The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-03-26
Half a Nlillon Hens.

| "@sS pcen Wnuelt now 1S, ana the egg
and poultry raising industry Of Peta-
luna would never have Matched, SO to
speak, and reached its present immense
proportions. The hens know it,
and hence there is no spot In the
place that is forbidden to them.
| They greet the visitor as he steps
from the train and they cluck at him
as he departs-that is, if he doesn't
stag and go into the poultry business
In this favorable spot, which many
finally do. Twenty-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 shipped from that
point than all the other towns Of the
state combined, and the poultry raAch-
es vary in size from backyard to a
hundred acres or more. No person
having scrap of land TO spare is
without flock Of hens.
| The few figures following make the
egg business appear very much more
digniied occupation than it is popu-
larly supposed to be:
/ Tho shipments from Petaluma last
year were 2.6ee,OOO dozen eggs and
10000 dozen Of poultry. AS high as
$4,000 dozen eggs have been. shipped
out in one day from the Petaluma
market alone.
| Petaluma's proud position as the
egg centre Of the Pacific coast is not
the result Of accident, but is due to a
combination, viz: right soil, cool
summers and favorable location.
Nearness to the San Francisco market
and the extremely low freight rates
afforded by reason Of the competition
between water and rail transportation
are other important factors in it's de-
velopment.
The poultry idustry has been the
means Of making much otherwise
worthless land much more valuable.
TIE big Cotssi rancno Of 10000 acres
has recently been subsidivided and
sold ont in small holdings. To drive
through it now is to find veritable
poultry city.
The White 1eghorn fowls, among
the best layers known, are kept to
nearly. the entire exclusion of other
breeds for the egg business is really
more promising here than the poultry
1 side Of the industry.
1t is pretty sight at the feeding
time Of 5000 or z ,00Ohens on many
acred ranch. Perhaps the chicken
houses, each with its nearby colony Of
10 or $50 chickens, are scattered
over many acres, sometimes amid the
green Of q foothill orchard.
There is rush and Autter of q
living cloud Of white as the man starts
out from the feed house with horse
and sled to make the round of the
tiers Of houses, scattering feed and
gathering the harvest of eggs as he
goes. The length of this trip varies,
Of course, with the amount of land oc-
cupied, but the feeding sled some
times makes circuit Of mile.
| The hens gro fed generally only
once day, with the addition of a
lunch Of green feed at night. The
sled is loaded with fonr barrels Of
water, five sacks Of wheat apd mash
composed Of three sacks Of coarse
middlings and 40 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 6 a. m. until IL
to complete the feeding and watering
and q sufficient quantity is put out to
last "a hours. Seventy-fve hens are
roasted in each house, and the houses
are built on runners.
i The colonies are from 40 to 500 feet
apart, and the hens being we'll sup.
Piled with feed, are content and do
not wander from one colony to another.
An in nteresting feature Of this open
colony system is that each fowl knows
and goes unerringly to It's own pattio-
ular colony house for roosting at
might. #
fn19OO, 500, 900 was spent with the
merchants Of the town for chicken
| feed. This was outside and above the
| feed stuff which some OF the large
poultry raiaers import from San Fran
Disco. Small oyster shells are brought
into this town Of hers by tic schooue er
load to furnish the biddies with the
lime wherewith to produce proper
| eggshell. The cost Of feeding one
-.