May, 1932] 



Economic Study of Poultry Farms 



21 



FEED CONSUMPTION OF LAYERS 

 Pullet Layers (Heavy Breeds) 



Accurate daily feed consumption and egg production records were 

 secured on 15 of the 23 pullet-laying flocks (all heavy breeds) repre- 

 senting a total of 10,879 birds for the year. From these data the rela- 

 tionship between weekly feed consumption and weekly production of 

 eggs was studied. 



It will be noted in Figure 3 that the feed consumption curve and the 

 egg production curve rise and fall somewhat in unison. Increased pro- 

 duction is accompanied by increased feed consumption, and those who 

 attempt to increase production at certain periods resort to wet mashes, 

 etc., to get the birds to eat more. Lighting of laying pens, through in- 

 creasing the length of day, also makes it possible for the laying birds to 

 assimilate more feed. 



Figike 3 — Weekly feed consumption curve and weekly egg production 

 curve on 15 pullet flocks (heavy breeds). 



A study of the separate curves for mash and scratch brings out sev- 

 eral interesting facts. Apparently, mash consumption follows the pro- 

 duction curve more closely than does scratch consumption. This is true 

 except during June, July and August. Then consumption of mash holds 

 up while production drops. This is largely due to attempts to stay the 

 rapidly dropping production by wet mashes. 



In the case of scratch consumption, the curve rises from September 

 15th on, in spite of the fact that production drops very low. This is un- 

 doubtedly due to the increased energy requirements of the birds in 

 maintaining body heat during the cold weather. 



Table 13 consists of a summary on the individual farms of average 

 feed consumption per bird (per week), together with the average per 

 cent production for the year, and feed per one dozen eggs. The 

 weighted average per bird per week for these flocks shows .81 lbs. 

 mash, 1.19 lbs. scratch, 2.00 lbs. total feed. Of the total feed, 40.5% 

 was mash. Thus on an annual basis, it required 42.1 lbs. of mash, 61.9 

 lbs. scratch or a total of 104 lbs. of feed to keep a laying bird. The aver- 



