

The poultry business has one feature which I have never heard mentioned, but which is worthy of consideration : it is easy to get out of it. When a man engages in a new enterprise he naturally hopes and expects to succeed, but all the while the grim alternative of failure must lurk in the background of his consciousness. It is said that a good general before going into battle always determines what he will do in the event of defeat. There are some kinds of business so personal in their nature, so complicated, that a man can get out of them only with considerable loss. But the poultry business is diflferent. Suppose a man has been engaged in the production of eggs and poultr}- for market, and wishes to close out. All he has to do is to ship his fowls to a commission merchant in the city, and in a day or two there will come back a check.. Suppose a man has been engaged in the production of birds for exhibition purposes. An advertisement in a poultry paper will find him a customer who will take his flock off his hands. There is a good demand for farms, and they are steadily ad- •vancing in price. Should a man discover that he is unfitted for the poultry business or grow tired of it, he can get out of it with as little loss as any business I know anything about.

CHAPTER II. Making a Start

If the poultry business is as pleasant and profitable as I have represented, why is it that so many make a failure of it? Riding through the country one sees plant after plant abandoned and falling into decay. The proportion of failures in the poultry business is apparently as great as in any other. One is continually meeting the man who was once enthusiastic over poultry keeping, but is nOw disillusioned and tells you sadly, "There's nothing in it." And when a man buys a poultry farm his neighbors shake their heads and prophesy failure.

EXPERIENCE NECESSARY.

The causes of failure in the poultry business are doubtless as numerous as in any other, but the cause that "is the most prolific is inexperience. There are three things that every man seems to think he can do : preach the Gospel, edit a newspaper, and run a poultry plant. But he finds if he tackles any one of these jobs that he is up against a bigger proposition than he realized.

Some time ago I received a letter from a woman whose husband had made some money in the drug business and now wanted to get away from it into the freer life of the farm. There was a poultry plant near where they lived that was for sale, the owner having made a failure of it, and the Avoman wrote me to know what chance her husband would have for success if he sold his store and bought the plant, knowing nothing of the business. I wrote back that he would have just exactly the same chance that a man would have who knew nothing of the drug business and who should buy out her husband's store. Set it down as the basic principle in all your calculations, that the poultry business requires just as careful an apprenticeship as any other, and that the man who is to succeed must know it root and branch. )

BEGIN SMALL AND GROW.

Fortunately a man can serve his apprenticeship to the poultry business while he is earning his bread and butter at something else, and this to me is one of its chief charms. In what other business in the world can a man begin so small and invest so little money at the start? If a man has an old dry goods box at his command, a sitting hen and a clutch of eggs, he can set his feet in a path that may lead on to fortune.

Says "Commercial Poultry" : It is a matter of history that nearly every one of the large poultry plants in the United States that has proved successful has been built up from a small foundation. It is also a matter of history that there are a number of large plants that have proved unsuccessful and unprofitable simply because the owner undertook to accomplish something without fitting himself for the task. Those who succeeded have been content to start in a small way and expand as their knowledge of the business and their ability to handle it warranted the expansion.

"Take, for instance, the plant of U. R. Fishel at Hope, Ind. : A\'hite Leghorn Poultry Farm at Waterville, N. Y. ; H. J. Blanchard at Groton, X. Y. ; Henry Van Dreser at Cobleskill. X. Y., and many other of the largest and most profitable plants in the country, — each of them had a small beginning and simply grew into the mammoth institutions that they are to-day.

"U. R. Fishel started with a few hens in a back yard a dozen years ago. To-da}^ he has 120 acres devoted to poultry and does an annual business very close to the $20,000 mark. The White Leghorn Poultry Farm at Waterville, X. Y., is the outgrowth of a score of hens kept in a house less than eight feet square the first winter. To-day the farm consists of about 160 acres — with a recent addition — with a score or more of large houses, the largest being 500 feet long. Although ten thousand S. C. White Leghorns are raised annually upon this farm, the demand for stock and eggs nearly always exceeds the supply. H. J. Blanchard of Groton, X. Y., has become wealthy from his chicken business, although he has a farm of but twenty acres. Henry Van Dreser started in a small way and to-day has one of the largest commercial and fancy poultry plants in the East.

"The same is true of almost every large poultry plant in the countrv. There are a few, to be sure, that have been started on an extensive scale by men of wealth, but if they have proved successful it is because experienced ijoultrymen have been employed to manage them."

THE FIRST STEP.

Suppose a man has no practical knowledge of the poultry business, but has become interested in it from reading about it in the papers and talkini;' with friends, liow would 1 advise liim to proceed? It would depend something upon the season of the }ear. Suppose it to be fall. I would advise him to send away to a breeder of established reputation for a breeding pen of the variety he has selected. A breeding pen consists of a male and four females, and may generally be purchased for from $15 to $25. The breeding pen may consist of four pullets and a cock, but I think it better to reverse the arrangement and purchase four hens and a cockerel. Pullets are all right to breed from, provided they are mature ; but these are the kind the breeder does not care to sell. On the other hand, he is always ready to dispose of his mature birds. From such a pen as this a man should get from 150 to 200 chicks in the spring, and have a good number of choice pullets and cockerels in the fall.

Four hens will not be enough to keep a vigorous cockerel at work, and so I w^ould advise the beginner to pick up eight mature, well-grown pullets around home. These may be put in the pen \vith the rest. But before this is done, the}- sliould be well dusted with some good insect powder, for farmers' hens are proverbiallx' lousy, and if not "doctored" will infect the rest.

These eight pullets of nondescript Aariet_\ will do for sitters and mothers in the spring. The four hens should give you at least 60 eggs apiece during the hatching season, and if the eggs are reasonably fertile you should get from 50 to 200 chicks. From these }'ou should get a..good number of pullets in the fall.

The advantage of starting with a breeding pen is that one "will be likely to have eggs on hand whenever they are wanted ; and there are no delays, no eggs chilled or broken in transit. The male with which you started should be kept the second year and mated with pullets of his own get.

Starting in the spring one would naturally begin with eggs. You will need at least 100 to give you anything of a start, and these will cost you $10. Beware of cheap eggs and cheap stock. You will never be satisfied until you get good standard bred fowls, and these cannot be produced or sold for the price you pay for dunghills. It has been my experience that the "birds I paid the most for at the start were the greatest moneyanakers in the end.

KEEP ONLY THOROUGHBREDS.

It seems almost unnecessarv at this stage of the world's

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history to advise the prospective poultryman to keep only thoroughbreds, and yet one still meets the man who insists that crosses or mongrels lay as well and pay better than they. Let us examine this proposition a moment. If mongrels and crosses lay as well and pay better than thoroughbreds, why is it that the great commercial plants throughout the land have discarded them in favor of standard-bred fowls? Why is it that the great egg records, as shown by the trap nest, uniformly come from thoroughbreds and not from mongrels or crosses? It costs no more to raise a thoroughbred than a dunghill, no more to feed it after it is raised. A flock of birds of one variety looks better than a flock made up of everything under the sun, and will do better. Dififerent breeds require different treatment, and where they are all mixed up in one flock conditions cannot help being unfavorable to some. Eggs coming from one breed are more uniform, and when the birds are sent to market they bring two or three cents more a pound than a mixed lot. Where a man keeps only pure-bred fowls of some popular strain he can, even without advertising, sell a good many sittings of eggs to his neighbors in the spring and dispose of his surplus cockerels to them in the fall. Time and time again have I had visitors come to my place, who had no intention of purchasing when they came, who became so fascinated at what they saw of my beautiful White Wyandottes that they placed a good order with me before they went away.

BREEDS THAT PAY.

One of the difficulties of the beginner is to determine what variety to keep. The latest edition of the Standard of Perfection recognizes 73 varieties of the domestic fowl, not including Bantams, which are miniature or dwarf specimens of the various breeds. Should a man in this undecided state of mind visit a great show in which are exhibited the best specimens of all the leading varieties — the aristocrats of Poultrydom — his confusion becomes worse confounded ; and should he run across champions of several of the leading breeds and let them talk to him for half an hour each, his mind will be in such a whirl that it is impossible for him to make a devision. It is to help clear up the whole matter that this section is written.

The money-making varieties may be counted up on the fingers of both hands. I do not mean by this that men do not make money on other varieties, for they do ; but there are six or eight varieties which pay well in the hands of almost anyone. If a man is to become a fancier or a specialist it may be wise for him to go afield and take an entirely different breed; but if a man is after a safe, conservative proposition he would better stick to the varieties I am about to mention.

1. The Leghorns, Brown and White. The Leghorns are prolific producers of white eggs; mature early, are active, hardv. and do not eat so much as the larger breeds. Nonsitters. In some markets white eggs are demanded by the best trade, and command a premium.

2. Rhode Island Reds. A valuable addition to the American class. Hardy, good layers of brown eggs, a rich yellow carcass, good table bird. Mature early.

3. White Wyandottes. The most popular member of the great Wyandotte family. A beautiful bird. Prolific layers of brown eggs ; yellow skin and legs. A prime table fowl. A favorite on broiler plants. "No matter when you kill them you've always got something!"

4. Plymouth Rocks. Barred and White. The Barred Rocks are undoubtedly the most popular breed in America to-day. They are known as the "business hen." Hardy, large sized, prolific producers of brown eggs ; killed and dressed they make excellent poultry.

5. Black Minorcas. A handsome, showy bird of the Mediterranean class. In size nearly equal to the Plymouth Rock. Heavy layers of large white eggs. Fair poultry.

6. Black Langshans. A noble bird of the Asiatic class. Large size, the cock weighing 10 pounds. Excellent table fowl, the meat having a delicious flavor, and the bones being small. Lay a beautiful brown egg.

7. The Orpingtons. Bufif, Black and White. Large, stately birds, larger even than the Plymouth Rocks ; rightly handled they make excellent layers. Good table fowls. They would seem to have a grand future.

HOW MUCH MONEY DO I NEED TO START?

That depends. If you start the way I advocate in this chapter you won't need much. Begin with a pen of thoroughbreds or an incubator load of eggs and let your birds build your plant. But suppose you have advanced beyond this, have been keeping hens for a number of years and have solved some of the problems connected with the business, and now want to devote }-our time to poultry keeping, how much money do you need to start?

Again I sa}^ that depends. I have known men without any capital to move out onto a poultry farm, and in a few years build up a nice little business. But in this case the farm was located on the outskirts of some village or city, and they worked at their trade during the day and looked after the chicks morning and night. Of course, there was a silent ( ?) partner in the shape of a faithful little wife, who looked out for things during the day. It was hard work, but in a few^ years things got easier and the husband was able to devote more and more of his time to the farm.

Sometimes a man will bu_\' a farm with only about enough money ahead to make the first payment, and depend on his trade to give him an income while he is getting a start. Two miles from where I write there is a friend of mine who has the poultry bug in his brain. He is a blacksmith by trade, and a mighty good one ; but he is growing old and finds shoeing horses hard work. He is looking forward to making an easier living from his hens. He has fitted up a little shop by the roadside, and shoes the horses of the farmers in the neighborhood. Between times he is building up his plant. A man so situated does not need much money to begin with — not over five hundred dollars.

But where a man has no such resource and must depend upon his farm principally to supply his needs, it is a dififerent story. Then the more capital he has the better. I should not advise such a man to start in with less than one thousand dollars. Even then he will have to struggle for a long time to keep his head above water.

CHAPTER III. Finding a Farm

Among j,he readers of this book there must be hundreds if not thousands who are looking forward to the purchase of a farm. In all men of Anglo-Saxon blood there is a land hunger that is pretty sure one day to manifest itself. Some want a farm for a home for the summer months. Others want one as a haven of refuge for their declining years. Still others want a farm as a business proposition, believing that a farm rightly handled will yield large returns. Real estate agents say that the demand for farms was never more active than to-day. It is for the purpose of assisting the reader wdio wants a farm, and especially the reader who wants a poultry farm, that this chapter is written.

LOCATION.

Where shall the prospective farm be located? This is the first question to be asked. Shall the bu3-er go to New England with its teeming manufacturing centers and its innumerable simimer resorts, its splendid markets and its pleasant villages? Shall he go to New Jersey with its sandy soil especially adapted to poultry, and its proximity to some of the greatest cities in the country? Shall he go to the Middle AA'est where the winters are mild and feed products can be bought at prices that touch rock bottom? Or shall he cross the continent to where Petaluma overlooks San Pablo Bay — that magic city where the hillsides are dotted with White Leghorns as far as the eye can see and where poultry keeping is the leadingindustry?

My answer to the cjuestion is : locate somewhere near where you are. I do not mean necessarily to locate in the same town or even in the same State, but I would not advise you to go more than a hundred miles away. Why? Because you have struck your roots down where yovi are, and men and trees suffer from transplanting. You know the section where you are— the people and their peculiarities, the soil and climate, the markets, and a thousand and one things that vou would have to learn all over in a new field. Then, too, each section has its ofifsets as well as its advantages, and in many cases the gain does not compensate for the loss. I am more famiHar with New England than with any other part of the countr3^ It is a grand place for the poultryman. The markets are among the best in the world. But there are drawbacks: the winters are long and cold, feed products are high, help is scarce and hard to get. There are men who are making a success in the poultry business in every State in the Union, and in every State there are men who are making a failure.