196 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
flock of fowls or an organisation for securing reliable supplies. 
For a plant with a capacity equal to the production of, say, 1000 
chickens per week from February to June, or twenty weeks in all, 
at least 80,000 eggs will be required. Assuming an average of 
60 eggs produced by each hen during that time, 600 head of 
stock would be needed to meet the demand. The prime necessity 
is for the breeding stock to be vigorous and hardy, and they should 
be kept, therefore, on a free, open range. Eggs from hens highly 
bred, highly fed, or kept in confinement are found not to hatch so 
well artificially as those produced from breeding stock treated in 
a more natural manner, while the chickens produced from such 
eggs are less vigorous and do not travel well. A free range for the 
stock may, indeed, be regarded as essential. 
A good business is done in cross-bred chickens, which are 
hardier and travel better than some of the pure breeds, but 
the prices obtained for crosses are never so high as those for 
pure-bred chickens, while the cost of incubation and packing 
in each case is the same. For these reasons the trade is chiefly 
in definite breeds. Where operations are upon a smaller scale 
one breed only need be kept, provided an adequate demand 
can be secured. But in large establishments several breeds must 
be maintained, and these of the classes most saleable. Chicks 
of the heavier breeds are believed to stand travelling better than 
those of the lighter varieties. 
Experiments conducted upon the Reading College Poultry 
Farm, Theale, showed that, assuming the cost per egg to be 1d., 
and allowing for 30 per cent. of fertile eggs not hatching, 
but without charging anything for interest upon capital or for 
labour, the actual expense of producing a chicken was approxi- 
mately 13d. Calculating interest and labour at the same figure, 
though this would be increased or decreased according to the 
extent of the operations, the prime cost may be reckoned at 
8s. 6d. per dozen chickens at the time of hatching. To that must 
be added the expense of a suitable box for packing the birds and 
of conveyance to the nearest station, so that the actual cost may 
be stated at 4s. per dozen. 
