on this plant, as Mr. Almy has been so long in the business 

 that he is beyond the stage of wasting time in keeping egg 

 records. At the time of our visit the yield was running 

 somewhere between 800 and 900 eggs a day, and from such 

 information as we could obtain it is fair to assume that this 

 plant is running an average of something better than a 40 

 to 45 per cent egg yield the year 'round. The heaviest yield 

 comes, of course, between the first of February and the first 

 of July. We visited this plant once before in the winter 

 season and found that they were then obtaining about a 40 

 per cent egg yield. The preceding season the proprietor had 

 sold 33,000 eggs for hatching at an average price of 5 cents 

 each, in addition to supplying the eggs needed for hatching 

 purposes and used on the home plant, and the regular market 

 trade. 



Red Feather Farm sells all of these market eggs direct ' 

 to the consumer, supplying two large Boston hotels. Hotel 

 Touraine takes about 9 cases of eggs a week or 270 dozen, 

 while Young's Hotel takes 2 cases a week, or 60 dozen. 

 These eggs are all sold at top notch Boston prices for strictly 

 fresh eggs, shipments being made twice a week, on Mondays 

 and Thursdays. The eggs are sent by stage to Tiverton 

 and shipped from there by train. 



In the latter part of July eggs were netting this plant 

 33 cents per dozen, and it is safe to say that the average 

 price of market eggs sold by this plant is 25 cents per dozen 

 net. Fall and winter prices often go as high as 45 to 50 

 cents per dozen net. 



Mr. Almy is exceedingly conservative and inclined to 

 under-estimate rather than overstate the earnings of his 

 plant. He figures that his hens earn him a net profit for 

 his own lp,bor of between 75 cents and SI. 00 per bird per 

 year. Taking this at the lowest figure his 2000 birds must 

 net him a profit of $1500 per year to pay for his own labor. 

 From the general appearance of prosperity and good living 

 which prevail at Red Feather Farm, we should judge that 

 this estimate is considerably under the actual income of the 

 plant. There are a number of other poultry farmers in the 

 same section who are doing equally well. 



All eggs shipped from this plant are sent in the standard 

 30-dozen returnable egg cases stencilled with the owner's 

 name and address. Where birds are kept on the colony 

 plan as they are in this section, feeding and watering the 

 stock birds but once a day and but two feeds a day for the 

 young stock, one man and a boy can comfortably care for 

 •from 2000 to 3000 head of breeding and laying stock and 

 raise from 5000 to 6000 chicks in a season, and still have 

 time for other necessary farm work. 



Driving from the Almy plant we visited the farm of 

 Mr. Sisson on the South Shore, where we found poultry 

 living under conditions that might well be envied by any 

 city dweller. Along half a mile or more of farm road only 

 a few feet from the ocean, between it' and the sea, was 

 stretched a long row of typical Rhode Island colony houses 

 of about 50 fowls capacity each. These houses were seated 

 on the extreme edge of an abrupt slope to a rough stony 

 beach and were not more than 30 feet removed from high 

 water mark. At the time we saw them the tide was about 

 half out and the birds were down on the shore scratching 

 in the seaweed and foraging for sea food on the rocks. 

 Hardy, healthy, rugged, vigorous specimens were these birds, 

 capable of producing sturdy chicks full of vitality. We envy 

 these fowls their summer quarters and would gladly spend a 

 couple of weeks camping out in one of those poultry houses 

 on the shore. Quantities of clam and lobster shells in front 

 of most of these poultry buildings testified to the fact that 

 these fowls not only enjoy the sea breezes direct from the 

 broad Atlantic ocean but also revel in quantities of sea food. 

 Mr. Sisson, the proprietor of this plant, also obtains a consider- 

 able quantity of the daily waste from some of the summer 

 hotels in his immediate vicinity. 



A look into the nests in these poultry buildings disclosed 

 a goodly number of fine, large, brown-shelled eggs, these 

 eggs by the way having shells of remarkable thickness. 

 Thick-shelled eggs in this section are considered no bar to 

 satisfactory hatching and, as our guide told us, the chick 

 that has plenty of life and vitality in it will make no diffi- 

 culty in getting out of a thick-shelled egg. 



Those of our readers who are skeptical concerning the 

 profits to be made in egg farming would do well to visit this 

 section, and would find such a visit both pleasant and 

 profitable. Only a very small percentage of the eggs from 

 the Little Compton district go to Boston market, the majority 

 of them being sent to the city of Providence, Rhode Island, 

 by steamer. 



Every day in summer and twice or three times a week 

 in winter, according to weather conditions, a fast little steam 

 packet leaves the wharf at Sakonnet Point for the trip up 

 the Sakonnet River through Mt. Hope Bay into the upper 

 end of Narragansett Bay, and thence by Providence River 

 to Providence. This steamer touches at Almy's Wharf, 

 Tiverton Four Corners, and at Tiverton to take on and dis- 

 charge freight, and the trip from Sakonnet Point to Provi- 

 dence makes a fitting close to a few days well spent in the 

 egg farming section of Rhode Island. 



VIRGINIA 

 First pullet at Pittsburg February 1909, win- 

 ning color and shape specials. Owned by Oscar 



E. Miles. 



