POULTRY-CRAFT. 121 



CHAPTER IX. 



Egg Production. 



160. Introductory. The Objective Point in Egg Production. 



The final object of practical egg production is profit. A producer's profit is 

 the difference between the cost of production and his selling price. As the 

 difference between two small quantities may be greater than the difference 

 between two larger quantities, so the profit on a comparatively small egg 

 yield which costs little or nothing, may be greater than the profit on a large 

 egg yield secured at considerable expense. Simple as this proposition is, 

 and self-evident to everyone who stops to think about it, it needs to be 

 emphasized here because of the prevalent mistaken notion that successful, 

 profitable egg production depends on making hens lay as many eggs as 

 possible in a short time ; and, therefore, every poultry keeper should use all 

 means to secure an extraordinarily large egg yield. 



As stated in ^[ 18, the bulk of the egg supply in this country comes from 

 hens kept under such conditions that the entire receipts for poultry products 

 sold are profit, the produce consumed at home fully paying for the salable 

 food given the fowls and the little time spent in looking after them. Most 

 of these small flocks of hens are productive only during the spring, summer, 

 and early fall, when the conditions generally are favorable to egg production 

 from hens kept in a semi-natural state as they are on most farms and 

 village lots. By giving them special care during the remainder of the year 

 these flocks could be made almost constantly productive. Whether it would 

 pay their keepers to give them the necessary extra care, is a question for 

 individual decision. As it costs practically nothing to keep the hens, the loss 

 when they are not productive is not an actual dead loss like the money one 

 who has to buy food for his hens pays out on feed bills when the hens ought 

 to be, and are not, laying. Nearly always those who do not give their fowls 

 good care, just taking the egg yield as it comes, would find it more profitable 

 to take some trouble, and, perhaps, go to a little extra expense for the sake 

 of a possible considerable increase in the output of eggs when eggs are worth 

 most ; yet it is a good plan, before making arrangements on account of better 

 laying, to reckon up and see whether it will really pay, and how much extra 



