274 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



the hatching of chicks is no longer done in farm 

 incubators but in central hatcheries of which there 

 are eight large establishments and twenty smaller 

 concerns, which hatch annually approximately 

 13,000,000 chicks, of which 60 per cent are installed 

 on the farms of the district. The largest hatchery 

 has a capacity of 250,000 chicks every three weeks 

 and an annual output of more than two millions. 

 About five million chicks are shipped to other dis- 

 tricts of the State and beyond. As soon as they are 

 dry, they are taken from the incubators and placed 

 in light ventilated cartons, some with one compart- 

 ment, but most have four, each holding 100 chicks. 

 The chicks are sent to any point within seventy-two 

 hours from the place of shipment without feed or 

 water, in fact, they are found to be better off for this 

 enforced fast until their natural supply of nutriment 

 is exhausted. 



It is believed that the Petaluma district is unique 

 in the world not only in its concentration and aggre- 

 gate of poultry production but in the originality of 

 its methods and policies. Naturally the activities of 

 the district, both industrial and social, are extensively 

 and pervasively gallinaceous as may be inferred from 

 this delightful sketch written in 1919 by Miss Nellie 

 Denman, president of the Petaluma Women's Club: 



"The poultry farms literally circle the city of 

 Petaluma, forming a veritable amphitheater, divided 

 into farm centers and districts all touching each 

 other in neighborly fashion, and forming one won- 

 derful chicken world. Yet each farm with its broad 



