﻿8 BULLETIN 21, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



A study of Table 4 shows that the cost of gains increased as the 

 season advanced, clue both to the increased size of the birds and to 

 less favorable weather conditions for fattening. The greatest and 

 cheapest gains were made on small birds during the summer and early 

 fall. Very hot weather increased the cost of gains slightly, while colch 

 cloudy, changeable weather in the fall raised the cost materially. 

 Except for a few minor fluctuations, due to extremely hot weather, the 

 cost of gains was comparatively steady during July, August, and 

 September, after which time it increased quite rapidly. Broilers made 

 the highest, cheapest gains. One lot of roasters (lot 82) which 

 weighed 5 pounds to the bird gained only 9 per cent, while the total 

 cost of a pound of gain was 11.97 cents. The average gain of the 

 broilers was 42.8 per cent, and the average cost of gain 6.67 cents a 

 pound. The lots containing the greatest per cent of light-weight 

 chickens made the cheapest gains, while the average cost of gains 

 varied inversely with the average weight of the lots. 



The gain per 100 head in fattening maybe shown in two ways — by 

 the per cent of gain or by the gain in actual weight. The per cent of 

 gain throughout the feeding season varies inversely with the average 

 weight of the lots, so that a gain of 30 per cent on a lot averaging 1.5 

 pounds per head is no greater in actual pounds than a gain of 15 per 

 cent on a lot of the same number of birds weighing 3 pounds per head. 

 The total gain per 100 head is more constant throughout the feeding 

 season, and on that account this method of recording gains,is preferred 

 by some companies, as the average weight of the birds does not have 

 to be known when comparing the gains at different periods. 



EXPERIMENT B, 1912. 



The ration by months in 1912 at Station 1 was as follows: August, 

 1 part of shorts, 2 parts of low-grade wheat flour, 4 parts of corn meal, 

 and 5 per cent of tallow, mixed with 72.5 per cent of buttermilk; 

 September, 1 part of shorts, 2.5 parts of low-grade wheat flour, 4.5 

 parts of corn meal, and 5 per cent of tallow, mixed with 68 per cent of 

 buttermilk; October and November, 1 part of shorts, 4 parts of low- 

 grade wheat flour, 5 parts of corn meal, and 5 per cent of tallow, with 

 63 per cent of buttermilk. In general the proportion of shorts to low- 

 grade wheat flour decreased, while the proportion of low-grade wheat 

 flour to corn meal increased as the season progressed. This ration is 

 quite similar to the one used during part of the season of 1911 at this 

 station, and also to the one used in Experiment C at Station 4, except 

 that it contains 5 per cent of tallow, which was not fed at Station 4. 

 A much larger per cent of buttermilk was used in mixing the ration 

 at this station than at Station 4 during the warm weather. This 

 larger per cent of buttermilk appears to be especially advantageous in 

 warm weather. A small amount of oatmeal, which was infested with 



