May, 1932] Economic Study of Poultry Farms 33 



of the eggs produced were used or sold for hatching purposes, and in 

 December and March, over one-third. Since these farms handled more 

 eggs for hatching than was required for reproducing their own stock, 

 the solid portion of the chart illustrates one of the problems facing cer- 

 tain commercial growers in supplying a regular market. Since they do 

 supply large quantities at a time when eggs are short, they have so far 

 been able to fit into the marketing scheme very nicely. There is, how- 

 ever, the problem of getting a market back after surrendering it to 

 others for a portion of the year. On one farm approximately 98% of 

 the eggs in February were used or sold for hatching. Only a few dozen 

 eggs went to market that month, compared with 22 cases- weekly in 

 October. 



On these farms as a whole, approximately 30,800 more chicks were 

 hatched than were brooded so that it might be said that in general the 

 solid, the shaded and about 20% of the white area in Figure 11 would 

 illustrate the marketing of eggs if hatching were confined to individual 

 requirements. Or, estimating another way, the 98,032 chicks brooded 

 on these farms would require about 11,670 dozen eggs a year for hatch- 

 ing based on a 70% hatch, and these would be taken from the amount 

 produced during the months of January, February and March. This 

 would roughly absorb 15% of the eggs produced during that season. 



The local egg market is affected by holding eggs for hatching, and 

 thus is influenced by the expansion or decline of the broiler industry. 

 In the mid-west, eggs are withheld for hatching largely in April and 

 May when supplies are very large, which helps to smooth out the pro- 

 duction curve of eggs of that region. 



EGG SIZE 



The income from the laying flock depends not only on the number of 

 eggs produced but also on their quality and their size. Different strains 

 of birds vary greatly in their production capacity and also in the size 

 of eggs. In many instances where breeders have attempted to develop 

 strains of high producing ability, the size of eggs has been ignored. At 

 the present time, however, more and more importance is being placed 

 on this factor. 



Egg Size Distribution by Age of Pullets 



Then, too, there is a progressive change in egg-size distribution as 

 pullets grow. In the first few weeks of production there is a very large 

 proportion of "pullet eggs," while six months later practically all the 

 eggs may be above 24 ounces. 



Weekly egg-size distributions were obtained on 22 Ked flocks of 

 known ages. To secure this data, a pen or group of birds on each farm 

 was selected ; on a given farm the birds were of uniform age. From the 

 production of each of these groups, a sample of 100 eggs was secured 

 weekly. Ordinarily, this sample represented the eggs gathered on the 

 day of the field man's visit. Each egg was weighed individually, and 

 its weight recorded by checking in ounce classes. Thus, for each pen 

 of known age, a percentage distribution of eggs into ounce classes was 

 made. Then the change of distribution of size of eggs could be com- 

 pared week by week. 



