Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 67, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 November 1916 — MORE EGGS [ARTICLE]

MORE EGGS

Thf>- prevailing high prices for food supplies of every kind ought to set the farmer to thinking. He can materially increase his income, says the department of agriculture, if he cares to increase it—especially under conditions as they are at present and as they probably will continue to be for some time to come. Attention is called, for instance, to the fact that the average farm hen lays only sixty-three eggs a year, while the average hen in the pens of the poultry specialist lays about 200 in the same period. It is the farm hen, however, that supplies more than 90 per cent of the eggs consumed by the nation. These facts, the department suggests, are worth considering. They are facts, though, that ought to be considered, in most instances, by the farmer’s wife. It is she, rather than the farmer himself, who takes care of the farm flock. If she can be persuaded to devote a little time to the study of poultry feeding, of selection, of housing and similar details of poultry raising, she could soon become possessed of a flock producing twice as many eggs annually at a cost only slightly, if, indeed, any, greater, than the cost accruing in supporting the flock that lays only the poor average of sixty-three eggs a year. Records from the state of Missouri show that farmers—or their wives—who by county agents or other influence were induced to experiment with scientific poultry feeding doubled their egg production almost immediately. The hens went to work. And the additional labor involved on the farmer’s part was too insignificant to ( be considered. It has been demonstrated by practical trial that the proper housing of poulticy together with scientific feeding will double the profits from the ordinary farm flock. There is no theory in this; it is proved fact. The department, accordingly, and all the various state experiment stations as well, urge the farmer to devote some of the less busy days of fall and winter to the construction of poultry houses of approved plan and to a little study of scientific feeding. He is already ’ keenly appreciative of what the latter will do in the way of increasing his product of beef and pork. Why not carry the same ideas into the field of his poultry flock? If 25,000 Indiana farmers were to begin tomorrow to convert the farm hen into a profitable producing instrument instead of what she is now—little more than a liability—these farmers would not only serve themselves to advantage, but the public as well.