Written By John Caverhill
Adam Bailey and his wife Gertrude, whose farm adjoined ours, had six sons. After the warl, their third son Harold, just out of the army, started a farm supply business in Strathroy.
He operated a Masterfeeds dealership, a Cockshutt farm machinery dealership, and he also started a chick hatchery located on the eastern outskirts of Strathroy. The Bailey farm supplied many of the eggs for the hatchery. Prior to this time, Father had purchased his baby chicks from Neuhauser Chick Hatchery in Stratford. Of course, he switched to Bailey’s chicks. At the same time, he switched breeds, changing from Barred Rock to Rhode Island Red. Both of these breeds are dual purpose birds, meaning they are heavy-bodied meat producers as well as good egg layers. This still being the era of the general farm, dual-purpose birds were favoured by many farmers. For farmers wanting maximum egg production; however, White Leghorn was the breed of choice. Because all of their energy goes into producing eggs rather than meat, a Leghorn is basically a feather-covered bone-rack.
Each spring Father ordered 225 pullets and 75 roosters. In the fall, the pullets, now young hens, would become the laying flock for the next year while the roosters were fattened and sold as roasters during the pre-Christmas market, dressing out at up to eight pounds.
Because of depictions in storybooks and Easter card illustrations, the general public pictures all baby chickens as being yellow. While yellow predominates, the chicks of white adults such as the Leghorn are a lighter yellow. Rhode Island chicks are a dark yellow with reddish-brown tints. Adult Barred Rocks have alternating bands of dark and light grey and white, almost a tweed pattern; their baby chicks are mostly a soft black, and are every bit as attractive and appealing as yellow chicks.
The baby chicks were transported in flat cardboard boxes that were stacked on the back seat of our car and covered with a blanket. On arriving home each box, snugly blanket-wrapped, was carried to the colony house. Inside, the lid was removed and the box gently tipped to spill the babies into the cosy warmth under the hover of the brooder stove. Hatcheries always included extra chicks to compensate for the inevitable few that failed to survive the first few days of life.
It was delightful to just stand there and watch and listen as the chicks quickly adjusted to their new home. It didn’t take long for them to find their way to the feeders and waterers placed just outside the hover and partake of their first meal.
Close attention was needed for the first few weeks. A daily 6AM check ensured the stove was working properly and all was snug and warm. Later on, when it was daylight, the food and water were replenished, the ashes removed and the stove was topped up with coal. Hard blue coal—anthracite—was used because it burns slowly but with great heat. There was a noon-hour check and then the morning routine was repeated during the evening chores. By mid-April, with the weather warming up and the young chickens’ downy covering replaced by feathers, the fire was allowed to burn lower and the hover removed.
On a warm sunny morning in early May a big event in the chickens’ young lives occurred. The door was left open and the great outdoors was allowed to beckon. Just like people facing a new experience, some were bold and some were timid. It didn’t take long, however, for even the most backward to respond to the sunshine and fresh air, and the ground around the colony house was soon dotted with chicken youngsters busily exploring their new environment, off to a summer of ‘fun in the sun’.
