Reducing Egg-production Costs on Poultry Farms

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 81, Issue 6, 15 December 1950, Page 550

Reducing Egg-production Costs on Poultry Farms

WITH the market now adequately supplied with eggs, New Zealand poultry farmers are faced with the problem of maintaining an economic margin between cost of production and price to the consumer. Costs on the farm can be reduced by more efficient management, and in an article in the October “Journal” F. C. Bobby, Superintendent, Poultry Industry, Department of Agriculture, Wellington, offered some suggestions toward attaining that end. Other aspects of this approach to the economics of the industry are discussed in this article. ANY waste among stock must increase the cost of raising the remaining birds to maturity. The raising of stud cockerels is always a wasteful process, as many more than are required must be. brooded and reared to enable the best to be selected for retention. Therefore frequent culling of growing cockerels is common, the weaker .birds and those which develop undesirable characters being eliminated. Management of Cockerels In view of the present position of the industry poultry breeders should be particularly conscientious and thor-ough-with the culling of - this season’s cockerels. The sooner undesirable males are culled and sold, the lower will be the food bill chargeable to the stud birds retained.

The best of management is highly desirable for the male birds reared so that they may become vigorous and healthy cockerels for use next breeding season. . Well-grown, vigorous cockerels in first-class condition may well- bring about improved hatching next year. Any reduction in the number of infertile eggs, dead germs, or chicks dead in the shell is equivalent to a reduction in the cost of rearing pullets. The . first steps toward reducing this cost may be taken now by improving the management of this season’s cockerels.

Many poultry breeders concentrate on the good management of pullets

but give insufficient attention to the cockerels. The pullets are given the best of the housing and free range, the cockerels being relegated to inadequate housing and second-class, semi-intensive conditions. The wastage in rearing cockerels is high and the cost heavy, but they can be reduced by intelligent management. Parasites Both internal and external parasites cause substantial losses in pullet flocks every year, but these losses need not occur if management is efficient. The means of controlling parasites are available to any poultry producer at no great cost. Both direct and indirect losses may occur when parasites are permitted to infest growing birds in large numbers.

Worms, if present in quantity in growing pullets, may well result in a loss of birds, and when present as a lighter burden they tend to reduce stamina, which may be. reflected in reduced egg production later. These parasites may be mounting in numbers before their presence is detected; often they are detected only when severe damage has been done to the young stock. Therefore poultry producers are urged to make the deworming of pullets a routine operation. Pullets should be dewormed at 10 to 12 weeks of age and again when they are transferred into the laying house. The cost in material is small and the cost in labour often grossly exaggerated: The benefit to the birds can be very great. A flock of pullets is not necessarily free from worms because none of these parasites has been seen in the droppings.

Drenching pullets for worms is as important and necessary as the routine practice of testing future breeding stock for pullorum disease. Both operations are an insurance against later losses.

Red mite should be watched for constantly in housing. used for growing pullets and later in the laying houses. In quantity these external parasites lower the constitution and health of birds, thereby affecting first growth and later production. In the rush of a rearing season these parasites can be overlooked until they have effected real damage. . .

Lice multiply rapidly on birds, particularly during warm weather. Their effect on the birds is less noticeable than that of a heavy burden of worms,

but they lower the condition and health of the birds they infest.

The control of poultry parasites was dealt with in an article on pages 155 to 162 of the “Journal” for August, and Bulletin No. 327, “Internal and External Parasites of Poultry”, may be obtained free from Poultry Instructors or from the nearest office of the Department of Agriculture. Poultry producers can ill afford to be without a copy of this bulletin for reference purposes. . . Marketing A subject much under discussion by poultry producers at present is the marketing of eggs, and on two aspects of it the farmer can exert a direct influencewastage of eggs on the farm and the quality of eggs leaving the farm. Unless reasonable care is exercised during the collecting and packing of eggs many eggs can be cracked or broken and thus rendered unfit for sale at full price. There are three stages at which these losses may occur, the first of which is in the nest boxes if they are not kept properly filled with nesting material. Too little nesting space and consequent overcrowding by birds anxious to lay during the flush season is another weakness in management which leads to broken eggs in the nests. The second stage at which eggs are often cracked, mainly in the form of “hair-cracks”, is during collection when too many eggs are placed in the bucket or tin, breakages and cracks being caused by too much pressure on the eggs at the bottom of the container. Finally, carelessness during packing may cause wastage on the farm, particularly if a number of eggs have to be cleaned, and may result in eggs being broken or cracked during the journey to the egg floor. The eggs must be packed firmly in the crates, and eggs which are too large for the fillers almost invariably are cracked or broken.

Now that the market is receiving an adequate supply of eggsindeed, in some districts an oversupplypoultry producers are naturally anxious that the consumption of eggs should increase and consumers are concerned that the eggs they buy be fresh and of high quality. Quality and price are two of the major factors affecting egg sales. At present the producer cannot greatly affect the price paid to him for his eggs, but he can exert a marked influence on the quality of the eggs leaving his farm. By doing all possible to dispatch a high proportion of fresh, good-quality eggs a producer is assisting not only himself but the poultry industry as a whole.

Economically the situation in the poultry industry is not as easy as during the past few years. Certain economic forces are operating over which the producer has no direct control, but he does have a high degree of control over management on his farm. Increased efficiency which reduces waste or results in more eggs per laying bird a year can go far toward offsetting increased costs of food and other materials.;