May, 1932] 



Economic Study of Poultry Farms 



27 



This rate of decrease in the laying flock from a maximum point as 

 well as the date of maximum population naturally varied considerably 

 on different farms. In order to study this difference, the number of 

 layers in four individual flocks each week is charted for the year on the 

 percentage basis in Figure 7. The maximum number housed is consid- 



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' £ 8 i & * £ I I 



Week Beginning 



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Figure 7 — Weekly population of laying flock for four farms, two of 

 which maintained their flock at nearly full capacity and two 

 of which culled heavily. 



ered 100% in each case. These four flocks illustrate entirely different 

 practices in respect to culling. Flocks Nos. 8 and 4 show only a very 

 gradual decline in number of birds from the peak about October 1. Ap- 

 parently very little culling is done on these farms during the fall, win- 

 ter and spring. In the case of Flock 8, out of the 100 birds housed in 

 October, 86 were still on hand the following September 1. In the case 

 of Flock No. 4, heavy culling did not commence until May 11. These 

 two flocks operated at nearly full capacity, as far as number of birds 

 was concerned, for the greater part of the year. 



In contrast to these flocks, Farms Nos. 6 and 3 culled heavily. On 

 the last named flock, heavy culling started immediately after the birds 

 were housed in the fall and continued until June, when the flock was 

 replenished by the addition of a new crop of early hatched 1930 pul- 

 lets. Culling was so extremely heavy in this flock that out of each 100 

 birds of October 20, only a few over 40 remained by the middle of 

 March, only five months later. By June 1, the flock was reduced to only 

 12% of the maximum number of birds. It is obvious that this last men- 

 tioned poultry plant was run at full capacity for only a very short 

 period. 



Per Cent of Housing Capacity for the Year 



A comparison of the average per cent of capacity at which the laying 

 flock was maintained on the various farms is of value as a measure of 

 efficiency. The estimate in Table 15, based on a direct comparison be- 

 tween the average number of birds for the year with the maximum 

 number in the fall, shows that the farms varied from 89% to 65.2% of 

 full capacity. 



