COST OF PRODUCING EGGS, CHICKS, AND FOWLS 229 



the states with nice, warm weather are very low in aver- 

 ages. The states with medium weather have medium 

 averages. This exactly reverses what we might expect. 

 The only reason I can see is that the South is careless 

 and does not take care of its hens, the mid-states are too 

 absorbed in general farming to take the best care, and only 

 those who have to take good care to get returns^ at all 

 are showing fair average returns. Better markets at the 

 North may be an added stimulus. 



What about the hen kept in confinement ? What will 

 be the cost per dozen of the eggs which she produces ? 

 That depends on the prices of feed, the quality of the 

 hen, and the quality of her handler; all uncertain points, 

 and difficult to "average." A hen in confinement, with 

 only supplied food, will eat, of hard grain, about one 

 and one third bushels, or 80 pounds. If this were wheat, 

 at two and one fourth cents a pound, her feed for the 

 year would cost $1.80, and if she laid 100 eggs at three 

 cents each, she would have $1.20 left to pay for the 

 meat and green stuff, and give the dollar of profit which 

 has been the safe standard for twenty years, perhaps. 



But suppose, on the contrary, that one should take 

 one and one third bushels of oats, costing, possibly, fifty- 

 three cents if bought from the raiser and should " pro- 

 cess " it, making it into four bushels. This would bring 

 the cost down to thirteen cents a bushel. The fowl's 

 health would be so much better if this were made a liberal 

 portion of her daily ration, that she would be likely to 

 lay more eggs, and would distance the bird fed on 

 wheat alone several times over in the matter of profit. 



Suppose, again, that one can get plenty of alfalfa, cut 

 short and fine, not when it has been through the 



