POULTR?Y-CRAFT. 121 
CHAPTER Ix. 
Egg Production. 
160. Introductory.—The Objective Point in Egg Production.— 
The final object of practical egg production is profit. A producer’s profit zs 
the difference between the cost of production and his selling price. As the 
difference between two small quantities may be greater than the difference 
between two larger quantities, so the profit on a comparatively small egg 
yield which costs little or nothing, may be greater than the profit on a large 
egg yield secured ‘at considerable expense. Simple as this proposition is, 
and self-evident to everyone who stops to think about it, it needs to be 
emphasized here because of the prevalent mistaken notion that successful, 
profitable egg production depends on making hens lay as many eggs as 
possible in a short time; and, therefore, every poultry keeper should use all 
means to secure an extraordinarily large egg yield. : 
As stated in 918, the bulk of the egg supply in this country comes from 
hens kept under such conditions that the entire receipts for poultry products 
sold are profit,— the produce consumed at home fully paying for the, salable 
food given the fowls and the little time spent in looking after them. Most 
of these small flocks of hens are productive only during the spring, summer, 
and early fall, when the conditions generally are favorable to egg production 
from hens kept in a semi-natural state —as they are on most farms and 
village lots. By giving them special care during the remainder. of the year 
these flocks could be made almost constantly productive. Whether it would 
pay their keepers to give them the necessary extra care, is a question for 
individual decision. As it costs practically nothing to keep the hens, the loss 
when they are not productive is not an actual dead loss like the money one 
who has to buy food for his hens pays out on feed bills when the hens ought 
to be, and are not, laying. Nearly always those who do not give their fowls 
good care, just taking the egg yield as it comes, would find it more profitable 
to take some trouble, and, perhaps, go to a little extra expense for the sake 
of a possible considerable increase in the output of eggs when eggs are worth 
most; yet it is a good plan, before making arrangements on account of better 
laying, to reckon up and see whether it will really pay, and how much extra 
