Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-04-24
THE IOWA HEN
DOING HER BIT
Produced 96,OOO,OOO Dozen Eggs in
1917, and the Average Price
They Sold at was 341s cents
Dozen.
THE POULTRY OF IOWA
NUMBERS $4,000, 900
Fair Valuation is 81 Each, so the
Value of the Poultry of the
State Amounts to Some
$36,OOO,OOO

The Iowa hen is doing her bit,
and then some.
Do you know how many dozen
eggs she produced in 1917? Only
SO, 100000.
The average price at which those
eggs sold was o4h cents dozen.
Figuring the thing out, 1t amounts
to $33,120,000, which is quite a
sum, when you come to think of it.
But that isn't all. The poultry
of Iowa, including chickens, ducks,
turkeys and geese, numbers about
36,000,000 fowls. Considering the
fact that large proportion, of the
chickens at least, consists of pure
bred varieties, fair valuation of
these feathered creatures is 81 each,
so that the value of the poultry OF
the state expressed in dollars and
cents amounts TO some 100000,
which also is neat little sum.
| A comparison of the prices of
poultry and poultry products pre-
vailing at the present time with
those of yore is interesting. Time
was when the farmer who took a
few dozen eggs to town in April or
May, and received 10 cents dozen
for tlcm lin trade" was happy to
think the price was not cents, and
If he could have been assured OF an
average price of 10 cents dozen
the year around, he probably would
have discounted all other activities
and gone into the poultry business.
| Not so today, however. In 1917
the average price of eggs In Iowa
in April was % cents dozen. That
was the low mark for the year. In
May the price was 80 cents dozen
and they climbed higher and higher
during the balance of the year until
at last fresh eggs were to be found
only on the tables of millionaires,
and often they were of the storage
variety. The highest average price
for any single month was 40 cents
This was the price paid the produc-
err. The ultimate consumer had to
pay much higher price or go with
out, which is what he did mostly.
According to present indications
prices this year will range much
higher. On March /, the average
price for eggs was So cents and at
the time this is written it is only 3
cents below that; and this is one of
the big egg producing months and
the time when the cold storage man
begins to unload his stock on the
market.
In looking over the reports of
the number of chickens in each of
the various counties of the state,
one is struck with the uniformity
Iof these numbers, apparently indi-
Icating that a speciality Is not made
of the poultry industry in any one
Icounty, but that it is carried on in
las in every other. For instance,
lFayette county reports 595,569
birds, Tama county 552,141, Kossuth
county ,542,976, Marion county $780,
100, Keokuk county 509,1S1, Dallas
county 5O7,317, and SO on, practic-
ALLY all the counties being some
where within the half million mark.
The leading county in the number
of fowls seems to be Pottawattamie
with 100000 head, all varieties,
followed by Mahaska having $685.
1852. The people in Mahaska coun-
lty evidently take special pride in
producing fine chickens, for the
county fair held at Oskaloosa each
year makes one of the greatest dis
plays of pure bred poultry to be
seen anywhere in this part of the
country.
The largest number of eggs pro-
Iduced in any one county is that
reported from Cedar, where 2,464,-
1915 dozen eggs were gathered dur
ing the year. Each Of fortyseven
counties reports an egg yield of
more than 100000 dozen.
The quality of Iowa's poultry is
much superior to that of a few
years ago. Practically nowhere is
Istate, today consisting Of ANY old
kind" of chickens of no particular
breed. Not only do those who de-
vote themselves to poultry exclu-
Isively raise pure bred stock, but
most farmers fiocks also are of
pure blood Iowa leads all the
states in the union in the number
in proportion of its pure bred poul-
try.
The most popular breeds are
Those known as the American va
rieties, the Plymouth Rock, the
Rhode Island Reds and the Wyan-
dottes, with strong sprinKling of
Orpingtons and Leghorns.
Iowa has more than 100000
farms and acreage tracts devoted
more or less to poultry growing. 1t
is interesting to contemplate what
an increase in the supply of food
produced by the state would result
from the addition of but single
hen to each of these 100000 focks
of chickens.
It's a pretty lazy sort of hen that
will not produce at least 100 eggs
lin the course of twelve months,
with any sort of encouragement. At
THAT rate 100000 extra hens would
produce 100000 extra eggs or
1,666,66e and two-thirds dozens,
which at an average price Of only
I3O cents a dozen would mean nearly
100000. Immense, isn't 1t? Just
one extra hen In each fiocks in Iowa
unuId nroduce about 5000 600 in