FARM ORGANIZATION IN SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA 65 
VARIATIONS IN FEED REQUIREMENTS FOR POULTRY 
The feed requirements for poultry vary according to the methods 
of conducting the enterprise and the conditions on individual farms. 
On some farms there is considerable waste grain and other products 
that are utilized by poultry, whereas on others there is little such 
available and the poultry are fed marketable feeds. Usually con- 
siderably more grain is fed where a large number of pounds of poultry 
is produced. The grain requirement follows poultry production more 
closely than it does egg production. Little chicks can not forage for 
so large a proportion of their feed as can laving hens. The heavier 
feeding in 1920 as compared with 1921 was largely due to the differ- 
ence in the number of pounds of poultry produced.. 
CAUSES OF VARIATIONS IN LABOR REQUIREMENTS FOR POULTRY 
More labor is required where incubators and brooders are used 
than where the chicks are hatched and raised with hens. Farms 4, 
15, and 18 used incubators and brooders and their labor requirements 
were higher than farms 8, 14, and 20 that raised a larger number of 
chickens but used hens. 
More man labor per 100 hens is expended on the smaller flocks in 
most cases. The smallest flock, and the highest labor requirements 
were found on farm 17. There are, however, exceptions to this, as in 
case of farm 4. Here a large amount of poultry was raised and 
incubators and brooders were used. 
On the majority of the farms there was considerable trouble with 
various poultry diseases. It was necessary to disinfect poultry houses 
frequently and medicine was resorted to in many cases. 
Distribution of Man Labor on Poultry 
OF 
LABOR 
20 
I 
|CHORE LABOR ^OTHER LABOR 
niimiiiBBiiiiiMiHiiiiiiiinMj 
JAN. FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT. MOV. DEC. 
Fig. 20.— The farm poultry flock requires a relatively small amount of labor. The hatching 
and care of chickens during the spring and early summer is usually looked after by the 
farmer's wife or children 
STANDARD REQUIREMENTS FOR POULTRY 
On account of the varying conditions under which poultry are kept 
and their minor place in the farm organization, it is difficult to work 
out standard requirements that might be generally applicable. How- 
ever, the results secured with the higher producing flocks indicate 
that under representative farm conditions as they exist in the area a 
flock of from 100 to 150 or 200 chickens producing 6,000 eggs and 
475 pounds of poultry annually per 100 birds could be maintained 
with the following unit requirements : 
Labor, man hours 225 
Labor, horse hours 10 
Grain 16 pounds. _ 4, 000 
Medicine and disinfectants dollars. _ 1. 50 
. 16 Skim milk could be substituted for part of the grain at the rate of 6 pounds of milk for every pound of 
grain replaced. 
94680°— 24t- 
