Even though only a very limited amount of room is available, it will pay to give the fowls an outdoor run. The above illustration shows how to make a small yard look neat and trim with but little trouble or expense.
A Back Yard Poultry Business
Under many conditions the back-yard poultry flock can be made an important means of reducing the high cost of living and may also be utilized as a source of revenue.
Where they are given proper care and attention, the number of fowls that can be kept on a small tract of ground is surprisingly large. Extremely intensive methods of poultry raising are not to be recommended for general adoption especially for large-scale operations, but it is entirely practicable to follow this method on a small scale, and with good success.
Where a back yard is available, a good-sized flock can be kept to excellent advantage, and the space provided by the ordinary back yard can frequently be utilized with more profitable results in poultry keeping than in any other manner involving no greater outlay.
Returns in Eggs & Table Birds
Few persons realize how much may be accomplished in the space of an ordinary back yard in the production of eggs and fowls for the home table.
In one .year, a dozen pullets or young hens, fed largely on scraps from the kitchen, should produce 120 to 180 dozens of eggs, having a market value of $50.00 or more, at average prices.
Note: The $50.00 then would be $640 in 2016. 180 dozen eggs today in New York City would cost $802, in Des Moines, Iowa $580. So, for all the intensification and mass-scale poultry keeping the cost of eggs in America is around what it was in 1919 when commercial production was small scale. Pricing from Expatistan
If desired, it is practicable to go a step farther and, in the space of the average back yard, raise a few broods of chicks that will furnish spring and summer frys and roasting fowls for fall and winter use, thus keeping the table supplied with this delicious and wholesome meat a good part of the year and reducing the butcher’s bill to a small fraction of what it otherwise would be.
Fowls can be kept successfully in quite limited space, and where it is desirable to do so, the average back yard affords sufficient room for a flock large enough to form an important source of additional income through the sale of surplus eggs and fowls to the neighbours, many of whom will be glad of an opportunity to buy these special quality products, and will cheerfully pay an advance over the ordinary market price for them.
Part Time Job
All the work of caring for such a flock may be done outside of regular work hours and the time will scarcely be missed.There are other .ways of deriving an income from the back-yard flock, such as the production of standard-bred, exhibition-quality fowls and the sale of eggs for hatching, also day-old chicks.
Not only may substantial sums be realized in this way, but the experience thus gained may be made the basis for the development of an extensive poultry business that will enable the poultryman to drop less profitable or congenial employment and give his entire time to this interesting and comparatively easy work.
Many of the most successful breeders of today established their prize-winning strains and laid the foundations for their success within the limits of an ordinary back yard. Remember however, that it is especially important to avoid overcrowding where breeding fowls are kept in close quarters.
About This Article on Back Yard Poultry Housing
This article is taken from Poultry Houses and Fixtures, eighth edition, published by Reliable Poultry Journal Publishing Company of Quincy, Illinois in 1919. Price $1.00
It was filled with poultry house plans and layouts for small farms and back yard enterprises, many of which had been produced by universities and the US department of agriculture.
Poultry House Plans Etc.
- A-Shaped Back-Yard Poultry House Plans
- Attractive Back Yard Poultry House Design
- Chicken Coops from Recycled Packing
- Combined Portable Poultry House & Run Design
- Elevated Poultry House – Full Plans
- Locating & Setting Up Poultry Houses
- Plan for a 20 Chicken Poultry House
- Plan For One Man, Ten Acre Poultry Farm
- Plan for Poultry House for Adult Fowls or Bantams
- Practical Back Yard Mini Poultry Farm
- Practical Plan for a 10 Acre, 1,000 Hens Poultry Farm
- Preventing Drafts in Small Poultry Houses