Donald Shaver search widely for diversified breeding stock. Local breeders, knowing his reputation were reluctant to sell to him for fear of competition. In 1946, there were 256 registered chicken breeders in Canada. Shaver Poultry became the 257th. By 1958, only Shaver remained, along with seven other major poultry breeders worldwide. The principle of hybrid vigour had been well established for corn, but the costs and time required to test chicken crosses were higher. Small breeders (as Shaver was at the time) could not afford permanent scientific staff, so Shaver obtained assistance from geneticists conducting research at universities and government institutions. Shaver
George Washington Shaver existence in 1910. Shaver entered the business of supplying wood to steamers for use as fuel, including both riverine and ocean-going vessels. This resulted in the clearing of large timber tracts. In 1880, Shaver, with his son Capt. James W. Shaver, H.L. Corbett (later a U.S. Senator), and Capt. Charles Bureau, became a partner in the People's Freighting Company and also in the small stern-wheel river steamer "Manzanillo", which ran on the Columbia River between Portland and Clatskanie, Oregon. In 1884 the Shaver family bought out all the non-family shareholders in the firm. They built two new steamboats. First was