farm journal. Consult that or the farmer down the road as to breed. As
rank outsiders we suggest a well established and hardy kind.

Then, the easiest way for the novice would probably be to buy
full-grown chickens that are just beginning to lay. They are old
enough to know their way about and any dry, well ventilated shelter
that is proof against thieving skunks, weasels and similar wild life,
will be adequate for them along with a chicken run with a high enough
fence to keep them within bounds. For this type of fowl is no
respecter of property. Not only does it take delight in working havoc
with its owner's flower beds and borders but those of his neighbor as
well.

They also eat incessantly. The optimistic friend who has never kept
chickens, but thinks it a marvelous idea, will tell you that scraps
from the table will take care of all that and even save you the
garbage collector's fee. Such a person is still living back in the
1890's when food was cheap and seven course dinners and hearty suppers
were the rule. Today's orange skins and banana peels are no diet even
for a chicken. So, one must buy feed for them. This should be offset
in a measure by the eggs normally laid by well-fed and tended pullets.
Also as time goes on and setting hens hatch chickens, which in turn
become eventually broilers or fresh producers of eggs, according to
results you will decide whether or not you want to continue in the
chicken business.

Another method widely advocated is to buy week-old chicks from a mail
order house or other firm dealing in such stock and bring them up
without aid of a mother hen to gather them under her wings. Here a
brooder is necessary since the chicks are of tender age and must be
kept warm. These brooders are of varying sizes and prices and may be
had from the same mail order houses that are glad to sell the chicks
as well. This is more complicated than the other old-fashioned method
but a little guidance from some one understanding the procedure along
with consistent care on your part will probably bring a majority of
your brood to broiler size.

Taking on a cow to support is a much more serious thing. Not only does
a well-bred, tuberculin-tested animal cost a fair sum to acquire, but
she must be comfortably housed in a clean, comfortable cow barn.
Bulletins from the Department of Agriculture will give the
requirements not only for her shelter but for her proper care. She
needs at least two acres of past