In this issue we find out how a single hen can be as profitable as a backyard flock, and how general statements are dangerous and circumstances alter cases every time. We also find out which month is the most profitable one to have pullets come into lay and one of the biggest killers of hens which is also one of the easiest to prevent.

1. Poultry Enthusiast
“Bits and Pieces” vol. 2
Compiled by Harold F. Barber
www.PoultryEnthusiast.com
“Don’t keep more chickens than you can house and care for properly. Also, if
you have any extra time or money, or both, consider carefully whether a larger
flock or a better strain of fowls won’t pay you better, before putting either time
or money into anything else.” That's good advice, but we might add to that:
“Consider carefully whether more fowls or better fowls will pay you better." If
it takes ninety eggs a year to pay for the expense of keeping a hen, then one
190-egg hen is as profitable as 10 hens which lay 100 eggs each. And a flock of
twenty hens averaging 190 eggs will make as much egg money for you as just
200 which average 100 eggs. As a poultry authority of my acquaintance puts it
succinctly if somewhat exaggeratedly “One 200-egg hen kept under the kitchen
table, will give you as much profit as a backyard flock of ordinary hens.”
Remember that, and don’t be satisfied with ordinary stock.
*****
Down in Texas a man drove up to a big poultry ranch one day, and asked for
the manager. He said he lived about sixty miles away, and thought he would
get into the poultry business, because he thought he was too old and too fat to
do anything else. He had hired a car to drive down to this ranch, interview the
manager, and learn all about the poultry business “without making another
trip”. Said he hadn't much time, and hoped the manager could give him a few
minutes right away, as he wanted to get back again. A man named Sidney
Lackland, of Ranger, Tex., vouches for that story. He was the manager. Next!
*****
It is not my purpose to start discussions which are of little benefit, and only
mean filling of space to small purpose. Mostly I believe in the principle of “If
you can’t speak well of a thing, don’t say anything," but now and then a
reference to something with which I do not at all agree, may be made, if there
is a lesson to be learned thereby. If good will come out of it, if a point can be
cleared up, then I shall not hesitate to differ with some other writer. This as
preliminary to an article “The Standard-bred Barred Rock is Best’’ by a man
named E. F. Murphy. Mr. Murphy lays down his conclusion in his head-line,
and proceeds to prove it to his own satisfaction. He killed and dressed a
“standard-bred” Rock, weight five pounds, thirteen ounces live weight, four
pounds dressed, and a “bred-to-lay” Rock which weighed two pounds, two
ounces dressed. He presents a letter from a poultry firm saying the larger of the
two carcasses was much to be preferred for market poultry. The birds were of

2. the same age, and had had the same feed. Further he says that his bred-to-lay
hens are neither good setters nor good mothers. Only three production-bred
hens out of thirty-five would stop laying long enough to set at all, and one he
tried to make a mother out of, was laying again when the chicks were three
weeks old.
He says that it is impossible to combine in one bird the good characteristics of
the standard-bred and the production-bred, and that “the old breeder who is not
going in and out of the business” does not try to do it. Also, he says that with
the standard-bred variety, he gets “that satisfaction for which I went into the
Barred Rock breeding business”.
Fine! Then the standard-bred Barred Rock is the “Best” for Mr. Murphy. Also,
for the poultry firm which handles live and dressed carcasses, it is the best
without a doubt. Here’s the point though—he doesn’t make any distinctions as
to aim. He does say, or at least imply, that any man is a fool who breeds for
production. Perhaps he also implies that any man is a fool who hatches and
broods with incubator and brooder. The whole point I want to make, is that
general statements are dangerous, and circumstances alter cases, every time. He
doesn’t say that the “Standard-bred” eleven-months-old bird which weighed
five and three-fourth pounds is best for meat, or best for the farmers of Ohio, or
for the man who broods with hens, or for any particular purpose. He just says it
is “Best”. Surely non-broodiness is not a bad thing for an egg farmer. Surely
there may be situations where more eggs will offset a difference of less than
two pounds, weight of dressed poultry. If anyone asks you what is the “Best”
anything-at-all, a pretty safe answer is “Best for what?”
*****
Dr. M. A. Jull is the new appointee at the head of the poultry work of the
United States Department of Agriculture. Dr. Jull has been connected with
MacDonald College up in Quebec, and while there did a lot of work with the
station flock of Barred Rocks to determine what was the most profitable month
to have pullets come into lay. His article is pretty scientific, but his conclusions
are both clear and interesting. Also valuable. Boiled down, it comes to this: that
birds which start their laying in the month of October average to make more
money for their owners than any others. The October laying pullets, lay more
eggs when eggs are high, and they also lay more eggs for the whole year. So
hatch and rear your pullets to come into lay in October. Dr. Jull thinks the
laying contests are making a mistake to start November first—they ought to
begin and end a month earlier than they do. (Out in California, I believe, they
are two months earlier—September first.) Then he says that he is talking of
Barred Rocks, and maybe the same thing might not be true at all with
Leghorns.
*****

3. One writer wonders why more hens do not die of heat prostration than do. The
Vineland contest found that next to tuberculosis, heat killed more hens than
died from any other cause, yet the wonder is that more do not die from it, for it
is seldom that much change is made from the quarters which were considered
satisfactory for the cold days of winter. That touches me, for I lost three good
ones in two days a month ago. Now I've built a fine open-air shade house ten
by twelve feet and the egg yield went up right away the hens were given the
additional comfort. Thirty birds are mighty comfortable there. Such a scheme,
if you have the room available, is a good investment.
End of
Poultry Enthusiast
“Bits and Pieces” vol. 2
Compiled by Harold F. Barber
www.PoultryEnthusiast.com