Small farms

Preface

POULTRY production is commonly practiced on every farm, but profitable poultry production so far as the farm is concerned, is rare indeed. No one, as a rule, has better natural conditions for poultry raising than has the farmer. It is only a matter of embracing opportunities that is wanting.

This book, Profitable Poultry Production, is written to present the case fairly and squarely so the farmer may see the advantages that poultry offers as a means of making money. The book lays special emphasis upon all the important practices and new wrinkles that have been found profitable by professional breeders and poultry-men. It shows how these can be easily applied by any one and what may be expected in the way of results. From cover to cover it is intended as an encouragement and a stimulus to everyone interested in poultry. Not only does it indicate which are the lines likely to be most profitable, but it points out those branches of the business not likely to be remunerative, except under special conditions.

When one is telling his own experience or is compiling the experience of others, his words necessarily carry much more weight than if he adopts the preacher style and says that his hearers should or must do thus and so. The fact that what he writes about has been or is being done is evidence that cannot be set aside. For this reason the author has endeavored to present his subject from the results standpoint. With the conviction, therefore, that application of the principles herein laid down will make farm poultry production far more profitable than it at present is, the author commends these pages to the thinking farmers, farmers' wives and farmers' children.

M. G. Kains.
New York, October 1, 1910.

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Table of Contents

Chapter I. The Market for Poultry

Fresh eggs in great demand -- Best market for early winter -- Managing for eggs -- The growth of the industry -- Importance of good breed -- Improved methods of hatching and rearing -- Possible limit of the market -- Farmers' attitude toward fowls.

Chapter II. Branches of the Poultry Business

Eggs for home use -- for market -- for hatching -- Guaranteeing hatches -- Bad and good advertising -- Day old chicks -- Broilers -- Roasters -- Soft Roasters -- Capons -- Layers -- Breeders for sale -- Ducks -- Geese -- Turkeys -- Guineas -- Squabs -- Systems of poultry raising.

Chapter III. Location and Situation

Where to place houses, etc. -- The soil factor -- Convenience of water supply.

Chapter IV. Poultry Quarters

Styles of houses -- Parts of the house -- Model poultry house -- Open front poultry house -- Knock-down colony house.

Chapter V. Poultry Fixtures and Devices

Roosts -- Dropping boards -- Nests -- Trap nests -- Feeding vessels -- Fountains -- Grit and shell recep-tacles -- Coops -- Colony houses -- Incubators and brooders -- Bone and hay cutters -- Grit crushers, Feed mixers and cookers -- Prowler traps -- Egg cabi-net -- Poultry gates -- Shipping coops -- Trap nest made from one board.

Chapter VI. Breeding and Breeds

What to select -- Causes of failure -- Utility breeding -- Line breeding -- Common mistakes in breeding Importance of constitutional vigor -- Danger of increased productiveness -- Value of vigorous parents -- Experiments prove theory -- Requisites of the trap nest -- Kind of fowl to keep -- Barred Plymouth Rock -- Leghorn fowls -- Light Brahma -- Wyandotte -- Rhode Island Red -- Other breeds.

Chapter VII. Feeding and Feeds -- Part 1

Feed affects quantity of eggs -- What hens put in eggs -- Composition of poultry feeds -- Nutritive ratio -- Individual feeds -- Importance of animal feeds -- Green feed essential -- Necessity for grit.

Chapter VII. Feeding and Feeds -- Part 2

Value of method -- Grain ground or unground -- Dry mash or wet mash -- Value of skim milk -- Feeding capons.

Chapter VIII. Egg Production

Hens total yearly production -- Selecting layers -- Laying ability improved -- Management of laying stock -- Spring and summer care -- Autumn care of layers -- Gentleness affects egg yield -- Broodiness a natural characteristic -- Record of 600 hens.

Chapter IX. Incubation

Interior structure and development of egg -- Why exercise care in handling -- Shipping eggs for hatching -- Classes of incubators -- Moisture essential -- Methods of management -- Testing the eggs -- Care of incubators.

Chapter X. Rearing

Managing the brooder -- Compare natural methods -- How often to feed -- Rearing chicks with hen -- Chickens in hot weather -- Care of little chicks

Chapter XI. Market Methods

Marking and shipping -- Dressed poultry -- Selecting stock for market -- Killing and dressing -- Packing for shipment -- Cold storage poultry and eggs -- Egg marketing methods -- How to improve -- Co-operative ooultry associations -- Honesty essential to success -- Preservation of eggs -- New York State experiments -- Egg gathering.

Chapter XII. Essentials of Poultry Fattening

Desirable type of fowl -- Feeds for fattening -- Methods of killing.

Chapter XIII. Health and Sanitation

Penalties for uncleanness -- Disinfection -- Remedies vs. preventives -- Identifying diseases -- Cholera -- Diarrhea -- Feather pulling -- Roup -- Pests -- Mites -- Lice -- Worms.

Chapter XIV. Water Fowl

Ducks -- Care of ducklings -- Localities for duck yards -- Cleanliness essential -- Hatching in incubators -- Selection of breeders -- Breeds of ducks -- Geese -- Geese need pasturage -- Profits in goose growing -- Selecting breeders -- Rearing goslings -- Breeds of geese -- Goose and duck feathers.

Chapter XV. Turkeys

Range essential -- Temporary confinement -- The laying season -- Hatching -- Rearing -- Feeds -- Profits in turkey raising -- Varieties of turkeys.


Next: Chapter I

Back to the Small Farms Library Index

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