. Our domestic birds; . dmit of this, and as a matter of factthe greater part of our enormous total production of eggs andpoultry comes from the half-neglected flocks on the ordinaryfarms. Hence the conditions are tolerable where they are neces-sary, but whenever it is possible to give farm fowls enough at-tention to obviate the faults of common practice, the product andthe profits can be greatly increased with very little increase in the MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 5 cost of production. In this section we consider the best methodsof securing this result when all the old stock is to be kept as onefloc
. Our domestic birds; . dmit of this, and as a matter of factthe greater part of our enormous total production of eggs andpoultry comes from the half-neglected flocks on the ordinaryfarms. Hence the conditions are tolerable where they are neces-sary, but whenever it is possible to give farm fowls enough at-tention to obviate the faults of common practice, the product andthe profits can be greatly increased with very little increase in the MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 5 cost of production. In this section we consider the best methodsof securing this result when all the old stock is to be kept as oneflock. Old stock and young ought always to be separated unlessthe old birds constitute an insignificant portion of the flock. Single houses for farm flocks. It is as true on a farm as else-where that the greatest yields of eggs and the best growth inyoung birds are secured when the flock is divided into smallgroups. But a farm flock of the class under consideration,while it makes its headquarters in such buildings as may be. Fig. 82. Good poultry house on Texas farm. (Photograph from Bureau ofAnimal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) provided, will forage a considerable distance in every direction,going among growing crops from which the larger farm ani-mals must be excluded, and also following the larger animals intheir stables, yards, and pastures and picking up food left bythem. As fowls also eat many weeds and seeds of weeds,and all kinds of destructive insects, the advantages of lettingthem run at large more than make up for lower the production is normal and can be easily maintainedfrom year to year in the same line of stock, while high pro-duction secured by extra care is forced and can be maintained 86 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS in the same line of stoc-k for only a few generations. A flockof one hundred fowls or less, that run together, may all be keptin one house just as well as in several, if the size of the houseand the equipment are in proportio
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidourdomesticb, bookyear1913
