I will now discuss these products more in detail. Poultry, other
than chickens, I do not care to discuss at length, because it is not
for the purpose of the book, and because the demand for other kinds
of poultry is limited and the chance for the growth of the business
small.


The Duck Business.

The duck business is the most highly commercialized at the present
time of any branch of the poultry business. The duck is the oldest
domestic bird and was hatched by artificial incubation in China,
when our ancestors were gnawing raw bones in the caves of Europe.
The duck is the most domestic of birds and will thrive under more
machine-like methods and without that touch of nature and of the
owner's kindly interest so necessary to the welfare of the fowls of
the gallinaceous order. The green duck business is about twenty
years old and has become an established business in every sense of
the word. The largest plants now produce about one hundred thousand
ducks per annum. The profits at present are not large even for the
most successful plants, because the demand is limited and the
production has reached such a point that cost of production and
selling price bear a definite relation as in all established
businesses. The green duck business is not an easy one for the
novice because the margin between cost (chiefly food cost) and
selling price is low, and unless the new man can reduce the cost of
production or raise his selling price in some way, he will have no
advantage over the old and successful firms.