The workers are sexing the birds.
I buy my chicks by mail order from Cackle hatchery in Lebanon Mo. I found a article on the net from the Rural Missouri magazine about cackle hatchery.
“People want to know how their food is raised and if it’s been given any growth hormones,” says Jeff. “If they grow their own, they know exactly how it’s been cared for.”
Mondays and Wednesdays are the busiest days since those are hatch days. Despite averaging 110,000 new peepers per week, the Smiths can still predict the hour when the birds will arrive. That’s not easy when, for example, chickens take 21 days to hatch, ducks take 28 and geese take 30.
After the peeping tufts of fluff are removed from hatching trays, they’re sorted by breed, counted and separated by chicken sexers who sort cockerels (males) from pullets (females). Employees then work through the night, filling orders to ensure the chicks are ready to go to the post office at the crack of dawn. While the chicks are packed according to the weather they’ll endure, there’s no need to worry about food and water, at least not for a few days., “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.” But there’s one Missouri business that’s been doing just that for 72 years.
“We take it one step further by trying to count our chickens before the eggs have been laid,” says Nancy Smith, who, together with her husband, Clifton, owns Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon.
As the third-largest supplier of chicks to individuals, feed stores and hobby farms, Cackle Hatchery has a lot of chicks to count.
Cackle Hatchery offers 160 varieties of chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, guineas, peafowl and game birds to customers. While the majority of the business is mail order, customers can come to the small retail store in Lebanon to buy hatchlings.
Current chicken breeds offered in Cackle’s catalog include buff orpingtons, black australorps, silver-laced wyandottes, light brahmas, welsummers and cochins. Those interested in colored eggs might choose the araucana, also known as the “Easter egg” chicken, which usually lays pale green, pink or blue eggs.
Mondays and Wednesdays are the busiest days since those are hatch days. Despite averaging 110,000 new peepers per week, the Smiths can still predict the hour when the birds will arrive. That’s not easy when, for example, chickens take 21 days to hatch, ducks take 28 and geese take 30.
After the peeping tufts of fluff are removed from hatching trays, they’re sorted by breed, counted and separated by chicken sexers who sort cockerels (males) from pullets (females). Employees then work through the night, filling orders to ensure the chicks are ready to go to the post office at the crack of dawn. While the chicks are packed according to the weather they’ll endure, there’s no need to worry about food and water, at least not for a few days., “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.” But there’s one Missouri business that’s been doing just that for 72 years.
“We take it one step further by trying to count our chickens before the eggs have been laid,” says Nancy Smith, who, together with her husband, Clifton, owns Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon.
As the third-largest supplier of chicks to individuals, feed stores and hobby farms, Cackle Hatchery has a lot of chicks to count.
Cackle Hatchery offers 160 varieties of chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, guineas, peafowl and game birds to customers. While the majority of the business is mail order, customers can come to the small retail store in Lebanon to buy hatchlings.
Current chicken breeds offered in Cackle’s catalog include buff orpingtons, black australorps, silver-laced wyandottes, light brahmas, welsummers and cochins. Those interested in colored eggs might choose the araucana, also known as the “Easter egg” chicken, which usually lays pale green, pink or blue eggs.
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