Cape Breton's Magazine

I was buying my chicks from a hennery, and I had to be at the station the minute they arrived, because they could only live that long, you know. So I got in touch with some people, they were great workers--they dug out my cellar. And I got two incuba? tors, 2700 capacity. And I hatched out all my own chickens in the basement. My niece came up with me--she was 16 years old--she came up and stayed with me that winter. She went to high school up there. Oh, it worked out just great. The incubators, you know, they turned the egg over and every? thing. And when they were all ready, and take them out, I'd put them in boxes--100 to a box, 25 to each section. And I let them dry one night in the house. I had to have the brooder houses going for a week before you put chicks in. I had a foot of sand and a foot of shavings, and everything all dried out. The chicks stayed there till they start to peck. The first night they crowd in corners; they (might) kill one another, smother one an? other. That used to be her job--stay all night, keep them pushed apart. (And you did most of this alone.) Yes. There were nights and nights I never saw the bed. Get an order for a chicken supper, in the morning. And I'd probably be alone there. Go out and get the chickens--I kept a culling pen. And every night at 11 o'clock I went through the whole house, see who was laying and who wasn't. I had to learn that. And the ones that weren't laying, I put them in the culling pen. Then when I got those orders, I just went to use those hens. They were healthy, but they weren't laying eggs. (And what did you do?) Kill them, and dress them. Put them in scalding hot water. Stab them through the brain, and you know-- they go like this, and all the feathers loosen up and they just come off right quick. Then roll them in hot water and put them in burlap. But before I left, I had a waxer. You'd roll them in the waxes, and then (the feathers) would come off like a blanket. I'd work all night long. My neph? ew and I did 70 turkeys one day, 25-pound? ers . You just have to go, just tear right into it. Then they have to be weighed, and keep a chart of what they weighed. And you have tc have those cans with the cracked ice, and you have to put them in that. And this is when the team came in the morning, about 5 or 6 or 7 o'clock--they're in those ice barrels--to take them to be cooked by the church. (So you worked hard.) And look, I went so fast. Sometimes I'd say, "Well, I'm just going to drop dead, that's all." You know, my heart would be just like that. I was on my own. I never planned it. I was just pushed into everything. The first time my sister came there and she saw the house, this beautiful house--it was empty. All I had had was a bedroom and a living room--an apartment in a city. And there I was: an empty house and all this work. My sister looked over. She said, "Are you go? ing crazy, Lexie? You'll drive yourself in? to the grave." I was telling her all the work I was going to do and all the work that was going to be done. "Oh," she said, "the work of eight!" So there was this empty houseo Six bed? rooms. And I read a notice in the paper: Governor Spaulding of New Hampshire died, and the children were selling out the Nova Scotia Department of Health Cape Breton Health Unit Yes, these health services are available in your community: ??Dental Health Services -Public Health Inspection • Prenatal Classes -Health Education -Nutrition Information OFFICE LOCATIONS OFFICE LOCATIONS: NEIL'S HARBOUR 336-2295 ARICHAT 226-2944 NEW WATERFORD 862-2204 BADDECK 295-2159 PORT HAWKESBURY 625-1693 CHETICAMP 224-2410 PORT HOOD 787-3302 GLACE BAY 849-4566 ST. PETERS 535-2026 INVERNESS 258-2100 Ext. 134 SYDNEY 564-4447 MARGAREE 248-2198 SYDNEY MINES 736-6245 (7)