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a dozen Barred Rock pullets, who soon began to lay eggs. I bought the
mash and grain, fed and watered the chickens, cleaned the coop, etc.
Dad suggested that I learn about poultry husbandry, and so I subscribed
to Poultry Tribune and American Poultry Journal. I soon learned that
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ers replaced the hens with new ones each year. The following spring
I ordered and paid for some Barred Rock baby chicks from a glossy
catalog of a chicken hatchery in Missouri. I raised the chicks and killed
the cockerels (male chicks) when they were large enough to be frying
chickens. Dad insisted that the chicken coop must be kept clean and
odor-free. So, I paid for cement, sand and gravel and Sam and Gord
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house!
The Barred Rock hens were rather small in size and the eggs
they laid were of only average size. I read in the poultry magazines
of the results of egg laying contests. These contests were held at vari-
ous agricultural colleges using hens provided by various breeders. I
noticed that a man named E.B. Parmenter was winning such contests
quite consistently using Rhode Island Red hens. This was surprising,
because White Leghorn hens were considered the best egg laying breed,
although their scrawny bodies were sold for very little when their egg
laying days were over. In contrast, Rhode Island Red hens were bigger
and sold at a good price.
It was too far to ship baby chicks from Massachusetts where
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in Michigan. I sent for 75 baby chicks. They arrived in good shape after
a three-day train ride and they grew well. In the fall it was time to sell
the Barred Rock hens. The easy way to sell was to sell to a commission
agent. They came to the house and picked up the hens but, to my dis-
may, they paid only 60 cents per hen. The easy way of selling didn’t pay
very well.
About this time Dad helped me by obtaining an additional chick-
en coop. Grandfather Holmes had one at the bottom of his garden and
was glad to be rid of it. Dad hired a neighbor to dismantle it and reas-

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