Kind of Fowls to Keep
Householders usually desire not only eggs for the table and for cooking, but also an occasional chicken to eat. For this reason one of the general-purpose breeds, such as the Plymouth Rock, Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red, or Orpington, is preferable to the smaller egg breeds, such as the Leghorns. Not only do the mature fowls of these breeds, because of their larger size, make better table fowls than the Leghorns, but the young chickens for the same reason make better friers and roasters, whereas chickens of the egg breeds are only suitable for the smaller broilers. The general-purpose breeds are also “broody” breeds, the hens making good sitters and mothers, which is a decided advantage when it is desired to hatch and raise chickens, since the hens of the egg breeds seldom go broody and are in any event rather unreliable sitters and mothers. If, however, the production of eggs outweighs the desire for an occasional table fowl, the lighter egg breeds undoubtedly will be found better, because they lay as many eggs and do so on less feed, with the result that they produce the eggs more cheaply. It is by all means advisable to keep some pure breed or variety. Where this is done, sales at a profitable figure can often be made of breeding stock which it is intended to market or of eggs for hatching.