VIEWS OF A RHODE ISLAND EGG FAEM 



No. 1. The feed wagon at Red Feather Farm, showing Mr. Almy 

 at work feeding the young stock their noon rations. His youngest 

 daughter Helen is seated on a bag of grain just in front of the mash 

 box. In feeding by wagon the fields are not always entered at the 

 same gate, so that the fowls never know just where to expect the 

 daily supply and crowd about that entrance. 



No. 3. Row of ahed-roofed colony houses, at Red Feather Farm, 

 capacity, fifty layers each, size 8x12 floor, double pitch roof. Build- 

 ing at extreme right is the type preferred by Mr. Almy. 



No. 2. Birds-eye view of the ten acre field of small colony brood 

 houses and growing chicks at breakfast time on the Almy plant, Red 

 Feather Farm. Twanty five chicks and. a mother h6n are placed in 

 each of these small buildings which are about 24 ft. square. In cold 

 weather the **cracker box coop" is used in these buildings. In warm 

 weather the extra box is not needed. 



No. 4. Group of colony house for layers at Almy's Red Feather 

 Farm, Tiverton Four Corners, R. I. Berry orate in front is used for 

 breaking up broody hens. 



satisfactorily for all of our readers who cannot visit this 

 poultry growing center and see with their own eyes. Des- 

 cribing one farm practically describes them all, as the methods 

 employed on the many poultry plants in this district differ 

 in non-essential details only. 



Little Compton is reached by stage from Tiverton, 

 Rhode Island. Tiverton may be reached by trolly from Fall 

 River or by the Newport train from Boston. Daily in the 

 summer season and twice or three times a week in winter, 

 when the river is not blocked with ice, it may also be reached 

 by boat from Providence, Rhode Island. All along the 

 Sakonnet River on the eastern and south shore of Rhode 

 Island are located attractive farms varying in size from 50 

 to 120 or more acres each. These farms are long and narrow, 

 being laid out with about 1,000 feet river frontage each. 



One of the most successful of these plants and one of the 

 most attractive farms in the Little Compton district is that 

 of Mr. Fred W. C. Almy of Tiverton Four Corners, Rhode 

 Island, who is located on the stage line between Tiverton 

 and Little Compton. Mr. Almy's egg farm is known as the 

 Red Feather Farm and contains about 120 acres. The stage 

 road, an excellent piece of macadam cared for by the State, 

 divides his farm into equal parts, the farm being some 60 

 rods wide by about a mile long. Mr. Almy breeds Rhode 

 Island Reds almost exclusively, as do most of the farmers in 

 his section of the country, and they all breed good ones. On 

 the Almy plant are a number of breeding birds' exclusively 

 home-grown and native stock for many generations 'that 

 have won prizes at the great Boston Show, and many others 

 that could easily win in hot competition. Breeding fancy 



80 



stock, however, is not a specialty of this farm, as it is essen- 

 tially a practical market egg plant like the other farms in 

 this locality. Little Compton poultry farmers raise fowls 

 and eggs for what there is in them from a market standpoint, 

 in fact poultry keeping may be said to be the most important 

 branch of farming of this immediate section. 



At the time of our visit we found between 1,500 and 

 1,800 head of breeding and laying stock and about 2,600 

 head of growing chickens. These birds were all housed on 

 the Rhode Island colony plan, the chicks were all hen- 

 hatched, and all of the work done on this plant is accomp- 

 lished by the proprietor himself, with the assistance of a 

 young Portuguese helper. The entire farm is not occupied 

 by the poultry. A considerable portion of it is in mowing, 

 while good crops of oats, _porn and vegetables for winter feed- 

 ing are grown. The farms in this section are all well cleared, 

 so that when viewed from the river or from the road the 

 country has a chc^ckerboard appearance owing to the fencing 

 of the fields by neat stone walls made of the flat stone com- 

 mon to that section of the country. 



Most of the Almy farm is laid out in rectangular fields of 

 varying dimensions of from 3 to 10 acres each. In two of 

 these fields having an aggregate of about 8 acres were located 

 some 50 small typical Rhode Island double pitch roof colony 

 houses not more than 6 feet stud at the peak, with floor 

 dimensions about 6 by 8 feet. These houses were placed in 

 rows about 50 or 60 feet and more apart, with the houses 

 not more than 20 or 30 feet frpm each otl^er in the row. 

 Some 25 fowls were lodged in each of these small houses. 

 In another field containing about 6 acres were a number of 



