CHAPTER NINE 



ROASTERS, BROILERS AND CAPONS 



SOUTH SHORE SOFT ROASTERS 



FAMOUS SOFT MEATED WINTER CHICKENS GROWN ALONG THE SOUTH SHORE OF MASSACHUSETTS 

 BAY-FAVORITE VARIETIES— HOW BIRDS ARE GROWN-ONE DEALER MARKETS OVER 250 TONS A YEAR 

 IN BOSTON— LIVE POULTRY AT 30 CENTS A POUND SOLD AT GROWERS DOOR-A PROFITABLE INDUSTRY 



I HERE is probably no more profitable branch of 

 the poultry industry than that of growing "soft 

 roasters" as practiced in the famous "South 

 Shore" district but a few miles south of Boston, 

 Mass. For the most part the chief producing 

 section for this toothsome and expensive poultry 

 product is confined mainly to the upper portion 

 of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, and includes 

 a radius of nearly twenty miles round about the quaint New 

 England towns of Hingham, Norwell, Rockland and Hanover. 

 This business of soft roaster growing was a comparatively 

 new thing less than ten years ago, and to-day is still largely 

 confined to a rather limited area on the "South Shore" of Mas- 

 sachusetts bay, so that the product is known to marketmen as 

 the "South Shore Soft Roaster." 



Boston market is an exceptionally good one for all kinds 

 of first quality poultry products and to this fact is due, in part, 

 the extraordinary demand for South Shore chickens at prices 

 that wiU seem most remarkable to those readers who are fa- 

 miliar with the selling prices of ordinary chickens in this and 

 other sections of the country. Practically all of the entire 

 output of the "soft roaster" section of the South Shore is sold 

 in the Boston market and it is extremely doubtful if any of 

 this exceedingly dainty and luxurious poultry meat finds its 

 way outside the confines of thei "Old Bay State." 



The producers seldom sell direct to the marketmen, the 

 majority of the soft roasters being bought alive by a dealer 

 who makes a contract with the grower to raise birds to be sold 

 to him when ready for market. 



$2.50 TO $3.50 EACH FOR LIVE ROASTING CHICKENS AT 

 WHOLESALE 



marketmen and the producer is saved all the bother and worry 1 

 of killing, dressing, packing, marketing and collecting, and has 

 the advantage of disposing of his birds alive for cash, at a hand- 

 some profit without even the trouble of catching the birds in 

 their pens. It is scarcely any wondei^ that in the soft roaster, 

 district nearly every family having poultry is engaged in this 

 profitable branch of the poultry business. 



ONE DEALER MARKETS 250 TONS OF ROASTERS A YEAR 



To give the reader some idea of the magnitude of the soft 

 roaster business we cite the fact that one dealer alone ships 

 to Boston upwards of 250 tons of this prime grade of dressed 

 poultry annually. The writer had the pleasiire of assuring 

 hfmseli of the truth of this statement by examination of the 

 records of shipments, the precise items of which obviously are 

 not for publication, since very few business men care to have 

 their books opened wide in print for the benefit of the public. [ 



The Light Brahma is the most propular. variety with soft 

 roaster, growers and undoubtedly two-thirds of tlje roasting' 

 chickens produced along the South Shore ' are either Light 

 Brahmas or Brahma crosses. The White Plymouth Rock is 

 however becoming very popular and promises to be heard 

 from later. To a limited extent the Barred Rocks are also 

 used. The Rocks possess the advantSige of rather quicker 

 growth and can be made to develop into a finished market bird 

 at top weight in a little less time than the Brahma. In hard- 

 iness this American variety seems to be the equal of its Asiatic 

 relative and the near future will unquestionably find greater' 

 numbers of the White Rocks on soft roaster farms. The Brah- 

 ma has however proved its worth and will be likely to be, for 

 many years to come, the leading soft roaster breed. 



These dealers make regular trips throughout the section 

 covering twenty or more miles in a day, collecting such birds 

 as are in marketable condition, paying the producers in cash 

 for their product according to the live weight and the prevailing 

 prices. The demand for South Shore chickens is so great that 

 they are seldom quoted in the market reports, the marketmen 

 usually engaging the product of the dealer well in advance of 

 shipments and the goods have usually a customer waiting for 

 them on arrival. High priced private trade, the leading swell 

 clubs and the. more prominent hotels take the bulk of the out- 

 put. 



The weU grown soft roasters frequently net the producer 

 $2 . 50 to $3 . 50 each at the door of his home when the season is 

 at its height. The dealer takes all birds to his home place to 

 be killed, dressed and shipped to Boston marketmen, appor- 

 tioned according to the orders which he has received for im- 

 mediate delivery. The dealer makes all arrangements with the 



UP-TO-DATE INCUBATORS USED FOR HATCHING 



Many roaster growers do not keep any breeding stock and 

 buy all their eggs for hatching. Practically all eggs are hatched 

 in modem, up-to-date incubators and the chicks are mainly 

 reared under hot-water pipes, the "open hover" pipe brooder 

 house system or some modification of it being the most popular. 



Where breeding birds are kept the method of housing and 

 caring for them varies with the owner, colony breeding houses- 

 and dry feeding are probably the most in favor, though on some 

 plants long laying houses will be found and some feed moist 



There are a number of breeders who make a regular busi- 

 ness of producing hatching eggs to sell to roaster growers and 

 this has developed into quite an extensive branch of the poul- 

 try business in this section. Such egg men regularly get 50 

 cents a dozen for hatching eggs the year round. 



147 



