Standard Perfection Poultry Book: The Recognized Standard Work on Poultry, Turkeys, Ducks and Geese, Containing a Complete Description of All the Varieties, With Instructions as to Their Disease, Breeding and Care, Incubators, Brooders, Etc., For the Farmer, Fancier or Amateur

Introduction.

What Makes Success.

There is no royal road to success, even in chicken raising. It’s a simple, plain road, and all who would reach the desired object must travel the road. Because it is looked upon as of small account, the poultry business has been neglected on many farms and allowed to fall behind other branches of farm husbandry. As a writer in the New York Sun says:

On the farm, poultry raising has not been kept to the front; has not, in fact, began to keep pace with agricultural progress. Other branches on the farm are yearly improved; new methods and implements have been introduced that have materially increased the yield of the various products. Poultry raising, however, is at a standstill. It is no new thing to hear complaints of ‘worst kind of luck’ with poultry ‘ever experienced,’ etc.

What is necessary to do to improve poultry raising on farms? It may be answered by saying, follow the methods of the successful poultrymen, or, as farmers delight to call them, poultry cranks. How do these cranks manage their flocks? What is their secret of success? Wherein does their method differ from that in vogue on most farms? These questions can easily be answered, and will show quite a contrast with the farmer’s way.

First—The poultryman erects a comfortable house on a dry and elevated site. The roosts must all be on one level. Windows are arranged so the fowls will not be obliged to roost in a draught between them.

Second—The stock must be sound, healthy, active, vigorous and of some pure breed. Crosses, they know, are not to be depended on for general results. Occasionally they make a cross when it is desired to increase size—when they may be breeding from the smaller breeds. This cross is generally to fill an order for broiler chicks, or something of the kind. The cross breeds are never bred from, or rarely ever allowed to live a whole season through.

Third—Feeding is brought to a real science. The poultryman feeds his flocks with some aim—there is no guess work about it. He knows what to feed to induce egg-laying; he knows that to fatten and get ready for market quite a different ration is necessary. He has found out that growing chicks which are making flesh, bone, muscle and feathers at one and the same time, need a varied diet of the most nourishing foods. Sloppy, cold-water-mixed cornmeal he considers almost a poison, and especially so when it is made quite an exclusive diet.

Fourth—Cleanliness is a necessity. Neglect to observe cleanliness will quickly outdo all other work. Clean quarters are as necessary as food, and just as essential to health. Fowls cannot breathe vitiated atmosphere continually at night and remain long in health. Unclean surroundings debilitate and render the fowls more subject to diseases. Vermin results from filth and neglect to keep the poultry houses in proper condition.

Fifth—The stamina of the flock is the anchor rock of success in poultry raising. It is secured by carefully selecting the best of each brood. Any unusually promising cockerel or pullet is carefully looked after. There is a distinguishing mark made in the web of their feet. A record is kept of those marked, making it easy and sure to select them when wanted for breeders. Eggs are saved from these best hens for incubation. This careful method of selection can soon be made to build up a flock’s uniformity and at the same time wonderfully increase utility.

Poultry Maxims for Memory.

A brooder is preferable to a hen for raising chickens, as they can return to the brooder at will, and will not be dragged around unnecessarily when tired. Do not crowd, and give them plenty of fresh water at all times.

When your space is limited, be all the more careful to keep the quarters clean, especially if the chickens can not get out much. During the warm summer months it would be better to clean out well at least every other day.

Geese are more distinctively grazers than any other fowls, and will keep the grass eaten off, as close as sheep. Besides the value of their flesh for food, the feathers are an item of considerable profit and should pay keeping expenses.

Scientific analysis tells us there is as much nutriment in a new laid egg as in a four-ounce mutton chop. It is unwise, therefore, to neglect fowls and feed them nothing but screenings. The birds must do more than simply live.

The raiser of scrub chickens sells his surplus stock at from two to three dollars per dozen, while the breeder of thoroughbred fowls sells at from twelve to sixty dollars per dozen, and often with little trouble to make the sales. Which do you think the more profitable?

It is especially true of the poultry yard that whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. An intimate every day and every hour acquaintance with the fowls is what leads to the profits. Do not become disgusted with their appearance at moulting time, but give them all the more care.

A Massachusetts farmer is reported to be making $4,000 a year out of his poultry, because he has caught on to the knack of doing things in the right way. The farm is the right place for chickens, and men or women with the right qualifications can make money if they make the effort.

A beginner in the poultry business should start with a few fowls, and gradually enlarge as he learns the requirements of the business. If one begins with a large number, he is liable to bring roup, lice, cholera and other undesirable things into his yards, which will bring disaster.

To make good layers, hens must have a regular and sufficient supply of egg-forming material. While they have free range in summer they can generally find this for themselves, but when shut up in winter they can not be expected to do well unless their feeding is well looked after.

Small waste potatoes, boiled or steamed till soft; form a cheap and useful occasional food; but the fowls soon become tired of them, and they should only be used at intervals.

Water fowls, ducks, geese, etc., do not require large bodies of water, as has generally been supposed. Some of the most successful duck raisers provide no water save for drinking.

Turkeys require and must have considerable range, and they must also be allowed full liberty with their young after they begin to feather, else they will surely not be kept in good health.

One of the secrets of success in poultry raising is loving the work. It should be a pleasure to take care of fowls.

If your chicks are not doing well, examine them closely and see if they are not infected with vermin.

Very fat fowls are poor breeders, and are liable to lay soft shelled eggs. Always avoid having your breeders fat.

To get eggs, avoid overfeeding, but do not starve. Green cut bone, scalded bran, oats and barley are good feeds. Give plenty of milk, if you have it.

Practical Poultry.

CHAPTER I.

Raising Poultry for Profit.

Few of us realize how important a business poultry-raising is. It considerably exceeds in total market value the whole output of coal, iron and mineral oil in the United States. As a usual thing the poultry business is underestimated rather than overestimated. Thousands of people raise chickens merely to supply their own tables. They keep no record of the number of eggs they get or the chickens they kill. So this item in the total is neglected altogether, or is greatly underestimated.

The United States Census for 1890 gives the following figures for farms only. To complete this summary, the poultry products of towns and villages should be added:

The value of these products, estimating chickens as worth 40 cents each, turkeys and geese as worth 60 cents each, ducks at 45 cents each, and eggs at 15 cents a dozen, amounts to $241,418,660.

Small Capital Required.

The poultry business is peculiar in that a small capital will start a person, and it is a great deal better to start in a small way and gradually rise to larger things as one gets experience and comes to know just what the market is and out of what kind of fowls one can make the most money. In no other kind of stock raising can a good start be made with so small an outlay at the beginning, since full blooded stock of other kinds is very expensive.

An ordinary farm is suitable for any poultry experiment, and no expensive tools or machinery are required in the conduct of the business. In other lines the expenditure for tools is large at first, and when the business increases, the old machines must be discarded for larger and better ones in order to produce economically. With poultry, this is in no sense true. The first cheap coops may be made over into better ones, and as the business grows the equipment is added to gradually and often out of the first profits of the business.

Success Due to Skill.

Success in poultry raising is due largely to the skill and care of the raiser—more so than in almost any other line of farm production. Failure will almost inevitably be the lot of the inexperienced and careless person. The business must be learned, and learned thoroughly, and a person must have a love for it, if it is to prove a paying venture. So we advise the novice to begin in a small way, so that he cannot make costly mistakes for he is sure to have some trouble.

How Much Land is Needed.

Very little land is really required, unless you intend to raise all the grain the fowls will eat. If you can do that, of course, it will add to your profits. Chickens, even laying hens, will do well in a small yard if it is kept clean by cultivation; but turkeys demand more room to rove about in. Five acres will be sufficient for 800 hens, and allow space to raise the necessary green stuff. If the room is limited, however, the space should be divided up and the hens allowed to run only in small flocks as closely