Appendix 



THE following pages are devoted to articles reprinted from 

 Prairie Farmer. The stories of farm success with poul- 

 try are particularly interesting as examples of what other 

 farmers are actually doing to make the poultry flock add 

 substantially to the farm income. 



When to Market Poultry 



THE chart on Page 218 portrays the usual seasonal changes 

 in chicken prices. The lines represent five-year averages by 

 months, using the prices to producers in the United States as 

 estimated by the Department of Agriculture in one case and 

 Chicago prices for spring chickens and hens for the other two 

 lines. 



Up to the end of April, the quotations on springers at Chi- 

 cago are upon chickens hatched in the previous spring. Begin- 

 ning with May such chickens are counted as hens and stags 

 and the springers or broilers quoted are from the new hatch. 

 Since few are hatched in winter and extremely early spring 

 these spring chickens are very scarce in May, June and July 

 so that they bring a big premium over the general run. The 

 premium is gradually lost as such birds become more abun- 

 dant and quotations upon them in late fall and winter are 

 practically the same as upon hens. During March the spring- 

 ers have sold higher than hens, although the reason for this 

 is not clear, especially as they seem to sell again in the same 

 notch during April. 



It is noticeable that the prices. of both springers and hens 

 decline on the average during the late summer and fall to the 

 lowest point of the year in November when receipts are largest. 

 Hohday demand which develops late in November and is 

 prominent in December causes December prices to average 

 materially higher than November. Hens reach their highest 

 point as a rule in April when they are laying heavily and are 

 kept back on farms. From this point prices decline as sup- 

 plies become more abundant. June shows up as a month of 

 low prices for hens partly because of the fact that they are in 



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