The Molting of Fowls. 405 



The method of feeding fowls in the molting season affects the profits. 



The final test of any system of handling fowls in the molting season 

 will be the effect on the cost of production, in this instance, primarily, 

 egg-production. Table X gives the cost of a dozen eggs with each flock 

 for each of the sixteen periods of 28 days and the average cost per 

 dozen for each flock throughout the entire experiment. The cost per 

 dozen, however, does not necessarily indicate the actual profits per hen. 

 For example, the starved flocks, because they were eating less feed during 

 the first period, produced eggs at about the same cost ($.076 per dozen) 

 as the fed flocks ($.074 per dozen). The former laid 66.1 dozens of eggs 

 at a net profit of $8.57, while the latter laid 106.8 dozens of eggs at a net 

 profit of $17.02. (Tables X, XI, XII and XIII, and Fig. 22.) 



It will be observed from an examination of Table X that the price 

 per dozen eggs per period varies between wide limits. This is due to 

 the fact that the cost of the maintenance ration forms a large part of 

 the expense of keeping a hen. This must be charged up against the hen 

 whether she lays or not. The more eggs that are laid, the less will be 

 the share of the maintenance to be charged up against the cost of each 

 dozen of eggs produced. In other words, the cheapest eggs are pro- 

 duced, as a rule, during the periods of highest average production. In 

 order to verify this statement, compare the cost per dozen eggs with 

 the normally fed flocks for the periods of highest average production; 

 namely, March 23 to April 19^$. 066 per dozen; April 20 to May 17= 

 $.065 per dozen; May 18 to June 14=$. 068 per dozen. On the other 

 hand, with the periods of lowest average production; — November 4 to 

 December i, when no eggs were produced, the cost of care and feed 

 was an entire loss. December 2 to December 29, the eggs cost $2.73 

 per dozen; December 30 to January 26, $1.99 per dozen. The contrast 

 with the starved flocks was even greater than it was with the ones under 

 normal conditions. 



A study of Fig. 22 B will show the season of the year when the profits 

 are likely to be affected by the starvation process of "forcing the molt." 

 In the first three periods of the experiment (that is, the 28 days of starva- 

 tion and the two periods of 28 days each that followed) the hens declined 

 so rapidly in egg production that they failed to pay a profit over the 

 cost of feed. The fed pens, during this time, while declining in their 

 production through the natural conditions of molt at this season, never- 

 theless continued to pay a profit until the fourth and fifth periods, 

 November and December. The prices of eggs during the months of 

 August, September and October always rule high and the eggs laid at 

 this season, during the normal conditions of molt, are of considerable 



