COST OF PRODUCING EGGS, CHICKS, AND FOWLS 239 



per hen per year, on the farms. The average income from 

 the farm hens was $1.80. The average profit was ^1.18. 

 The general average of the town flocks was 89 eggs, 

 but one flock gave an average of 145. The feed cost 

 ranged from 63 cents to $2.43 per hen. Four of the 

 thirteen town flocks showed deficits, ranging from 36 

 cents to 93 cents. 



Farm Hopper Feeding and Watering Devices. Keeping the Cost Down 



Now, the cost of producing chicks. This depends, 

 first, on the value of the eggs which you put to incuba- 

 tion, and the number which you must reckon for produc- 

 ing each mature lay'er. In foreign countries, at the cen- 

 tral hatcheries, it is said that the operators will take a 

 customer's eggs, hatch them, and return him three chicks 

 for each four eggs, depending for their profit on the 

 number of chicks above a 75 per cent hatch which their 

 methods return them. In this country, it has been said 

 by those who are considered reliable and well posted 

 that it takes four eggs, on the average, to produce one 

 chick. That is, the initial average cost of a chick, in 



