10 Sept., 1919.] Cost of a Dozen Eggs. 571 



over the feed bill on 850 birds. This represents £301 Os. lOd., which is, 

 alas ! thought by many to be the actual profit. It is not. 



The labourer is worthy of his hire, and £3 a week is at present 

 the basic minimum wage. Surely, for a week of seven days of twelve 

 or more hours, the hard-working long-suffering poultryman is entitled 

 to his £3 per week? Then the capital involved is £1,500. Allowing 

 £500 off this for the dwelling house, there is still the sum of £1,000 

 invested and interest en this, with depreciation and rates, would repre- 

 sent £100 a year. Taking £301 Os. lOd. as return over feed bill, 

 against £156 labour and £100 interest, depreciation, &c., there is a 

 net profit of £45 Os. lOd. on 850 birds each laying fourteen dozen eggs 

 at Is. Hd. per dozen. In other words, about Id. per dozen profit. It 

 is, therefore, an absolute fact that under present conditions the average 

 cost of producing a dozen eggs is about Is. 0|d. 



The poultry farmer is one of the few who have not secured propor- 

 tionally advanced prices during the war. In a general way it may be 

 assumed that on the average poultry farm, the cost oi feed, labour, and 

 interest on capital amounts to 3d. per bird per week. The real 

 profits are made when the breeder can raise the average of his flock 

 above 168 eggs per annum, or can secure profitable side-lines, such as 

 stud sales and the day-old chick trade. Many people seem to think that 

 labour and capital should not be counted against the return. Why? 

 The cost of labour must be a charge against manufacture if we are to 

 remain solvent. 



If the poultry farmer can secure 180 or mere eggs per pullet, he 

 will not only get an extra dozen eggs, but with increasing ratio will raise 

 his net return per do'zen eggs. That is a reason why no man can state 

 the actual cost of production. One can calculate on average returns 

 only, and while some successful men get well over 168 eggs per bird, 

 it would be very dangerous to suggest that the average poultry keeper 

 will get more. The general average throughout the State is low, because 

 of the careless methods in some country districts. Few can count on 

 stud sales, or sales of day-old chicks; they may eventuate, but even so, 

 do not affect the cost of producing market eggs, being the result of 

 competition success, advertising, &c. 



The suburban dweller who keeps a. few fowls, laigely fed on house 

 scraps, &c., of course, has a relatively lower feed bill, but his (or 

 her) figures cannot be considered in any way in arriving at definite 

 statements regai'ding the true business details of poultry farming. It 

 is tha positive opinion of the writer that eggs at a shilling a dozen may 

 about pay actual expenses, but that there is no margin of profit what- 

 ever. The man in a small way has no capital to enable him to^ hold 

 his eggs in a cool store on the chance of getting a higher price. Scarcely 

 any poultry liresders in Victoria do this, the eggs in oool storage are 

 practically all held by manufacturers and speculators ; but the difficulty 

 is the wide margin between actual return and the retail price. At the 

 time of writing eggs are selling at from lid. to ll|d., say ll:|d middle 

 price, and deducting freight and commission, the net return is lOid. 

 The retail price is from Is. 3d. to Is. 4d. per dozen, and the consumer 

 thinks that the poultry farmer is doing well "with eggs at Is. 4d." 

 Eggs usually pass through a number of hands before reaching the 

 consumer, and each hand takes its toll. When a "direct from farm to 

 consumer" scheme can be evolved, the prospects for the poultry farmer 

 will be much brighter than they are now. 



