1922.] Food in Relation to Egg Production. 



745 



FOOD IN RELATION TO EGG 

 PRODUCTION. 



E. J. Dayey, 

 Harper Adams Agricultural College. 



In the economies of egg production, the relation that feeding 

 costs bear to the total cost of production on one hand, and what 

 relation the cost of food bears to the value of the output of the 

 birds, always excite attention. It has become almost a truism 

 to say that feeding costs taking the year through should not 

 exceed the price of one egg per week, nevertheless it is difficult 

 to find satisfactory data on which such an opinion can be based. 



The soundness of the opinion cannot be doubted, but it 

 obviously opens up questions that must be explored in the 

 immediate future, if the industry of commercial egg production 

 is to be continued successfully. The suggested limit of feeding 

 costs depends on two factors, the price of feeding stuffs and the 

 price of eggs. Both factors are variable and liable to have their 

 relationship materially altered by developments that are already 

 making their influence felt. 



Y\ T e have two well-defined schools of thought. On the one 

 hand we have those who by reducing production costs, feeding 

 of course being part, look for an increased profit on a compara- 

 tively low egg-yield per bird, and we have those who are prepared 

 to spend more on production and recoup themselves by a higher 

 egg-yield. 



So far, no detailed figures seem available showing the cost of 

 production per thousand eggs, on a plant running successfully 

 with a low average egg production. It follows that if the plant- 

 is successful on a low average, production costs must have been 

 cut rather heavily to show a profit at all, and the feeding costs 

 will have been cut with the others. In the absence, however, 

 of records of the system we are bound to approach the question 

 of feeding costs from the opposite angle, that is from the point of 

 view of comparatively high feeding costs, on a high flock average. 



In passing, however, it might be as well to point out that low 

 feeding costs do not necessarily result in a low flock average. 

 Our knowledge of food stuffs is incomplete, and it is by no means 

 certain that through comparatively high priced grain and milling 

 offals lies the only way to feed the necessary food elements to 

 laving hens. In more than one case, individual breeders have 

 availed themselves of unconventional food due to cheap local 

 supplies, without damage either to the birds or their produce. 



