Valley grower rescues 7,500 chicks

A shipment of 7,500 chicks headed for Korea was grounded at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage when air traffic shut down after terrorists attacked on the East Coast.

The young laying hens were rescued by the owner of a Mat-Su hatchery, however, and are making their way into Valley chicken coops through a network of feed suppliers and farm families.

"I just didn't wanna see them kill all these baby birds," said Tony Schmidt, owner of Triple D Farm and Hatchery. "There's been enough death and destruction in this country."

Schmidt got a phone call Wednesday from Anchorage asking if he would take the baby birds from the Federal Express cargo-sorting facility. Schmidt said he was breaking down his brooding pens for the winter when he decided to set up as many pens as he could and drive to the airport.

Schmidt said he wouldn't normally take any order this time of year, let alone 7,500 birds. At the peak of Triple D's brooding season last June, the brooders held about 3,600 chicks, according to Schmidt.

Like most Valley operations, Triple D is a small operation. Schmidt was focused mostly on raising turkeys for the holidays and a few pigs for the winter season. Most of the farm's hatchery business takes place in May and June.

"The brooders were all apart and getting cleaned. We had to slam all the brooders together and get them warmed up and unbox the chicks and get them warm," he said.

Chicks of all types are shipped when they are one day old, because chicks are actually less fragile than fertile eggs. The yolk provides a chick's nutrition for three to five days depending on the species and how strong the bird is. The Korea-bound chicks were likely two or three days old by the time they got to Triple D.

Schmidt said he made the decision to pick up the shipment as soon as he heard.

"It was an instant thing -- with baby chicks you have to act now," he said. Which is a good thing for the birds, because most have survived. But, it puts Schmidt in a bind because the little chicks are about to grow fast, and he says Triple D can't afford to raise them all.

Schmidt stocked up on feed for the short term, and is charging 25 cents a head for the chicks -- about what they've cost him so far. He's networking with local feed stores and growers to move them out before they eat him into debt. The sheer number of chicks took him by surprise when he arrived at the airport in Anchorage.

"I really didn't need the extra work. I just couldn't see them putting all these birds down, and I thought I'd go and get them and save as many as I can and find homes for as many as I can," he said. "The word's going out. People are passing the word on to their customers"

The birds are mostly laying hens, and roosters as well. Schmidt's not sure if they were ultimately intended as brooding stock or for egg production.

At any rate, the hens will produce eggs with or without a rooster. It's the business of raising fowl in the winter that will be the biggest challenge for people who want to take in some of the birds. The chicks are kept at 95 degrees Fahrenheit in the brooding pens, and the temperature needs to be dropped gradually as they mature.

Gracie Biesanz, the business manager at Budget Feed and Farm, said it's possible to raise chickens in unheated roosts through the Alaskan winter if a person is careful doing it.

"They don't necessarily have to be in heat, but you have to start them so warm and then reduce the heat gradually so they can get acclimatized," Biesanz said.

Beyond that, it's a matter of making sure the water supply doesn't freeze up. This can be done either with a electric trough element, or by putting the birds on a twice-a-day watering schedule after they mature, as you might with a cow or a horse.

There hasn't been an egg or meat production farm in the Valley large enough to take in a shipment of chicks this large since the mid 1980s, according to Doug Warner, a development specialist at the Alaska Division of Agriculture.

Warner also happens to be an egg inspector. Back then, Warner said it would have been no big deal for local farms to squeeze in 7,500 chicks.

"With the advent of cheaper shipping it became more cost-effective to ship eggs from the Lower 48," Warner said. "The growers here were basically competing with the Seattle plus freight price."

Warner said large agribusiness companies look into egg production here from time to time, but no one has tried it recently. Warner said a small fresh egg and meat farm like Triple D is viable, and that it's possible larger fresh egg farms might someday return to Alaska if consumer demand grows.

"If you can find people who appreciate a good home-grown egg . . . today's consumers are just used to having an older egg, it squats in the pan and just sort of spreads out," Warner said.

Warner said it's simple to produce eggs all winter, just not profitable.

"It's sort of a book-work project," he said. "If somebody has the inclination and has some experience with it, they could try. They have to formulate a ration if you're going to have good egg production."

Warner also said it's legal to sell eggs right off the farm, as long as you sell direct to the consumer and not to a restaurant or store.

"The operative word is 'ultimate consumer,'" Warner said. USDA inspections kick in at 5,000 egg birds, according to Warner.

Laying hens start producing eggs between 20 and 25 weeks of age, and infertile eggs are just as nutritious as fertile eggs, according to Schmidt.

Laying hens need light every day, and will eat one-fifth to one-third of a pound of chicken feed a day. Warner figures that if enough people in the Valley appreciate fresh eggs, the chicks have a good chance of finding decent homes.

Anyone who wants a few chicks to grow for the winter should call Triple D Farm at 376-3338, and start doing their fowl farming homework.