Marketing New Hampshire 



Hatching Eggs 



L. A. DOUGHERTY. T. B. CHARLES, and A. M. ATWOOD^ 



Importance of the Hatching Egg Industry 



THE POULTRY INDUSTRY has the largest gross revenue of any agricultural 

 enterprise in New Hampshire. Income from poultry and poultry pro- 

 ducts was reported as S27,o91,0()() in 1949, 44 per cent of the total gross 

 farm income. The production of hatching eggs and sale as hatching eggs 

 or chicks is the backbone of the industry. Few, if any, states sell a larger 

 proportion of their total eggs as hatching eggs and chicks. The develop- 

 ment of the New Hampshire breed and its aggressive promotion by able 

 leaders in the industry have played a big part in the fortunes of a large 

 majority of the poultrymen in the stale. 



Because the hatching industry is such an important part of New Hamp- 

 shire agriculture, a study of the industry seemed desirable. The principal 

 objectives of this study were: 



1. To bring together information on the hatching-egg industry in New 

 Hampshire and to include data on size of industry, breeds of chicks 

 produced, sales outlets, methods of disposal, transportation, prices, 

 and premiums paid for eggs. 



2. Experimental shipments of eggs to determine where and how break- 

 age occurred, changes in hatchability, extent of losses, and methods 

 of preventing losses. 



Data on the first objective were obtained through questionnaires sent 

 to hatching-egg producers and by visits to farms. Data for the second 

 group of objectives were obtained through experimental shipments of eggs 

 into the broiler areas. | 



Poultry Breeds in New Hampshire 



The New Hampshire breed, in numbers, exceeds by far all other breeds 

 kept in the state. In the first place, a brown-egg breed is desired because 

 brown eggs have always sold more readily over a period of years and have 

 brought a premium on the Boston and northern New England markets. 



But the principal reasons for the popularity of New Hampshires have 

 been their ability to give high production of large eggs and the fact that 

 they make excellent broilers either as straight New Hampshires or as cross 

 breeds. 



*Mr. Dougherty is Assistant Agricultural EcoiKimist; Mr. Charles, since resigned, was Poultry Husband- 

 man; and Mr. Atwood, since resigned, was Research Assistant in Marketing. 



fThe Poultry Branch of the Production and Marketing Administration (U.S.D.A.) cooperated with 

 the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station in this study, particularly as it related to trans- 

 portation of hatching eggs which involved candling and checking eggs in Florida, Maryland, and New- 

 Hampshire. It also obtained railway express data on shipping losses. E. H. Rinear, Marketing Research 

 Analyst, was the P.M. A. representative and his report is made in Problems of Transporting and Markel- 

 ing Hutching Eggs and Baby Chicks in the Northeastern Slates. (See foreward) . 



