288 



Milk Chickens. 



[JULY, 



ordinary manner, giving the special food for the last 

 fortnight. 



In France it is customary to feed with cooked and mashed 

 potatoes mixed with meal, and to give the birds beetroot; 

 these two vegetable foods would tend to soften and increase 

 the flesh, without affecting the white colour, which is regarded 

 as a sine qua non on our markets. 



Cost. — The industry seems to be one which is specially 

 adapted to small holdings, and the individual care and 

 attention which a small holder and his family would be able 

 to bestow on the rearing and fattening of a small number 

 of chickens should reduce the risk of loss from death. The 

 profit from the sale of, say, 100 chickens, spread over a 

 number of weeks, would be sufficient inducement to a small 

 man, although it would not pay the ordinary farmer engaged 

 on operations on a larger scale. 



The question of cost, however, is all-important, and will 

 vary considerably in accordance with the capital employed and 

 the labour involved. Where the business is specialised, the 

 capital and labour would be likely to absorb much of the 

 profits. Another difficulty is that of securing a sufficient 

 quantity of eggs for hatching at the exact time when they 

 are required. If incubators and brooders are employed for 

 hatching and rearing, the cost is less than the cost of feeding 

 hens, but the capital expenditure is much greater. Our 

 experiments on the College Poultry Farm, Theale,* have 

 shown that where ioo-egg incubators are employed, the cost 

 of working an incubator for four weeks is o'2id. per chicken 

 hatched, and of working a brooder with 30 birds for four 

 weeks is 0*17^. per chicken reared, or 0*38^. combined. To 

 that must be added the value of the egg. It was found that 

 148 fertile eggs were required to produce 100 chickens, and 

 as milk 'chickens are hatched early, when eggs are more 

 valuable for eating purposes, ijd. each must be allowed for 

 the value of the eggs, so that the cost of each chicken at the 

 time of hatching will be 2'6d., that is, if the eggs are pro- 

 duced where hatched. If purchased, whatever is paid above 

 ijd. per egg must be added. This enables us to estimate 

 the cost, apart from interest on capital, labour, and packages. 



* Journal of the Board of Agriculture, August, 1905. 



