POULTRY PRODUCTION AND POULTRY INDUSTRY 21 



Farm Consumption of Poultry Products.— The annual food 

 cost per individual residing on farms in the United States 

 is about $89.00 of which $12.00 or 14i per cent, is for poultry 

 and eggs. In those sections close to the large markets where 

 the market value is greater, the home consumption of poultry 

 and eggs is less. About one head of poultry per month is 

 the average consumption for all sections. Of the home killed 

 meats, pork furnishes 64.1 per cent., poultry 25.2 per cent., 

 and beef 10.7 per cent. The amount of home killed mutton, 

 the country over is negligible.^ 



The Primary Poultry Product. — Eggs are the leading poultry 

 product. As shown in Table XLIV (Appendix), the average 

 state income from poultry products is $5,227,403, of which 

 $1,536,194 is the amount credited to poultry carcasses sold, 

 and $3,691,239 is credited to eggs, or considerably over 

 twoythirds of the total income. 



At the same time the average annual farm income from 

 eggs for all the farms in the United States is $60.57, as shown 

 in Table XLIII (Appendix), while the income from carcasses 

 sold is $31.82, or slightly over half as much. 



The reason for this difference probably lies in the unique- 

 ness of eggs among human foods, their high digestibility^ 

 and general attractiveness. It is likely to continue until 

 some economic condition arises whereby the poultry carcass 

 becomes more highly valued by the general public, in com- 

 parison with the egg, than at present. 



Although the eggs of ducks and guineas find their way 

 into the regular channels of trade, their number is so small 

 when compared with the number of hens' eggs as to make 

 them practically a negligible quantity. Turkey and goose 

 eggs are used for hatching purposes only. 



"The output of eggs is steadily growing, but the demand 

 is growing even faster than the supply, due to the increased 



» U. S. Farmers' Bulletin, 635. 



' Several investigations reported by Langworthy show that 95 per cent. 

 of the dry matter of the edible portion of the egg is digested by man. In 

 detail the digestibility of the various constituents of the edible portion was: 

 protein, 90 to 98 per cent.; lecithin, 91 per cent.; neutral fat, 95 to 98 per 

 cent.; ash, 70 per cent. — Farmers' Bulletin, 128. 



