Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1917-01-16
TELLS ABOUT
CHICKENBUSINESS
Former Copeland Man Writes Letter
Describing Poultry Raising
on Large Scale.

through the courtesy Of j. M. Bill
ings, Of Copeland, letter from Fred
Richardson, a former resident of
Copeland, but who left there in 1910
to engage in the poultry business on
an extensive scale with his brothers
in California. Before selling out
at Copeland, Mr.. Richardson owned
the place now resided upon by Rob-
ert Krouse. Extracts from the let
ter follow:
Some Of you have asked me when
was going to send out another
bulletin. / have thought about it
good many times, and have been
waiting for a break in the busy
time when l could write leisurely
without the sense of a multitude of
things waiting my attention. This
time has never come, and the rush
season is now near; so / must write
if at all, though not leisurely.
About a year ago we discontinued
the Richardson Egg Farm arrange
ments, as each place is large enough
in itself to get any advantage of
size; and we decided it was easier
to run our separate businesses in
dependently. For nearly two years
now / have been running Bert's
place in addition to my own. Last
year / Matched about 10000 chicks.
| sold as high as $4,000 Matching
eggs a week during the busy time.
1t would be difficult to give an idea
of the amount Of business we do
during this time. We incubate about
10000 eggs continuously during the
season. This is very exacting work.
After the first round of the ma
chimes, when we get the breeders
filled, we will have about $500 babies
to look after, and those of you who
know anything about caring for
baby chicks, know what this means.
Six weeks later we have the Sec
ond batch for ourselves. At this
time we are caring for, old and
young, about 10000 head. Between
the matches for myself, sell the
chicks, most of which are delivered
by auto truck, a distance ranging
from one mile to thirty-five. This
is also the busy season with the lay
ers and the breeding stock. l have
$500 layers and expect the eggs
to run up to about 5000 eggs a day
during the heavy laying season. The
handling, packing and delivering in
Los Angeles of these eggs is quite
job in itself. Of the $500 hens
and pullets 5400 are mated, and be-
lieve me, l have some grand stock
this year. The sorting of the hatch
ing eggs is one of our big and most
particular jobs. We place great i'm
portance on the selection of the
Matching eggs. l sell a great many
Matching eggs in Van Mugs, a grow
ing poultry center. They have about
10000 hens out there now, and the
greater part of it is my stock. l
make a trip out there every week
during the Matching season with the
Ford trailer, carrying from fifteen
to thirty cases of Matching eggs.
During the best of the season last
year my egg receipts ran from 500
to $3.50 per day. | expect to do
quite good deal better this year.
Speaking of Van Mugs and the
poultry industry l attended a ban
quet out there not long ago, where
there were about 400 present, most
of them residents of that district
One of the best business deals l
have made since coming here has
been, in the last year, the leasing
Of twelve acres adjoining my place.
spread out my pullets over there
last year, and say, l wish you could
see them, a little the best l ever
had; and they are as good as they
look to be. For some little time /
have been getting from 1900 to
1900 eggs a day at SOC to SIC a
dozen. / vaccinated all the pullets
and cockrels this year, going over
them twice; and haven't hardly had
case of sickness. We did the
1900 pullets in seven hours (using
hypo-needle) and the bulletin from
the state experiment station tells
that a good man can do $50 per
hour. We did some of these at over
700 per hour.
have made few improvements
the last year; built one new 1000
size laying house, equipped all the
laying houses with electrical burg
lar alarms; also with electric lights.
The equipping of the IL acres with
pipes, fences, etc, at present prices
has been expensive.
Some of you have asked me about
feed prices as affecting the poultry
business. A great many of the
poultrymen out here are quitting
L