POULTRY FEEDS AND FEEDING 



U. S. Department of Agriculture at Washington show 

 that Leghorn pullets consumed 4.8 pounds of feed in pro- 

 ducing a dozen eggs, and general purpose pullets ate 6.7 

 pounds. The feed consumed by older hens was much 

 greater, being 5.5 pounds for the Leghorn yearling hens 

 and 9.6 for the yearling hens of the general purpose 

 breeds. Tests by the same Department on fattening 

 chicks or producing flesh in the Central West show that 

 it took 3.26 pounds of grain to make a pound of gain 

 in weight. Buttermilk was used with this grain at the 

 rate of one and a half pounds of buttermilk to one pound 

 of grain. In arriving at the figures used in the table 

 on poultry and eggs, the grains were considered 76 per 

 cent digestible and the milk 82 per cent digestible. Of 

 edible solids 23.3 per cent were secured out of eggs while 

 poultry gave 33 per cent of edible solids. 



PLACE AND IMPORTANCE OF POULTRY FARMS 



Poultry farms for the production of market poultry 

 products are gradually taking a more important place 

 in this country, and are a factor of considerable impor- 

 tance. It is conservatively estimated that 90 per cent of 

 the poultry and eggs are produced on the general farms 

 and from small flocks kept in the villages and cities in this 

 country, leaving only 10 per cent produced on poultry 

 farms. Both poultry and eggs can be produced more 

 cheaply under general farm conditions than is possible 

 on poultry farms. The general farm poultry products, 

 however, rarely reach the consumer while they are in a 



32 



