UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 561 4 



1 



Contribution from the Bureau of Animal Industry 

 A. D. MELVIN, Chief 



ji^s-'^mru 



Washington, D. C. 



August 18, 1917 



FEED COST OF EGG PRODUCTION. 



RESULTS OF THREE YEARS' EXPERIMENTS AT THE GOVERN- 

 MENT POULTRY FARM. 



By Harry M. Lamon and Alfred R. Lee, 

 Of the Animal Husbandry Division. 



CONTENTS. 



Objects of the work 1 



Description of stock and conditions 2 



Methods of feeding 3 



Hens balancing their own rations 6 



Feeding value of poultry feeds 11 



Free range compared with large yards 16 



Consumption of grit and oyster shell 18 



Leghorns compared with general-purpose 



fowls 19 



Egg yield as affected by time of maturity and 



age of fowls 20 



Weight of eggs 21 



Distribution of egg production 24 



Feed cost of eggs 27 



Feed used in producing eggs 30 



Value of the eggs from each pen 32 



Broodiness in fowls 34 



Effect of the molt on egg yield 35 



Variation in weight of the hens 36 



Balanced rations 37 



Summary 40 



OBJECTS OF THE WORK. 



Complete data on the feed cost of egg production for fowls kept on 

 free range or on conditions somewhat similar to those existing on 

 general farms are very limited. The main object of the experiments 

 reported in this bulletin was to compare the results obtained through 

 the use of simple rations and methods and to record the feed cost of 

 egg production under these conditions. Only the feed costs are con- 

 sidered, because most of the pens were on free range, scattered over 

 a wide area to keep the fowls from mixing, which, with the keeping 

 of records, weighing the eggs and grain, etc., involved much work 

 which would be unnecessary under commercial conditions. Careful 

 observations were made of the conditions which affect egg production, 

 such as molting and broodiness, and detailed records were kept of the 

 feed used and of the weight of the eggs. These experiments were 

 started in the fall of 1912 with six pens of 30 pullets each. New pens 

 93905°— Bull. 561—17 1 



