National Agricultural Library

Side Line Poultry Keeping : "Two Dollars A Day From Poultry and Eggs"

C.C. DePuy. Syracuse, NY

This book is rewritten to meet the needs of those who wish to keep poultry as a side line. So far as the author knows it occupies a field peculiarly its own. Many books have been written about poultry keeping the past few years, and many articles have appeared in the papers on the subject, but the books and articles have been written either to give the general principles underlying poultry culture, to exploit some "system" or to describe some mammoth plant in which the writer or advertiser is interested. The man who wishes to keep hens as a side line, to add a few hundred dollars a year to his income or to reduce family expenses has been neglected.

Side line poultry keeping is destined to assume vast prominence in the future. There are two great movements in progress in the industrial world: the first is the movement to shorten the hours of labor; the second is the tendency of everything we buy to increase in price. The mechanic receives good wages and works short hours, but he can hardly support his family, to say nothing of laying up something for a rainy day. If he is to get ahead, if he is to have a bank account, if he is ever to own a home, he must have some side line to occupy his spare hours and add to his monthly income.

The side line poultry keeper has certain great advantages. He does not take the chances the man takes who gives- up his regular work to engage in the poultry business. His trade or occupation will give him a living while he is learning. He can begin small and grow. Then he has a market. The side-line poultry keeper is generally located in a city or large country village, and has customers at his doors. He takes every profit. He gets the whole of the consumer's dollar.; Not so the man who is back on the farm. He sells to the grocer, who in turn sells to the commission merchant, who sells to the retail dealer, who sells to the consumer. At least three profits are sacrificed. The side liner can make his hens pay him at least a dollar more a head a year than can the man back on the farm.