in an emergency. In another case, a more expensive installation in a four- 

 story house made grain-feeding more or less completely automatic and en- 

 abled the wife to do the daily chores in caring for 3,000 layers whenever 

 the husband could use his time to advantage on other tasks. A poultry house 

 with 8,000 layers will require about o tons or 160 bags a week. This often 

 means lifting these bags, carrying them, opening, relifting, and emptying 

 in the process of feeding. On some farms this has been entirely eliminated. 



3. Efficiency of the Grain Feeding Operation 

 on Poultry Farms 



SOME measures of changes in labor and capital requirements in poultry 

 production during the last two decades, as indicated by results of se- 

 lected studies, are presented in Table 8. The differences betv/een the 1929 

 and 1953 figures reflect in large part efficiencies resulting from current use 

 of larger laying pens and more extensive practices in brooding and rearing. 

 To some extent they also involve a higher degree of mechanization and sim- 

 plification of chore practices. Included in the gains in efficiency in the last 

 two decades have been some relating specifically to grain feeding. 



Table 8. Chore Labor Time and Investment in Buildings and Equipment, 

 1929 and 1953 New Hampshire Poultry Farms 



1929 1953 



Annual man hours per 1,000 layers for chores 2,404^ 529^ 



Investment in buildings and equipment per 1,000 layers $7,680^ $5,854"^ 



Hours of chore labor to raise 100 pullets to laying age 78^ 7.3*^ 



^ H. C. Woodworth and F. D. Reed, Economic Study of Netv Hampshire Poultry Farms, N. H. Agr. 

 Exp. Sta. Bui. 265, p. 16. May, 1932. 



^ E. H. Piper, Chore Practices on New Hampshire Commerical Poultry Farms, N. H. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

 Circ. 73, p. 3. June, 1946. Average daily chore time per 1,000 layers — 87 minutes. 



• N. H. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 265, p. 8. Depreciation charges for laying houses, converted barns, 

 and equipment converted to 1953 prices. 



^ G. E. Prick and W. K. Burkett, Farm Management Reference Manual, N. H. Ext. Circ. 307, 

 p. 32. Sept., 1953. Cost of 3-story 36' x 36' house, plus estimated costs of feeders, nests, automatic 

 water system, wiring and fixtures. 



" N. H. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 265, p. 18. 



" E. C. Perry, Chore Practices on Neio Hampshire Commercial Poultry Farms. II. Pullet Replacements. 

 N. H. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 79, p. 12. April, 1949. Time per 1,000 chicks started; brooding. 37.5 hours 

 for 12 weeks; 35.0 hours per 1,000 birds ranged, for 10 weeks. 



Grain-feeding is one of the important components of total chore time 

 on poultry farms. Other important chore jobs include, for rearing, watering, 

 caring for heating equipment, and for laying flocks, watering, gathering 

 eggs. The relative importance of the grain-feeding operation in relation to 

 total chore time with laying flocks and in replacement rearing is illustrated 

 in Table 9. These data are averages obtained under specific conditions, but 

 they are indicative of the significance of feeding time in any study of meas- 

 ures to improve chore efficiency. 



Unit Size and Specialization. 



Increasing specialization in poultry production has been accompanied 

 by a decrease in numbers of farms (Table 10). Meanwhile the total pro- 

 duction of poultry and eggs has increased; consequently, production per 



12 



