I grew up on a large chicken farm in Northeast Ohio. In fact my mom still lives on the farm! We had as many as 10,000 chickens at a time. We would get them as day old peeps and then raise them up. We would gather eggs 2 times a day! Lots of eggs and egg fights with my sister and brother! When the chickens got to the age that they didn't lay many eggs they were sold. By that time they were basically used as soup or fryers. We would gather up a bunch of high school kids and my dad and grandpa and us girls would go into the coops at night and catch the chickens and put them into crates and then they would be shipped out to the poultry plant that night or the next day. Sometimes the older people from town would come out and buy live chickens to take back and butcher. Those chickens were caught during the day with a chicken hook. You had to be fast to get a chicken by the leg with those hooks! I was pretty proud of myself cause I could carry up to 12 chickens..6 chickens in each hand! Well anyway... the picture is of a crate that we used to put the chickens into, and then stacked in a truck. It held about 20 chickens. This crate sits on my moms porch as a reminder of our "Good Ole Days". Have a great day! huggers laurel
