POULTRY SPECIAL.
I t ' I.'.
(Title Registered In U S Patent Office.) i " ! ! . V
A FARM AND HOME WEEKLY FOR THE CAROUNAS, VIRGINIA, TENNESSEE, AND GEORGIA.
Vet XXIV. No. 4.
RALEIGH, N. C, MARCH 4, 1909.
Weekly: $1 a Year.
m
More and Better Poultry as a Guidepost to $500 More a Year.
E PUBLISHED these two hen pictures in our Poultry
Special last year; but they are so much to the point that
we cannot refrain from letting you see them asain. No. 1
is a hen bred by the Maine Experiment Station from a strain of
prolific layers. She laid 251 eggs in one year, and many of her
mates laid over 200. No. 2 was raised at the same place from
a strain which had been bred without any regard to egg produc
tion. She had the same care and feed as the other, and laid 8
eggs in a year.
These two hens represent extreme types, of course, but these
records are a final answer to the oft-repeated claim that scrubs
will lay as many eggs as pure bred fowls. To be sure, there
are strains of standard breeds which have been bred only for show
purposes with no regard to their productive qualities, and such
birds may be little better tho the ordinary mongrel; but on the
other hand, as Uncle Jo recently said, all the strains which have
been selected for nigh productive capacity have been pure-bred,
and there is scarcely a variety of chickens of which such well
bred strains are not to be found.
-The egg production of the AVERAGE hen is very low not
enough in fact to pay for good treatment and liberal feeding.
The average hen, however, does not get either liberal feeding or
good treatment ; so she probably pays her way. But in the
TTntted j'State according t4he4ast sxenaua s' figures, the .average
egg production was less than. 00 eggs per year for each hen.
Maine, the State with the highest average, was credited with only
101 eggs per hen, while in most of the Southern States the average was between 50 and 60 eggs per year.
I: Doubtless these yields could be greatly increased, even with the kind of -fowls now kept, by better care and feeding, but we know one
man who has bred up a strain of White Wyandottes to an average of 160 eggs per year, and at the same time kept them so close to standard
requirements that they win prizes at leading shows. No one can deny that there is money in such chickens as these. Even if he didn't re
fuse offers of $50 for a single hen as he has done or have more orders for eggs in the breeding season than he can supply, the fact that
his hens lay 160 eggs each per year and that these eggs are uniform in size and appearance, and so command an advance over the regular
market prices, would make his chickens highly profitable.
And it is just along this line that every reader who keeps poultry should work. Even the farm flock, though not bred for show pur
poses, should be of pure bred birds of a good laying strain; and when the hatching season comes around the best hens those that lay the
most eggs and have the typical breed requirements should be mated with a cock of the same type to produce the chickens for another year.
In this way and with proper housing and feeding the average egg yield COULD SOON BE DOUBLED ON MOST FARMS, and both eggs and
chickens would bring higher prices and be in greater demand.
IT PAYS TO HAVE THE BEST of chickens as of anything else; and whether or not poultry pays on your farm is determined, by the
kind of fowls you keep and the care you give them. "
The question is: Will you go in to get the most out of poultry by keeping the kind that can be expected to return good profits, or vill
you be satisfied with unproductive and unprofitable scrubs? f .
No. 1. This hen of fine stock was bred to
lay and did It : 261 eggs In one year. The re
sult of careful selection' and breeding for a
definite purpose such breeding as every poul
try raiser should do. A -splendid example of
the kind of poultry that pays. ;'
, No. 2. This hen, thrtn In appearance
muck , like No. 1. i a mongrel, bred for no
especial purpose and answered It exactly.: 8
eggs In one year. ..The result of haphazard re
production, -and -a striking example of the
kind of poultry that does not pay. -:
Index to this Issue.
A Southern Man Honored ..... i .. . ... . . . : 12
Bear With Us a Little. . . . . 1 ... . . . 12
Carrots for Stock Feeding 15
Do Hens Pay on the Farm? Cal. Husselman. . 7
$500 More a Year: How to MakeH IX. . ... 2
Farm Work for March, W. F. Massey. . ... 3
Fence in Your Poultry Yard, H. B. Geer. ... 18
Fertilizer Questions Answered, W...F. Massey 8
Filth and Chicken Cholera . V .......... 23
TrJ rf-k T71 1 T-llJ TUT TT T- r Til.
now uue r iock. iraiu, mrs. ri. tr. ivmruersuu. . o
How to Cook Meats II., Mrs. W. N. Hutt. . . 10
How to Examine a Horse for Purchase, or
Soundness III. ... I ......... . 14.
Preserve Eggs Fresh ... ..... ..!... . 12
Raising Turkeys for Profit, Mrs.j L. W. Sum
mers 17
Set Out Some Fruit Trees This Spring, E. D.
Pearsall '. 7
Some March Gardening, W. F. Massey . . . . . . . 3
"Speak for Yourself, h John" . . .j . . , ........ 1 2
The Stock Food Humbug, W. F. , Massey . 3
Three Essentials, of Success, W. j c. Taylor. . . 24
We Raise Only Half the Poultry We Consume, v
Uncle Jo J .,. 6
What Do You Do in the Country?.......... 11
wviiy me jroor l ronis r rum roriu rumuy .
Miss Mollle Tugman ....... i ...... . , . . 4
tvuai s uie ewf" . xo
This Week's Features.
1
ONESTLY, now, did you ever see more real
ly helpful and practical poultry talk in one
issue of any paper than is to be found in
this "Poultry Special?" Beginning with the con
vincing statement in our "$500 More A Year" ar
ticle as to why we of the South get out of our
poultry only a fraction of what farmers in other
sections, get, and on to the very last page, there is
both inspiration and help.
Take, for example, Miss Tugman's experience.
It is a striking illustration of what a Southern girl
can do and make others do when she makes up
her mind. Her experience is one, too, that can be
duplicated on hundreds of Southern farms where
the poultry is now permitted to run at large and
destroy more than it is worth.
Mr. Husselman makes clear some other reasons
why poultry does not pay on many farms, while
Mrs. McPherson and Mrs. Summers in their clearly-written
papers show in detail just how the
women on the farm can make money with chick
ens or turkeys, i
One little article you must not miss is the one
by Mr. Taylor on page 22, entitled "Go Slow at
First." j; Many persons have lost money by ill-ad-,
vised ventures in poultry raising. Here, as elser
where, it is better to go a step at a time and profit
by experiences obtained at small cost.
But there is money to be made in poultry, and
Mr.; W. C. Taylor, we think, comes pretty near to
giving the three essentials for the breeder who
would get his share of this money. (1) Good
liiT1o f Tirol 1 a Axraft 1aol nrr cnlfl tnr
what they are, mean money to the man who raises
and sells them.
This, then, is our Poultry Special, and we trust
it will help you to raise more and better poultry
and to make more money out of it. To do this
you must have the right sort of birds healthy,
pure bred fowls bred for eggs or meat production
as 1 well as show points; you must give them the
right sort of care have comfortable houses for
it. L - . A II A. 1 M 1 J i .
mem, select lue ueai omy tor ureeuiug purposes,
keep them clean and healthy and out of the gar
den arid grain crops; you must feed them properly-
give them an egg-producing ration with plenty
of grit and green food; and you must put up your
nrodnet fn an attractive shana for market wheth
er yotl are selling eggs to your grocer or breeding"
stock to other fanciers.