which helps to explain the higher price received for hatching eggs and 

 baby chicks produced in the Northeast. There will be some variation of 

 these costs between states. 



Any advantage of one state over another in the price of baby chicks 

 is hard to measure. Chicks coming from tested flocks, with good production 

 records behind them, low mortality, and freedom from disease, are more 

 expensive than those chicks which come from farm flocks. Chicks produced 

 in the Northeast and Pacific Coast states are more expensive, but tend to 

 have higher production, lower mortality, and a more uniform growth rate 

 than chicks selling much cheaper from the South and Midwest. 



2. FARM WAGE RATES 



Wages are a large item in flocks of more than 3,000 birds. Flocks 

 smaller than 3,000 birds can be handled by one man. There are two pri- 

 mary reasons for large differences in wage rates in different areas: the 

 standard of living of farmers and the alternatives for labor in other fields. 

 The rural South, in Georgia and South Carolina, has a lower standard of 

 living, exemplified by a large rural population and little industry to attract 

 the workers to factories. If industry continues to move South, southern 

 agriculture may in time have to increase wage rates in order to hold labor 

 on the farm. Cheap labor can also be substituted for machinery and ex- 

 pensive labor-saving devices which are more predominant in the North and 

 West. 



In the midwestern states, while labor prices are higher, the flocks are 

 smaller and farm labor is used in other enterprises which have much greater 

 returns, such as grain and livestock production. Small flocks receive neither 

 the care nor special equipment given on commercial farms, so the initial 

 outlay and labor expense is much lower. A flock of 200 layers would require 

 only 20 or 30 minutes a day of the farmer's labor. The feed hoppers and 

 waterers may be anything suitable to hold the day's feed and water re- 

 quirements. Many of the farm flocks are raised by the women on the farm. 



New Hampshire is among the higher wage rate areas. 



Table 5. Farm Wage Rates Paid Per Hour And Per Day For 16 States in 1949 and 1950* 



Per Hour Per Day 



State 1949 1950 1949 1950 



Maine 



New Hampshire 



Massachusetts 



New York 



Delaware 



Maryland 



Minnesota 



South Carolina 



Georgia 



Iowa 



Illinois 



Missouri 



Nebraska 



Oregon 



Utah 



California 



♦Source — Labor Statistics, B.A.E., U.S.D.A., September, 1949-50 



