THE STATE FARMER SECTION
PAGE FIVE
Demonttration flock of purebred
White Leghorn* in Kerchaw Coun
ty, S. C,
Southland Offers Many Poultry Possibilities
By A. B. BRYAN
Editor s Note: The possihilitics in
fin intelligent development of the
poultry industry throughout the
South is pictured in this thoughtfid
analysis of the situation in South
Carolina.
Although X5 per cent of the
farms of South Carolina produce
sonic iwiiiltry, poultry prochiction has tior
kept pace with the increase in population
atui egg prodtK'tioji <loes not meet food
requnenients of the people of South
Carol itia.
“Poultry production could be niate-
rially increased within the state without
creating a surplus,” says Professor C. L.
Morgan. Iiead of the poultry depart-
nu-nt, Clemson College, “thus produc
ing a larger farm income and meeting
the real requirements of the people for
necessary food products.”
Professor Morgan states that the
number of chick^’ns on farms in the state
is only about 3.057,137 birds, or eight-
tenths of I per cent of the total for
the United States, while the state’s pop
ulation is about I Yi per cent per cent of
the country’s population, riic averagt*
number of chickens per farm is slightly
less than 20 f»irds, or only one-third of
the average per farm in the Utjif’d
States.
Egg Production Inadequate
From if/X) to 1930, the nicreases in
number of clvickens and numbei of peo
ple for the United States were approxi
mately equal. For the same period, the
number of people in South Carolina has
increased twice .is rapidly as the num
ber of chickens, I'he numh<‘r of chick
ens on farms since 1Q30 has shown little
chatige except in i<>34, when rliere ap
pears to have been a decrease.
A study of egg production in South
Carolina, on the basis of population,
shows the state far below the average
for the remainder of the country. For
the entire country, the average egg pro
duction per person in 1929 was 262 eggs.
In South Carolina, only eggs per
person were produced, or less than 42
per cent of the average for the coimtry.
South Carolina is considerably short on
This 200*egg Barred Plymouth Rock
it rightly considered an ideal type of
heavy layer.
A flock of high-laying White Wyandottes, which averaged 152 egps. One
bird, in the center, laid 242.
producing the amount of eggs her |x>pu-
lation might be expected to consume.
I'w-o or less eggs per week prr person
can hardly he accepted as a standard foi
proper nourishment and health.
M ore than 2,0(>(>.o(x> dozen eggs were
brought into South Carolina by freight
and e.\pr<‘ss in 1929, according to fig
ures on yearly ini|Toits and exports. It
is believed an equal or greater number
of eggs is brought in by trucks. Egg
exjMirts are insignificant,
Farm Flocks Inefficient
The average farm Hock in South Car
olina is not only small but inefficient in
production. The average number of
chickens per farm in South Carolina Is
only 19 birds compared with an average
of 6(1 birds per farm in the United
States. I'he average number of eggs
yearly per chicken is 63 in South C:ir.>
lina against 85 in the Lnited States.
I'he average number of eggs produced
yearly |M‘r person in South Carolina is
109 against an average of 262 per per
son in the nation.
The cause of this inefficiency in egg
production may be <lue to several factors
among which are quality of s<^ock for
egg production, hatching date of pullets
and their development to laying age, lack
of sufficient quantit) and proper balance
of feetls supplied, lack of culling of non
laying atid old hens, ina<leqiiate housi/ig,
and lack of parasite and disease control.
More and better hens, with more in
telligent feeding and flock management
are Professor Morgan’s remedies for the
undesirable conditions.
Egg Prices High
“That the quality of stock for egg
production in many Hocks of the state is
equal to that found anywhere in the
country has been proved by trap nest
records and at national egg-laying con
tests,” he says. “The average egg pro
duction per hen in state demonstration
flocks shows approximately 2^j times as
many eggs produced by hens of the av
erage fann flock.
“TTie difference in feeding methods
and management ui demonstration flocks
may account for the increased return.
Average labor income per hen from dem
onstration flocks for seven years shows
that by following proper practices a sat
isfactory return may be expected.
“The market prices for eggs in South
Carolina are among the highest in the
country.
“M iich of the basic feed supply for
poultry may be produced on farms of
the stat4‘, and cJimatic conditions are
favorable for poultry producti«)ii, especi
ally during the Kail and VVintet when
egg prices are highest.’’
M ore Hens the Answer
Professor Morgan’s conclusion is tliat
the state needs more egg factone> in the
form of hens.
'I'o produce the eggs shipped into the
state by freight and express would re
quire an addition of more than i7S,tHKi
laying hens of similar egg production
quality as the average of demonstration
flock hens. To produce the additional
number of eggs brought into the state
by truck would double this number of
hens. Reduced to a county basis this
would mean approximately 75 additional
KKi-bird flocks per county.
Professor Morgan thinks that iii a
state so largely agricultural as South
Carolina it seems logical that sufficient
eggs and poultry products should be pro
duced to meet the needs of the pfipu-
lation.
True In Other States
“An adjustment in poultry production
in this direction with high-quality stock
aiul proper feeding and management
methods is not only highly desirable fnmi
a food standpoint, but should prove eco
nomically profitable to those engaged in
the busint*ss.”
The general facts and conditions pre
sented hew must be true also of North
Carolina and other Southern states, so
that in those states there knocks the
same opjiortunity for profitable poultry
production.
An excellent example of profitable
poultry is found in the experience of
John E. Jackson, York County.
Twenty-five years in the poultry busi
ness, Mr. Jackson has increased his poul
try enterprise 'from a start with "six red
hens and a rooster” to where his annual
production is from 2,000 to 3,000 Rhode
Island Reds and White Wyandottes, his
main source of cash from the 70-acre
farms. The 1935 output was 2,200.
Sales of eggs and chickens fon eight years
have been chiefly to a special trade in
(lastonia, N. C.
That iioultry raising as a chief money
crop has not been a failure for Mr.
Jackson is clear from the fact that he
continues to stake his main chances on
hens. For over two decades there al
ways have been some profit.
Careful breeding and good sanitation
arc at the bottom of Mr. Jackson’s poul
try success. After trying nearly a score
of different pure breeds he believes most
strongly in Rhode Island Reds and keeps
usually around 6cxi hens of this breed
along with about 3(X> White Wyan
dottes. ,Hoth sell well on any market,
he finds, and his strain of Reds lays par
ticularly well, some hens running to 250
eggs per year. By close attention to
selection, mating and breeding, he has
improved the strain with only a little
new blood since 1921. The result is a
fine demand for breeding stock. At poul
try shows the Jackson stock has always
taken a lion’s share of blue ribbons.
In flf)ck management, sanitation comes
first with Mr. Jackson, proper feeding
next. He has learned through close at
tention to prevent most poultry troubles
and to check outbreaks promptly.
Simple, Efficient Layout
A simple, but sufficient and I'fficient
layout of housing and equipment makes
it practicable for Mr. Jackson to do his
own incubating and brooding and fatten
ing as well as to carry on his breeding
Hock. A i4(X)-egg incubator in the base
ment of a laying house docs the hatching,
^'wo brooder hou.ses of four and five
rooms each will care for 3,ixx) more
chicks. The layers are housed neatly in
second-story quarters, while the breeders
are all on the ground in small plots.
While there is some range foi laying
hens, those in upstairs quarters do not
get out at all.
Poultry feeds are largely home-grown
—corn, wheat, and oats for grain feed
ing, and oats, rye and barley for graz
ing. Wheat and cracked corn arc used
as a scratch feed.
That Mr. Jackson finds chickens a
safer deiiendence than cotton is shown by
the fact he now plants no cotton on his
farm. His other sources of income from
the farm are a purebred Berkshire herd
of hogs and a small herd of (iuernsey
cows.
Sanitation comes first in flock man
agement with many successful poultry