ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF POULTRY CULTURE 



31 



Eggs used for food are almost wholly the eggs of fowls, the 

 proportion of eggs of ducks, geese, and turkeys, entering into 

 consumption being insignificant. The value of the annual pro- 

 duction of market eggs (mostly hens' eggs) in the United States 

 equals or exceeds the total value of the meat product of fowls, 

 turkeys, ducks, and geese. The production of eggs for food is 

 the principal branch of poultry culture. With the vast majority 

 of poultry keepers it is the prime object, other lines being 

 incidental or supplementary. Under proper conditions even a 

 very moderate egg yield will return a fair profit anywhere. 



Fig. 3. An egg farm near Boston, on which the long houses, without yards, are 

 grouped near the dwelling, and the fowls range over the farm 



Poitltry meat used fo7- food is produced principally from fowls, 

 though large quantities of all other kinds of poultry are used. The 

 bulk of the crop of fowls and chickens marketed each year is inciden- 

 tal to egg production to this extent : Most farmers and poultry keep- 

 ers maintain laying flocks of about the same numbers, or slightly 

 increasing, from year to year. To keep these flocks at the most 

 profitable stage "of productiveness it is necessary to renew annually 

 from one half to nearly the entire number (according to the breed). 

 The cockerels not required for breeding and the old stock to be 

 turned off make up the most of the meat of the fowls used for 

 food. A large part of this stock is turned off at the convenience 

 of the producer, without regard to market conditions or demands. 

 To supply special demands, particularly at seasons when there is 



