The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-10-10
GRAND CHICKEN COOP.
Description of That Con-
nected With the D., I. &
w. Railroad.
CAN ACCOMMODATE 100000 CHICKENS.
The Handling of the Fowl is All
Done After Dark-Chicken
Nights.

Few persons are there who have not,
some time or other, seen a Quicken nous Q.
But not every person has seen one that
eau, at one time, accommodate loo. 900
chickens and allow each of them a com
Portable breathing space. Such u place
as this may be found connected with the
Delaware. Lackawanna aud Western
Railroads freight yards at Hoboken.
The house is not, properly speaking. con-
nected with the freight yards. other wise
thar by rail, for 1t is situated outside the
freight yard fence over on Ferry street.
near Monroe. 70 form q correct idea Of
this place one must make two trips, one
TO get a good square look at the exterior
and another to watch the chic kens being
transported. An inspection of the place
must be made in the day time. and of the
cntcSsn moving at night. rne animals
are neither received nor takeu away In
daylight. The reason of this is that they
are Inclined TO be risky In the day
time, and at night are sleepy aud behave
themselves A reporter OF THE JERSEY
CITY NEWS visited the chicken house
yesterday afternoon.
THE BUILDING.
lie Is a wooden building 800 feet in
ength by 90 feet across aud about 80 feet
In height. The walls are made of four
inch Stats, with q space between each one
or about W inches, allowing all the air
that wants to get in ,ide to do 80. Soaaa.
times along with the air saunters in q
load of dirt and dust, impelled by the
heavy winds. There are no steps to
CLIMB into The placs By. u one has t.
crawl up to a door also made of lathes,
ABOUT three feet from che ground.
tna16Q rho hnI1nn shave o.,A f-ra ~1~6
forms running the eatire length Of it,
with TWO tracks in the mi idle. The plat
forms staud even with the floor of q
freight car. On these platforms, which
are about ten fest wide, the chickens are
received Ia crates from the cars, and
passed over to wagons waiting for them
TO 60 TO market. Underneath the plat
form coops are arranged for stray chick
aus. Should one bird esc4ps from a COOP
or crate 1t could not by any possible
means get to the outside world. for the
place from one end TO the other Is fixed
up with the four inch Stats.
Chickeos are received always from
freight cars. They came In on the road
during the day, aud are distributed when
lt Is dark. Lanterns are used to con-
tribute light. Inside the cars the chickens
are placed III crates, from fifty to sixty
being lodged 1n one box. Tney never at
tempt to climb ont. and sit demurely
Q [yCS. Az 0hC CEal6 blAlY
chickens may be placed, fifty ducks,
fwenty-eight geese an twenty turkeys.
The crates for chickens and ducks are 10
inches In height, for geese ID inches, aud
for turkeys is. The turkey mas always
plenty of standing room.
CHICKEN NIGHTS,
Oa Sunday and Tuesday nights the
largest c~onsignments of chickens come
II. Six men, under the supervision of E.
w. Osborne, are kept continually at
work. AT night they ship chickens, and
at day tack up the coops where a Stat has
been taken OF to let the birds out.
There are upwards OF 800 crates In the
building. The principal object, MIR.
Osborne says. for when the house was
built, was to keep chicken loving people
from proving arouad the cars while the
unloading procession was in operation.
Should a chicken escaps outside some
one gets it amt it's seen no more, but ia
the mouse MIR. Osborne gets 1t, aud it
generally goes in his pet collection
which he keeps in the ~of1ce-uuless its
owner can identify it.
To erect the building an expense of
$4,000 was entalled. IL will be fitted IN
with electric lights ana water before
long. On an average, eighteen cars are
unloaded a day, 1000 chickens bang In
each car. The chickens are fea on
cracked corn and water, aud are given
their vIctuals once a day. In the morn
ing. When chickens come ia on Satar-
day night they stay over until Sunday,
as no work Is done or Saturday nights.