Dan has a flock of fine white Leghorn chickens. He takes care of them by
machinery, for eggs are a crop, too. The hens live in cages with wire
floors, so that they keep very clean. All their droppings go through the
wire to a platform below. With a special scoop, run by his tractor, Dan
cleans the manure from the platform and puts it in a pile to be used as
fertilizer on the fields.
Every day the chickens have their meals brought to them on a moving
belt. The eggs they lay drop through their nests onto another belt that
carries them away. Finally a machine sorts the eggs according to size,
ready for packing.
Some farmers raise chickens for the market. Of course, the feathers must
be taken off after the chickens have been killed. There are machines for
this, too. One kind has mechanical fingers that pluck the feathers as
chickens go past on a moving belt.
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