Show A LIVING ix THE POULTRY YARD Raising poultry for meat or eggs Is a trade which requires apprenticeship and experience to make a profit from not taking into account a living for ones self and family To be sure there are thousands of small flocks in the yards of mechanics clerks bankers and clergymen from which If no money profit is realized a large profit in pleasure and recreation is secured i As a rule writes B Holmes Jr in the American Agriculturist a small flock will pay a better profit than a large one proportionately for the reason I rea-son that the waste from the kitchen I bread meat and vegetables from an I ordinarysized family will nearly feed i a flock of a dozen while i would be no small item in a flock large enough I to make a living from that its benefit would be hardly felt The small flock i will also have better care in various ways The house can be kept in the I best sanitary condition and the roof end sides proof against wind if a fowl is ailing it is quickly discovered the cause found and the remedy applied I the number of eggs suddenly falls off the reason for it is sought for and change made in feed or management 1 to right the wrong I is this personal I care and oversight acquaintance with each bird of the flock that makes the small flock pay better than the large one oneIf j onel it were possible to give flocks of I one hundred or one thousand the same j I care that is given to one there is no reason why equal returns should not be realized Peculiar qualities are needed by those who go into the poultry I poul-try raising with a view to make It a life business One and the mast important Impor-tant is love for the work a willingness to work day and night a thorough SYS I tem that no detail may be neglected I that every part of every days duties shall be attended to promptly and at i the proper time A little neglect in one i part today another in some other part i I tomorrow will turn certain success to I as certain failure The location is not the most important factor though if one can choose i i will add materially material-ly to the chances for chances success as well as to the amount of profit To be near a good market is very desirable but in these days of quick transportation one place specially suitable Is better even if one hundred miles away from market mar-ket than one unsuitable anti only ten miles away Some of the largest and most successful market poultrymen send poultry and eggs more than two hundred miles and the birds killed l one afternoon are in the market early the next morning To bo successful one must be something some-thing of a merchant as well as a poul tryman and must keep posted on the markets for what lie buys as well as for what he sells Any turn that enables en-ables him to save on hio feed bill Is so much profit made at the start I is often possible to get better prices in one market than in another and he should know i and take advantage of it In the management of the flock especially the feeding a sharp eye should be kept a little waste in each feed trough will amount to many dollars dol-lars in the cur e cf a year A good crop of lies in any house wSil end the egg crop and all hope of profit from that house A hen with the roup not taken care of will spread the disease to the others and the profit and the fowls vanish together Invalids and lazy people should never attempt togo to-go into the poultry business with the expectation of making it a means of livelihood |