Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1910-08-12

BY Our SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,
CLARENCE E. EDwoRDs, Who
WILL FURNISH Us INTER
EsTING ARTICLES OF THE
GOLDEN STATE

Petaluma, Cal, Aug. 5-Chick-
ems to the right of them, chickens
to the left of them, chickens in
front of them, cackled and crowed.
This might be the paraphrase OF
The famous poem on the "Charge
of the Light Brigade" when one
comes to this thriving little city at
the southern end of the Sonoma
Valley. Californians have a habit,
grown out of common usage of COM
parison, of saying "the largest in
the world" This statment is used
in almost every instance where q
description is attempted of any
thing scenic or industrial, and it
applies to Petaluma. 1t is the
largest poultry center in the world
You may not believe it from read
ing, but | am sure that if you were
to visit this part of California you
would be ready to agree to the
statement.
ain not going to attempt to
give you figures to prove the con-
clusion, for figures are tiresome
There is one set of figures, howev-
err, which is not tiresume and which
is very interesting. They do not
count their chickens here, either
before they are Matched or after,
as the ordinary chicken raiser
counts them. They talk thousands
and millions when telling of what
is being done. Petaluma is some
thing of a manufacturing city, as
we'll as a poultry center, but the
most interesting product manufae-
tured here is young chickens. |
use the word manufacture advised
ly, for if you will 60 into one OF
the big hatcheries here you will Ger
tainly think the little downy balls
are turned out by machinery. |
went into one of these hatcheries
and saw them turn out fifty thous-
and little chicks in on day, ano
the next day they repeated the
operation and fifty thousand more
came from the incubators.
When you realize that this means
the Matching of one hundred thous-
and chickens every three weeks you
will begin to understand what is
meant when it is said that Petalu.
ma is the largest poultry center in
theWorld.
But the Matching of these chick
ems, astounding as it is, does not
compare with the further fact that
these little chicks are shipped all
over the country as soon as they
get out of the shell. If you live
anywhere within three days ride
of Petaluma yon can send in an
order for as many little chickens as
you wish, paying 10 cents piece
for them, and your chicks will come
to you in good condition, notwith-
standing the fact that they are
neither fed nor watered from the
time they come out of the shell
until you take care of them. This
sounds like one of those "Califor-
MIA stories" but it ig true, for |
have seen the orders, and have
seen the chickens shipped away.
Naturally the question arises,
what percentage of the eggs hatch
and what percentage of the young
chicks survive? The company rum
ming the hatchery estimates 80 per
cent of eggs hatch and 60 per cent
cent of the young chicks live to be-
come broilers or grow up to hens
and rooatefs.
For an establishment of this
magnitude there need be constant
supply of good eggs, consequently
there is a poultry yard attachment
in which several thousand white
leghorn hens devote their time to
laying eggs for the incubators.
Greatest care is exercised to have
these eggs healty and fertile, so that
there shall be minimum of loss,
and the result is that the young
chicks are remarkably strong. l
might say, in passing, that the de-
mand for these young chicks is
growing so rapidly that the COM
pany is considering the advisability
of establishing another incubator
of $4,000 capacity.
Do not imagine that this is the
main part Of the industry, 1t is
but small factor. Go out On any
elevation and look around and you
will see so many white chickens
that you will think you have come
to a country where they have gi-
gantic snow storm. The white leg
horn is favorite, and that is what
nearly everybody raises.
There are more things connected
with modern poultry raising than
the average farmer ever imagined.
Here nothing is lost. The dropped
feathers, the droppings, the egg
shells and even the dead chicks,
are all utilized, and there is a mark
ct for all of them, for they are used
for various purposes. Then, too,
there Is the other side Of the ques-
ton, and there is a wonderful mark
ct of things required by the poultry