May, 1932] Economic Study of Poultry Farms 



17 



ments for young stock drop off as soon as the birds are put on range, 

 which on most farms was in June. 



600 

 550 

 500 



450 

 400 

 350 



DC 



§300 



£250 

 ^200 



150 



100 



50 







Misc. Farm 

 Real Estate 

 Incubation 

 Misc. Poultry 

 Chicks 

 Hens 



*)*&} 



5lpt Oct Nov. 



Figure 2 — A comparison of monthly labor requirements of hens, 



chicks, etc., on 23 farms. 



The amount of miscellaneous poultry labor is largest during October, 

 November, December and January, the "dull" season. "When labor re- 

 quirements for chore work are low, the poultryman uses the extra time 

 by making repairs on poultry equipment, moving brooder houses and 

 range shelters to new locations, and cleaning and spraying houses. 

 With the approach of the busy brooding season the time available for 

 this miscellaneous work naturally becomes less, and the labor on odd 

 jobs drops off. The miscellaneous farm work on crops or animals not 

 connected with poultry amounted to only 620.9 hours per farm, or 

 about 10% of the total. 



Comparison of Labor on Laying Flocks 



The regular chore work on hens on the 23 farms averaged 2.4 hours 

 per hen annually, ranging from 1.1 hours on Farm 11 to 5.8 hours on 

 Farm 6. (Table 11) 



On the 14 farms with less than 1000 hens, the daily chores on laying 

 flocks averaged 2.7 hours per hen per year, and on the 9 farms with 

 over 1000 hens, 2.2 hours. The men with larger flocks tended to have 

 more efficient equipment and to use their time to better advantage. The 



