ken house

A pen of chickens gives a boy or girl an opportunity for keeping pets
that have some real value. Whether there is much profit in poultry is
a question, but it is at least certain that the more care you give
them the better they pay. There is but little difference in the
results obtained from the various breeds of chickens, but there is a
great difference in the people who take care of them. It is very
difficult to make poultry pay on a large scale. Nearly every poultry
farm that has started as a business has failed to make a success. The
surest way to make chickens pay is to have only a few. Then the table
scraps and the worms and weed seeds they can pick up will supply them
with practically all their feed and the time you give them need not be
counted as expense.

There are sixty or seventy distinct breeds of poultry recognized by
expert fanciers and from three to ten colours or varieties in many of
these breeds. New ones are being added constantly. For example, a
breed called Orpingtons was recently introduced from England and now
has ten varieties or colours that are "standard." At the New York
Poultry Show a record price of $2,500 was paid for the prize-winning
hen of this breed. There is a style in chickens as well as in anything
else. A new breed will always have a great many admirers at first, and
great claims will be made for its superior qualities. The poultrymen
who have stock and eggs to sell will secure high prices for their
output. Very soon, however, the real value of a new breed will be
known and it will be on the same basis as the older breeds.

A beginner had better start with some standard recognized breed and
leave the experimenting to some one else. One thing is certain:
thoroughbreds will pay better than mongrels. Their eggs are of more
uniform size and colour, the stock will be healthy and as a rule weigh
a pound or two more than birds of uncertain breeding. Thoroughbreds do
not cost any more to feed or care for than the mongrels and in every
way are superior.

Breeds of poultry are usually divided into three separate classes,
depending on the place where the breed originated. They are the
American, Asiatic, and Mediterranean strains. The leading American
breed is the barred Plymouth Rock and for a beginner will probably be
the best to start with.

Another very excellent American or general purpose breed is the White
Wyandotte. They are especially valuable as broilers, as they ma