Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1916-12-20
POULTRY
CONSUL TING DEPARTMENT
Economical Egg Production

The problem of economical egg
production is now confronting the
poultry keeper on the farm. Eggs
are bringing excellent prices but some
poultrymen, after considering the
price of feed, have doubted their
ability to make the farm hen pay
its way during the coming year. 1t
Has been predicted by some poultry
men of experience that eggs will sell
as high as sixty cents per dozen in
Michigan this year and the same eggs
will be worth around eighty cents
per dozen on the New York market.
Considering the small quantity of cold
storage stock on hand it is easy TO
believe that fresh eggs will in no
way meet the demand this year. Re-
ports indicate that the cold storage
stock will in no way meet the demand
and the farmer who can produce his
egg crop at the least possible ex-
pense should make some money from
the farm hen.
Economical egg production does
not mean scrimping on the hens food
supply until the bird approaches a
condition bordering on starvation. To
produce eggs in an economical man.
ner it is necessary to get as many
eggs as possible at the least expense
per egg. Ten dollars worth of poul-
try feed given to a farm flock might
produce no eggs. Twenty dollars
worth of balanced feeding distributed
in the same period might produce
thirty dollars worth of eggs. Of
course, no breeder will agree that
feeding the ten dollars worth of feed
was an economical method of caring
for the farm flock.
The first point in economical feed
ing is to study the kind of poultry
feeds produced in the community.
Corn, wheat and oats are the staple
corps for producing eggs along with
the products from the above grains,
plus beef scrap, sour milk, bone,
green food, etc. This year wheat has
been very high and while it is one Of
our best egg foods some poultrymen
have been leaving it out of the ration.
Some years barley has been substitute
ed for wheat but this year barley is
also high, and nothing is gained by
the substitution, as barley has a
feeding value of about Is per cent
less than wheat. Some poultrymen
are combining the grain feed of the
flock to corn and oats and find that
high cost of wheat.
= Green food is one of the important
items in the ration and this year we
find that clover hay is not a profitable
crop except when fed on the farm and
turned into meat products or eggs. !
Clover is one Of our best poultry
feeds and should be considered of es-
pecial Importance in this year of |
high prices for both eggs and grain. |
Clover may be finely cut in machines |
which are not expensive and are es-
pecially designed for the use of the |
poultryman. This fine cut clover can |
be Incorporated in the dry or wet |
mash and the birds will consume |
large quantities of it, which will re- |
duce the amount of grain necessary |
to keep the birds in laying condition. |
Glover can also be wrapped in fine |
mesh poultry wire and suspended in |
the coop, where the birds can pick |
at it without any being wasted in the
litter.
Cabbages and mangels are two i'm
portant crops for the farm flock, but
this year cabbages are high, and are
scarce at any price, and the farmer
cannot afford to use them for poultry
feed unless he is lacking in other
green food and the local market for
cabbages is not good. Mangels fur
nish the birds with green food at lit
tie expense if the crop is raised on
the home farm. Well filled oats are
a good investment and / believe that
this crop is an excellent feed for the
economical production of eggs. This
year oats of excellent quality were
sold in our section for forty cents per
bushel, and at this price they can be
turned into eggs with profit. Sprout-
ed oats are also the best of green
food during the winter, and very de-
sirable for feeding the young chicks
on the stormy days in the spring
when the newly Matched birds must
remain in brooder houses.
If all necessary grain crops are not
produced on the farm it will pay the
poultry keeper to buy as much as pos
sible of his yearly grain supply from
soon after threshing time.
In this way hauling to market is
avoided, the middlemen are cut out of
the deal and you are fairly sure of
filling your bins with first-class grain
at the minimum price. If you raise
one kind of grain on the farm do not
confine the flock ration to that grain,
but sell or exchange a part of it for
other grains. 1t will not be economy
to use but one kind of grain because it
is produced on the farm. l have
heard it stated that you can make
money on hens by raising all Of your
own food, but you will lose money if
much Of the poultry feed has to be
purchased. That argument would
seem to prove that the money was
made on the grain and not on the :
hens, for grain has a standard mar
ket value whether you sell it at the
or feed il to the home flock
and the poultryman who cannot turn
grain purchased from neighbors into
eggs worth more than the grain can
not hope to succeed in the poultry
business. Such a farmer might
make money on grain crops but he
would certainly make no more money