16 



N. II. Age. Experiment Station [Bulletin 265 



Monthly labor requirements varied considerably, but the expend- 

 ituiv was evened up somewhat by work on odd tasks, repairs, building, 

 etc., during the dull periods. The amount of labor needed is naturally 

 Largest during the brooding season before the young stock is put on 

 the range. On the average farm this peak labor requirement is in 

 March, April and -May. and is partly taken up by longer working days 

 on the part of the owner himself. Note in Table 9 that the owner's 

 Labor in hours per month jumps from 255 in September to 291 in March 

 and 300 in April. The requirements drop off in June and are lowest 

 during the fall and winter. 



Division of Time 



Work on poultry farms consists of so many small and varied opera- 

 tions and shifts so greatly from day to day that accurate figures on 

 division of time are very difficult to obtain. However, through monthly 

 estimates by the poultrymen data were secured which give the approxi- 

 mate division of time of the daily regular chore work. A fairly large 

 proportion of total labor comes under the classification "miscellaneous 

 poultry," which includes work such as cleaning pens, moving birds, 

 marketing, dressing fowl, and all time on poultry aside from regular 

 chore work. It is interesting to note in Table 10 that "chore" work 

 accounts for about 75% of the total labor expended. 



Table 10 — Man hours spent on hoi.s, chicks, incubation, etc., by months 



— Average 28 farms 



As would be expected, labor on the Laying flock represents the larg- 

 est item, accounting for .'}!)..">', of the total labor for the year. This 

 daily chore work on hens is largest from October to February, when 

 the number of layers is largest, and is at the lowest point during dune 

 and duly. (Fig. 2) 



Labor on brooding and rearing young stock is not very high until 

 March and reaches its peak in April and May. Naturally, labor require- 



