North Park union., 1902-04-04
HALF A MILLION HENS
THE INDUSTRY OF A CALIFORNIA
TOWN.
Hatehlnss Of 5000 Chicks and 10000
peid for Feed.

poso ror Feed.
Ine town Of Petnluma IL ruled by
NV,OtO hens. but for these half mil.
iion OF hens the town would never have
oeen what 1t now IL, nnd the egg and
poultry raising industry Of Petalums
would never have matched, SO to sneak.
ana reached ity present Immense pro.
portions. The hens know II, and hence
there Is no spot In the place that Is for.
bidden to them
They greet the visitor Ms he stems
from the train and they cluck at him ny
ne departs-that il. II he doesn't stay
and go into the poultry business In this
favorable spot, which many finally do.
Iwenty-three years ago there were not
more than hundred or two chickens
TO be found In or around Petaluma.
Now more eggs and poultry are ship.
PED from that point than from nil the
other towns of the state combined, and
the poultry ranches vary In size from
q back yard to hundred acres or
more. No person having scrap OF
land to spare is without II flock OF hens.
Ihe few figures following make the
egg business appear very much more
dignified occupation than 1t Is popu.
.'y supl'oseu W Dt.
The shipments from Petaluma Inst
year were 2,6O0,OO0 dozen eggs and 30.
OOO dozen of poultry. AS high as H..
900 dozen eggs have been shipped out
In one day from the Petaluma market
alone.
The poultry industry has been the
means of making much otherwise
worthless land much more valuable.
The big Cotau rancho of 10000 acres
has recently been sub-divided and sold
out In small holdings To drive through
it now is to find a yeritable poultry
city.
The White Leghorn fowls, among the
best layers known, are kept to nearly
the entire exclusion of other breeds for
the egg business is really more promis.
Ing here than the poultry side Of the
industry.
1t Is pretty sight at the feeding
time of G.OOO or 1000 hens on many.
ncrcd ranch. Perhaps the chicken
houses, each with its nearby colony Of
100 or $50 chickens, are scattered over
many acres. sometimes amid the green
of foothill orchard.
There is n rush and Il hutter of liv.
Ing cloud of white as the man starts
out from the feed house with horse and
sled and makes the round of the tiers
or houses, scattering feed and gather
Ing the harvest of eggs as he goes. The
length of this trip varies, of course,
with the amount of land occupied but
the feeding sled sometimes makes L
circuit Of mile.
The hens are fed generally only once
a day. with the addition of lunch of
green feed at night. The sled is loaded
with four barrels of water, five sacks
OF wheat, and Il mash composed of
three sacks OF coarse middlings
and forty pounds of either cut
green bone or ground fresh
meat, which is mixed with skim
milk that has been allowed to sour
On big ranch it takes from o n. m
until IL o'clock to complete the feeding
and watering and sufficient quantity
is put out to last twenty-hours. Sew
enty-fve hens are roasted In each
house, and the houses are built on
runners.
An interesting feature of this open
colony system is that each fowl knows
and goes unerringly to its own par
ticular colony house for roosting ut
night.
In 1900 $4,000 was spent with the
merchants of the town for chicken
feed. This was outside and above the
feed stun which some Of the large
poultry raisers import from San Fran
cisco. Small oyster shells are bought
In this town of hens by the schooner
load to furnish the biddieB with the
lime whcrewith to produce proper
eggshcll. The cost of feeding one hen
well, and strike the happy medium of
success in feeding, is about 81 cents
per year-from that to 81. The average
profit per hen is 81 to Sl.50 net per an
mum. one man about three miles from
Petaluma has succeeded by special
care. neatness and good selection of
fowls, in making his hens pay a tritle
over 81 each per annum.-From the
San Francisco Call