CACKLEBERRY FARM— |
glowing in their mechanical j
mother. Week-old chicks are in j
the four-globe stage. Two-week
old babies need two light globes,
and adolescent chicks of more
than two weeks get by with one
light globe until they leave their
brooder at the age of five weeks.
While they’re in the baby class,
the chicks are fed a carefully bal
anced diet of alfalfa meal en
riched with carotene, Vitamin A,
Vitamin D and animal protein,
and other chick nutritional aids,
and fish meal.
When the potential chicken din
ners reach the age of five weeks,
they graduate into an adjacent
room in the Brooks barn loft,
where they spend their teen-age
days in preparation for killing
room size. Their one occupation
is to eat much and long, and to
get to the accepted two-pound
fryer stage as rapidly as possible.
The chickens get corn in their
last weeks in this room.
The killing room, where chick
ens are dressed for market, is as
modern as any in Alaska. After
chickens are killed, they’re dipped
in kettles of steaming water and
turned over to the mechanical
picker. There soft rubber fingers
on a whirling drum, powered by
electricity, strip the bird bare in
an estimated 90 seconds. Even
the powerful wing feathers are
plucked by the machine, which
works equally as well on pin
feathers.
The man who operates the pick
er has only a stray quill or two
to remove before he tosses the
chicken into a bath of ice water
(36° in temperature) to await the
dresser. The picker is newly in
stalled on the Cacklebird Farm
and workers there hailed its ar
rival with relief. The first 36
chickens picked and dressed for
market took the Brooks an esti
mated 16 hours to prepare. Re
cently the mechanical picker
stripped 100 birds in just two
hours and 15 minutes.
The Anchorage market is ab
sorbing all of the fryers Mr.
Brooks can supply and is de
manding more. He hasn’t been
able to extend his market to the
Valley as he’d like to, simply be
cause the demand exceeds the
supply.
But meat isn’t the only concern
of poultryman Brooks—he has
eggs and fryers both in one bas
ket. His laying flocks are supply
ing eggs for the Anchorage mar
ket, too.
The 300 layers, mostly White
Leghorns, are housed in batteries
in the Brooks barn. They work a
13-hour day, with no overtime
and no days off. The batteries
are narrow wire cages, construct
ed with sloping floors so that a
new-laid egg rolls into a gutter
at the front of the cage.
Hens grow to unusual size on
the rich diet they’re given to get
top egg production per hen. The
Leghorns, which usually average
four to five pounds in size, grow
to seven pounds weight in the
Brooks battery. Heavyweight of
-the flock scales almost nine
pounds, Mr. Brooks said. The
hens produce eggs for a year, and
then travel to the killing room to
emerge as roasters and stewers.
The champion of the flock, a
nameless white drab with
rumpled feathers and a gleam in
her eye, has produced 27 eggs in
28 days for the flock record, thus .
far. That record was established
in June, and by last week, she’d
missed only two days since.
The flock average is 67 percent.
Mr. Brooks reported. That’s sweet
music to a poultryman’s ears, he
says.
As an experiment this year, the
Brooks have imported a flock of
.Dryden Cross pullets. The hens
are a heavy, all - purpose bird
handsomely feathered in black
and white plaid. They are re
ported to be an excellent layer,
with a higher average than the
White Leghorn. The 200 spin
sters fending for themselves in
the Brooks backyard may be the
nucleus of an entire flock for the
Cackleberry Farm, if the hens
live up to advance reports.
Russell Teitz shows the photographer how to denude a chicken
in a quick 30 seconds of time. The two-pound broiler he clutches so
firmly is destined to bring Alba Brooks, farm owner. $2.20 in return
for all the loving care and chicken feed he's lavished on it for the
past 10 weeks.—(Photo by Palmer Studios.)
Miniature $2 dinners swarm about owner Alba Brooks in the picture above as he lilts the coyer
of the brooder to which newly-hatched chicks are delegated on their arrival at Cackleberry Farm.
These babies were at the two light-globe age when the picture was taken. In the photo at. the bottom
the birds have arrived at the junior miss stage, with nothing on their minds but their figure. And
the more figure the better, as far as owner Brooks is concerned, for next stop after this apartment is
the killing room.—(Photo by Palmer Studio.) _
PAYMENT IN ADVANCE
(Continued From Page 1)
others apparently forget that the
hospital needs money to pay the
grocery, drug, laundry, electricity
and phorttHbills, in addition to the
salaries of employes. And this
last item is not the heavy drain
on finances that some Valley res
idents believe, the hospital board
president explained. The salaries
of hospital employes are compar
atively low.
Mrs. John Weaver, acting man
ager at the Valley Hospital, told
board members that the hospital’s
inability to collect bills owed
was being reflected in the insti
tution’s inability to meet its own
obligations. “The plain truth is.
the Valley Hospital is losing its
credit standing,” she declared.
The manager told of instances in
which Outside firms refuse to
make drug shipments to the local
institution, except on c.o.d. or
ders. Many times, the hospital
bank account is at such a low ebb,
the orders cannot be picked up
immediately.
Board members accepted the
fact that there are many Valley
residents who are unable to pay
for hospitalization. The board is
working out a plan, whereby they
hope to make loans available to
hard-pressed folk who are in need
of hospitalization. Details of the
plan were not complete at press
time, but will be announced soon.
In an effort to force payment
from those former patients who
consistently ignore monthly state
ments, and who make no arrange
ment to pay past-due hospital
bills, the board decided to post
a list of names of these individ
uals at the Valley Hospital. All
persons whose names appear on
this list will be refused both hos
pitalization and x-ray treatment,
until payment is made.
Mr. Newcomb said the sugges
tion had been made that the hos
pital take steps to garnishee the
wages of permanently-employed
residents who have ignored their
hospital bills. The board was un
willing to take such drastic ac
tion yet, but is considering the
matter for future use, if all other
plans fail.
Mr. Newcomb voiced a final
plea to those who owe money at
the Valley Hospital. “If you will
only come in and pay, or make ar
rangements to pay, even a small
amount each month,” he said,
“then the hospital can pay its
own debts. This is a community
hospital. The staff and the hospi
tal board desires to serve the
community to the best of its abil
ity, but it is impossible to do so
without funds.”
INCORPORATION—
(Continued from Page 1)
of Bill Head, that taxes would nol
be the chief source of revenue foi
the city.
"If the city of Palmer were
incorporated." he said, "it would
receive a 100 percent refund on
liquor taxes. 60 percent refund
on mercantile licenses. 100 per
cent refund on pinball machine
licenses, all fees from building
permits, all money from collec
tion of penalties and fines, in
terest on delinquent taxes, and
Superintendent Tetls
Pre-Registration Dates
For Palmer School
Pre-registration of elementary
school pupils in Palmer School is
planned for Aug. 21, 22, and 23.
between the hours of nine a.m.
and noon, and one to four p.m.,
superintendent William T. Zah
radnicek announced today.
All beginning students must be
six years old on or before Nov. i.
1950, the superintendent warned.
A birth certificate will be re
quired to show proof of age. for
beginners. v
High school students of Palmer
will register on Aug. 28 and 29,
also between the hours of nine
a.m. and nooiv-and one and four
p.m. All juniors and seniors, par
ticularly, are urged ter register on
these days, in order that their re
i quired and .elective subjects for
graduation may be discussed and
outlined. |
School will begin in Palmer on
Sept. 5 at nine a.m. The first day
will be a full session, Mr. Zahrad
nicek said.
other special fees on which the
council might decide."
With this year’s studies pub
lished in mimeographed form,
complete with a map of the pro
posed city area, the Chamber put
a period to its work and dropped
the matter. However interested
individuals pushed the plan along
to the drafting and circulating of
petitions, and to its ultimate con
clusion with the filing of those
petitions in District Court last
Tuesday.