The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-10-13
|HARRIs0NBURe CHICKEN
TOWN Says FARM PAPER

Harrisonburg, Oct. 12.--Harrison-
burg is n chicken GOWN. according
10 a writer of several articles in the
Southern Eurslist, farm paper
published In Atlanta. Georgia. The
articles are as follows:
When we say Harr .sonburg, Va,
| is u chicken town. we do not use the
term of the commercial traveller,
for the Harrisonburg chickens do
not go out on dress parade and hirt
with the c. t.'s--they are real sure
enough chickens from n day old
up. They are Matched at one end
of town and dispatched at the 9TH
or.
The Harrtsonburg Hatchery Is one
Of the largest chicken factories IN
the south, turning out $4,000 chicks
a year. The capacity Of the plant
Is IS, 900 eggs every twenty zone days
Matching period. The incubators
are not all set at the same time,
l. being the policy OF the manage
n.ent to hatch 5000 eggs every
seven days. or on each Monday and
Tuesday. The percentage OF hatch
es by these wooder hens average
about 65 to 10 PEI cent, but at times
runs as high rs &C. per cent
The Matching season begins about
the first of February end runs I'M
I'll about July 18th. making about
seven Matching periods each twelve
months During TINT time 10000
eggs are used in fllling the incu-
bators, and taking an average OF 80
per cent OF hatchers II will be seen
that $1,000 chick are Matched each
season.
The eggs are purchased from local
farmers, and are mostly of three
strsins-Rhode Island Reds, White
Leghorns and Barred Rocks.
When the chicks are day old
they are shipped by mail to all parts
of the United States east Of the
Rocky mountains
AT the other end OF Harrison
burg is the despatchery a four STORY
brick building, 21xs4 feet occupied
hy the CITY Produce Exchange. the
personnel of the Exchange being
Emanuel Pios~er; Hershey II. Wea-
yer. and ca ~ic, Biosser.
This building has capacity for
taging and feeding 10000 chickens
the coops, holding twenty chick
ems each. arranged In tiers heldiHg
500 chickens
The business of the exchange Is
10 buy, feed and ship chickens,
which they do to the number of
ESQ 900 a year.
The chickens are fed from four
teen 10 eighteen days on liquid
food corr posd OF buttermilk, meal
snd other ground grain. The but
termilk is procured form the West
and comes in barrels in the form
nj a paste. which is thinred TO
liquid The chickens arc fed SIX
times a day.
When fattened They are taken to
tho basement, where they are killed
and drssed The butcher hangs the
chicken up nv the legs, head down,
n~d rrrs narrow -bladed knife up
through the mouth Of the chicken
which produce instant death, Then
with II few strokes Of the hand he
stripes ofT the rough feathers and
passes IL on to the women and girl
firessers who pick of the fne feath-
srs. The only dressing done is to
|. clean them of tho feathers The
butcher kills an average of ! 700 NO.
dav. while the dressers finish 135
10 $50 per day--ali arr paid by the
piece AS high is $500 have hser
killed in one day
As soon rs the chickens arr dress
eel they are thrown INTO watts of ice
water. and when they are aufRcient-
" cooled are pIcEet' In barrels,
crushed ice between each layer, The
barrels are placed in the cold storage
room 10 wait shinment, which is
rlade in refrigerator cars. most of
the shipments being made 10 east
crn markets
Not all of the chici: - are killed,
areg number being shipped alive.
was SURPRISED Mt the cleanliness
~ the building, great care being
taken in that respect. The coops
ARE constructed with wire bottoms,
So that the droppines fan into a
drawer below which is emptied and
cleaned daily Tho manure and
feathers nrn convened to a detached
portion of the building, where they
are dumped into % closed wagon,
which is hauled into the country by
farmers. This manure amounts to
three 10 eirht tons per day.
IT'S business was begun in 1898
~ A small uov and has grown year
by year until now It is the largest
business of it's kind IN the South.