Sheron Roberts on fri 14 may 04
Earl I went through similar events during my=20
childhood just on a larger scale. How about
11,000 laying hens divided among 3 long long
houses, not coops. First thing we did when we
got in new pullets was find all the roosters.
Last thing the egg buyers wanted were
fertilized eggs. We had to candle thousands
of eggs to make sure there were no embryoes
Dad paid us kids 25 cents a piece for every
rooster we caught (using clothes hangers straightened
out with hooks on the end to snag them by their
feet). Then he sold them to the farm workers for
a dollar a piece. Our water troughs were hundreds
of feet long and had to be cleaned twice daily.
All 11,000 chickens had to be vaccinated by hand.
Eggs were picked up 4 times daily by hand come
rain shine Sunday Christmas, Saturday evening dates,
didn't matter. Our lives revolved around chickens.
Oh yes, all those eggs had to be washed, candled
and crated for sale too. Just like your chickens
ours were sold to Campbell Soup Co when they had
outlived their productiveness. They came in big trucks
and corraled the chickens, stuffed as many as they
could get into crates and hauled them off. I doubt
many arrived at their destination alive. I made a point
to try and not be there when they came.
I could write a book about my "chicken days".
Our entire yard and most surrounding yards were
fertilized with the dried shavings and manure.
People would come and get bags of it from the
"mountain" at the back of the farm where the stuff
was dumped after being scraped from the houses
by a bulldozer.
When we were not gathering eggs, etc. we were
working in tobacco and gardens. =20
Nothing like squatting between rows of butterbeans
in dirt so hot it burns through your sneakers, not
a breathe of air stirring, and not knowing when=20
you reach into the bushes if you're going to pull
out beans or a snake. One summer our beans
yielded 7 bushels per row, on 50 foot rows.=20
But I ramble,
seems I have something called super ventricular tachycardia,
waiting for medication now and further testing.
Tried handbuilding a whistle but am too weak. So I wait.
Sheron in NC=20
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