20 PROFITABLE POULTRY PRODUCTION 



eggs has enough to recommend it to offset these 

 drawbacks. One thing the poultryman should re- 

 member is not to make his price too small. When 

 he has really good stock, he is, if anything, more 

 likely to sell eggs at, say $2, than $1.50 or $1 a 

 setting. One of the principal advantages of selling 

 at this higher figure is that a better class of cus- 

 tomers is secured, a class more desirable to deal 

 with because of their familiarity with the risks to 

 be run in buying eggs. Such people are more rea- 

 sonable in their demands, more careful in their 

 methods of manipulation of eggs and more con- 

 siderate of the breeder when the hatches are not 

 as satisfactory as they might be. 



When several settings are ordered at a time, it 

 is customary to make a reduction from the single 

 setting price, because the work of selling, handling, 

 packing, etc., costs relatively less for several settings 

 than for one. It is also customary to reduce the 

 price of settings toward the close of the season so 

 as to induce people who would not buy when prices 

 are high. Late sales are considered also as encour- 

 aging sales in later years, because the customer 

 sees the value of the improved strain and is willing 

 to pay the advanced price so as to get the advantage 

 of early hatching. On the other hand many breed- 

 ers maintain a uniform price throughout the season 

 because they believe that in the long run not only 

 their interests but those of their customers are best 

 served in this way. Late hatched chicks, especially 

 from stock more or less weary from laying, are 

 not, in their opinion, as desirable as chicks hatched 

 earlier, nor does the breed Or variety live up so 

 well to its reputation. 



