Cape Breton's Magazine

supposed to be all laying hens. But among them, I think, were a dozen roosters. You know, when they tested them, they slipped in somehow. So anyway, we got these large brooders, and we started keeping our hens, our chickens, under brooders until they were eight weeks old. And then when they got to be eight weeks old, we could let them--we had a big yard outside the place where we were keep? ing them. We kept them in that building. We kept so many upstairs, so many downstairs. We kept them in the barn that blew over, too. And we had a big yard where they could run in. And we had a hole made in the place, in the building. And they could run in and out and do just what they pleased. And we had big troughs, or containers, to put their feed in. And then great big buck? ets to put their water in. And it meant--no trouble at all to look after them. And then from the spring to the fall, till when we were ready to sell them, we made a nice good speck of money on them. That is for the meat, you know. And for the hens, we'd ship the eggs to Sydney. We had crates--we used to ship 30 dozen crates at a time. Thirty dozen crates at a time. But the eggs were fairly cheap then. When the price came up, boys, we made a little mon? ey on them. That was the time that we paid up, from when we didn't. You know, when we had to work so hard. You Can Pack Everythini Into Our Weekender. And we don't mean just a suitcase! Avis has a full range of late model vehicles from sports sedans to minivans to help you get away for a great weekend, at Special Weekend Rates. At Avis, our "We try harder" service helps turn your weekend getaway into a memorable mini-holiday! Chevrolet Lumina APV Call Today For Full Details and Reservations. Sydney-Glace Bay Hwy: (902) 564-8341 Sydney Airport: (902) 564-8265 (So you were doing that every day.) Every day. (Who collected the eggs?) Oh, anybody. We had hired help, you know, regular. We had hired help all the time. We didn't have too many, we had a couple, one or two, you know, like that. They would collect--I would go and collect, too. Oh yes, we all would. Eggs by the basket, by the bucket. And we would be up till two o'clock in the morning, grading and candling those eggs. They'd have to be graded. And candle and weigh, before we could ship them. And some of them had to be cleaned, too, you know. We used to get sawdust--sawdust by the barrel for to put in their little places where they'd sleep, you know. (And what made you stop raising chickens?) Oh, when did we stop? Well, we got tired after awhile, you know. We were getting up in years.... Think about it all along through the years, you know. It was all right while we were younger, we didn't mind it. But when we got to be older, it was a lot of work, you know. So we just said, well, we'll keep less hens, and we'll have less eggs. Then the milk--well, they used to come and pick up the milk here. But the eggs, we used to take them down to Sydney, you know. And there was a truck, after awhile, that used to come and pick them up.... Anjrway, that's the way, life went on. (A huge amount of work.) I can't understand, as well as I am today. I don't think work hurts anybody. I think it does them good, myself. Did me. There was never any day but what we didn't ??1993 Aviscar Inc. AVIS We try harder.? GILLIS mmeoire ??HiBUILDING CENTRE'H Si'eoia'km' Ih TiOtt.se Pac??a' So tJie rfo/'dHo-rkd FLOOR & ROOF TRUSSES KINGS ROAD, SYDNEY RIVER 539-0738 [L[y]0'[i[i[Hi mJ' • " viMLn • *'' 'Ctl??h ''' mSlU HOME CALL US FOR AN ESTIMATE HOMES 'A/GDD I Complete Home Packages Cottages Contact Darren Wilcox: 539-0738 86