CHAPTER ONE 



AMERICAN POULTRY INDUSTRY 



MAGNITUDE OF THE POULTRY BUSINESS 



UNCLE SAM'S HENS PRODUCE FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF 

 POULTRY AND EGGS ANNUALLY— SURPRISING CONSUMPTION IN LARGE EAST- 

 ERN CITIES— NO DANGER OF OVERPRODUCTION— BETTER OPPORTUNI- 

 TIES NOW FOR SUCCESSFUL POULTRY KEEPING THAN EVER BEFORE 



N THE report of the Secretary of Agriculture for 

 1905 the farm value of the poultry and egg crop 

 of the United States is estimated at about $500,- 

 000,000. annually, while the total egg production 

 of American hens is approjdmately 20,000,000,000 

 of eggs a year. It is difficult for the human mind 

 to appreciate these big figures, they are really so 

 far beyond our usual mental horizon. Stop a bit and think, 

 five hundred million dollars is just about the annual value of 

 the entire United States wheat crop. If reduced to one dollar 

 greenbacks it would, if the bills were placed end to end, reach 

 twice around the world at the equator and enough left over to 

 paper the mail route between New York City and the Falkland 

 Islands. 



Then consider that gigantic egg crop. It is probable that 

 statistics have not told the whole story by more than half, for 

 the Statistical Bureau deals only with the farmer's hens, but 

 even so the figures given are tremendous. Twenty billions of 

 eggs is easy to write or say but what does it mean to you? It 

 means that if those eggs, the yield of United States farmer's 

 hens for one year, were placed end to end they would go around 

 the earth at the equator thirty times and leave enough over to 

 reach from New York City via San Francisco to Yokohama, 

 Japan and thence to Pekin, China. At eight eggs to the pound 

 the annual egg crop would reach the surprising weight of 1,250,- 

 000 tons of eggs. Packed in cases of thirty dozen each and 

 these egg cases placed closely together on a square of land con- 

 taining one acre, completely filling it, they would make a soHd 

 column 4,829 feet high or 629 feet higher than Mt. Vesuvius. 



STRICTLY FRESH EGGS IN DEMAND 



Liability of the poultry business being overdone you may 

 say after reading the above. Not a bit of it. Prices of eggs 

 have been high and growing steadily higher during the past 

 several years. Market poultry, live and dressed, commands 

 appreciably better prices now than heretofore. The supply of 

 the really good article in both poultry meat and eggs falls far 

 short of the demand. In our large cities, during the winter 

 months strictly fresh nearby eggs reach what are really prohibi- 

 tive prices, except for the rich, and it is owing to the scarcity of 

 the product that prices are so high. Fifty, sixty and even 

 seventy-five cents a dozen at retail is no uncommon figure for 

 best quality, fresh, nearby, fancy table eggs in our biggest and 

 best Eastern city markets in_,the winter season. 



Even "case eggs", those shipped in from a distance, bring 

 good returns the season through. We append herewith a table 

 of wholesale prices of western eggs in New York market for the 

 year 1905. Remember that these are not consumers' prices 

 but prices paid by dealers who buy eggs in carload lots. These 

 western eggs are good quality fresh eggs shipped from a distance 



but never reach as high a figure as the nearby "fancy fresh laid" 

 or "hennery eggs.'' 



WHOLESALE PRICES OF WESTERN EGGS IN NEW YORK 

 MARKET FOR THE YEAR 1905 



Total receipts: 3,581,631 cases 



The average price of eggs for the year was 22 cents. 



It will be noted- that the heaviest receipts were during 

 March, April, May and June, the period of lowest prices and 

 also of greatest production, but at no time during this period of 

 increased consumption did the prices fall below a profit making 

 figure. 



What becomes of aU the eggs? Those that go through 

 the regular market chaimels are easily traced, but there are 

 millions of dozens consumed by families who grow their own 

 eggs and poultry and millions more that are used for hatching 

 purposes; of these it is not possible to take account or even make 

 a reasonable estimate as to numbers consumed. 



WHERE THE EGGS GO 



The United States has a population of about eighty milUohs, 

 and based op this the total consumption of eggs for the entire 

 United States is at the present time a little more than half an 

 egg daily for each person, assuming that the entire egg product 

 of the whole country is used for domestic culinary purposes. 

 As a matter of fact, however, a very large percentage of eggs, 

 the exact amount not being determinable, are used for supplying 

 the needs of factories, tanneries, bakeries and other trades, so 

 that the actual consumption of eggs per capita for domestic pur- 

 poses in the United States must be very much less than is shown 

 by these figures. To have the whole country adopt the same 

 average per capita consumption of eggs as New York City would 

 require about a 50 per cent increase over the present propor- 

 tions of our egg industry, making no allowance for increase in. 

 population. 



CONSUMPTION IN LARGE EASTERN CITIES 



Our largest market, New York City, which has a population 

 of about 3,600,000 reports receipts during the year 1905 of 



