620 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



A SYSTEM OF POULTRY ACCOUNTING. 



BY BOB B. SLOCUM, ANIMAL HUSBANDMAN IN POULTEY INVESTIGATIONS, ANIMAL 

 HUSBANDBY DIVISION, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGBICULTURE. 



One of the greatest needs of most poultry keepers is a definite record 

 of expenditures and receipts. In too few cases does the owner of a poultry 

 flock actually know whether his fowls have been an expense to him or 

 have paid a profit. This is perhaps truer in regard to poultry than with 

 most other branches of animal industry, because of the facts that both 

 expenditures and receipts are spread over the entire year and are indi- 

 vidually small, that a large part of the product is used at home, and that 

 the poultry keeping is incidental to the other farm work. 



An effort is made to give in this circular, in the simplest form pos- 

 sible, a system of keeping an account of the poultry flock which will 

 enable the owner to determine its status at the end of each year. 



The different blanks or forms necessary are the following: Monthly 

 sheet, yearly summary sheet, inventory sheet, balance sheet, and egg 

 record. A sample sheet of each kind has been filled out for guidance in 

 keeping such a record, except in the case of the egg record. These forms 

 or blanks can be ruled off on ordinary loose sheets of paper or in a 

 blank book. The latter plan will usually be found more desirable as it 

 prevents the different sheets from becoming scattered. When separate 

 sheets are used they should be, for convenience, not less than 8 by 10 

 inches. When a blank book is used, one page can be used as the debit 

 side of the sheet and the opposite page as the credit side, which will 

 allow the use of a smaller book. 



On the monthly sheet, one of which is used for each month in the 

 year, all eggs and chickens used at home should be credited to the flock 

 at regular market value. Eggs used for hatching at home should be 

 both credited to and debited against the flock at the same price. This 

 price should be their ordinary market value, unless the demand for eggs 

 for hatching purposes is so great that all suitable eggs can be disposed 

 of in this way; in that case the price should be the regular rate obtained 

 for hatching eggs. The labor of the owner can be estimated and charged 

 against the flock each month if desired. The balance at the end of the 

 year will then show the net profit of the flock. If only the extra labor 

 which may be employed from time to time is charged, then the balance at 

 the end of the year will represent the payment which the flock has made 

 for the owner's labor. Under the column headed "Equipment" on the 

 monthly sheet should be charged such purchases as incubators, brooders, 

 etc. Lumber, roofing paper, glass, etc., should be charged under "Miscel- 

 laneous." Any day-old chicks sold would most properly be credited under 

 "Breeding stock." 



The yearly summary sheet consists, as its name indicates, merely of 

 a summary of the monthly totals of expenditures and receipts for the year. 



The inventory sheet should be used at the beginning of each year to 

 take complete inventories of the equipment, stock, feed, etc. Each piece 



