Southern planter - The W&M Digital Archive

1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 27
Editor Southern Planter:
POULTRY NOTES.
I have had many letters during the past few years ask-
ing me about the possibilities of poultry raising in the
South as a busines. Let us begin the new year with a
review of the advantages of the middle South. I came
to the State of Virginia in February, 1904 from northeast
Indiana where I had been engaged in raising standard
bred poultry for many years. I have travelled extensively
over the middle, west and northwestern States. I was a
State speaker in the Farmer's Institute work for many
years and in this capacity came in close touch with many
of the leading farmers, breeders and poultrymen of the
eight Central States over which I travelled. I studied the
various breeds, the conditions of soil, the climate, feed
supplies, housing, markets, transportation facilities and
charges, pure breds land mongrels and the people, who,
after all, make a country what it is, and the various breeds
of live stock. The four States, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois
and Iowa have more standard-bred poultry than any
other four States in the Union. Nearly every State has
some fine poultry. New York has some very large and
successful plants but in the group of States named thousands
of farmers have very fine, large flocks of standardbred
poultry. One firm in northern Indiana paid out last
year (1906) $2,350,000 for poultry and eggs.
Naturally we are led to ask, what are the conditions nec-
essary to success with poultry? I will try to answer this
question. First, the man or woman. To succeed with
poultry means more than the investing of a small sum
of money in the business. There is no branch of live
small stock husbandry that one can engage in where a
small sum of money will yield as large and sure returns
every day in the year as poultry. One mlust be a good
judge of poultry, of natural requirements, of natural con-
ditions. The man must be idustrious, neat, alert, economical
and patient. He must get his information by
experience. He must have confidence in himself and his
business. He must be willing to do many hard, disagree
able and unselfish things. He must be diligent in busi-
ness. The slothful man has no place in the poultry world.
He must love the business. The hen will pick where she
scratches. The man must provide the place for her to
scratch and something to scratch for. He must be a
generous man, humane, kind and clever. The hen is an
early bird. He must be ready to meet her.
The location and farm. This is not so important. Convenience
to good transportaion and a dry soil are essen-
tial. When I came to my present location, neighbors told
me that my fowls would die because there was no gravel
or lime about the house or yards. Not over seventy-five
rods from the house is a fine gravel bank and oyster
shells by the wagon load in the city ten miles away for
the hauling. A man with a team will bed all my houses
two inches deep with clean, sharp gravel in one day. One
ton of oyster shells will furnish all the lime necessary for
The Poultry Yard.
i
1,000 hens for twelve months. A good farmer seldom has
a poor farm. If it is poor when he gets it, he will soon
make it yield bountifully. A poor farmer seldom has a
good farm. If it is good when he gets it, he will soon
deplete it of its fertility. Southern farmers should stick
a pin here. A good poultryman will make conditions right.
The breed. A good strain of any of the standard-bred
fowls, well cared for, will return a good income on the
investment and labor. For eggs I would select one of the
smaller breeds; for broilers and roasters a heavier breed
of a good laying strain, but always and all the time only
one breed and that a pure one. Get the best your purse
can afford, then select, cull and breed better. Do not
keep mongrels or culls. There is no profit in them. Do
not pay fancy prices for eggs from "300-egg strains."
They will disappoint you about 125 points. The average
of the Virginia hens is five dozen per year. Shame on
you, in the land of sunshine and honeysuckles. If every
hen in Virginia was a good hen and had good feed and
care the
My flock
net income would
of hens (237) laid
be three times what it Is.
an average of 154 1-2 eggs
during the twelve months land made a net profit of
$1.62 1-2 each. This flock will do much better this year
because they will not be moved, they will have better
care, better housing and the flock is improving every year.
I can easily bring them to fifteen dozen per hen. I have
no 300-egg hens, and I frankly say that I do not believe
that the other fellow has, but everybody can have a better
hen than the sixty-egg Virginia hen.
Housing. In the matter of housing we have every advantage
over the North and West. We have abundance of
good timber, cheap lumber and all material necessary to
construct houses) and yards for our flocks. Our winters
are short and mild. There are more zero days in In-
diana, my former home, than there are freezing days in
Virginia. The ground is covered with snow and ice more
days in northern Indiana than hours in Virginia. Our
flocks can have grass and clover nearly every day durina
the winter months. I have fed poultry seventy days in
succession on snow and ice in Indiana. This advantage
alone is sufficient to make the difference between profit
and loss.
Feeds. It is true that corn, wheat, oats, all grain costs
more here than in the West and Northwest, but it takes
less and we can grow it here as cheap as it can be grown
anywhere if we will make the coditions right.
Who and what is responsible for the conditions as we
have them in Virginia? The man. We can grow wheat, rye,
crimson clover, red clover, alfalfa, cabbage, turnips, ruta-
bagas, onions, soja beans, cow peas, sorghum, kaffir corn,
sunflowers, field peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts,
beans of all kinds, vetch and rape. Bran, meatmeal, oyster
shell and grit cost but little more here, if any, than
Northern and Western poultrymen must pay for the same
feeds.
Markets. We have better home markets for poultry products
than the North and West afford. In addition, we