16 



Xe-w Hamps?iire Experiment Station [Bulletin 234 



19fb 



Fig. 8. — Weighted average monthly prices of live broilers from New Hampshire 

 and comi^eting areas on the New York market from January, 1925 to 

 May, 1927, inclusive. 



1925, 1926 and 1927, however, the records of twelve poultry dealers on 

 the New York market showed that only 8 per cent of the broilers from 

 New Hampshire sold abo^'e the top quotation and 10 percent sold be- 

 low. (See Table 2.) 



The top price quotation of "broilers", "chicken broilers" or "colored 

 broilers" seems to represent the price level of New Hampshire broilers 

 very closely, especially during the early live broiler season. While broil- 

 ers from New Hampshire usually top the New York market for colored 

 broilers, there is a tendency for all broilers from New Hampshire to 

 sell at the same price regardless of quality. During the early live broiler 

 season from November to April in 1925-26, 1926-27 and from February 

 to April, 1925, inclusive, from 80 to 97 percent of the receipts from New 

 Hampshire were sold at one price as shown in Figure 9 and Table 3, 

 The percentage sold at one price seems to increase from November to 

 February each season and then decline to from 50 to 60 percent. These 

 trends may be accounted for to some extent by the increasing receipts 

 of Leghorns in late spring and summer and by the practice of sending 

 in young culls from laying flocks at this time. 



During the early months of the year, however, there are many days 

 when all of the broilers from New Hampshire were sold at one price. 

 While the broilers marketed at this time are in all probability more 

 uniform in quality than at other periods of the year, it does not seem 

 likely that all of these broilers are of equal market value. Broilers of low 

 quality are no doubt scattered through coops containing broilers of 

 higher quality in an effort to make them all sell at the most common 

 price of New Hampshire broilers. Some poultrymen undoubtedly pro- 

 duce broilers of higher average quality than others; yet these men ap- 

 parently receive the same price on many days as the producers of lower 

 quality birds. While one price may reflect the average quality of re- 

 ceipts by individual dealers receiving thousands of birds in a day, it 

 often results in an injustice to individual producers. 



