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One spring I was late to order some laying hens from Roger Vaughn, who had a farm outside of Richfield Springs and housed among other critters about 2,500 chickens. I usually got the ones that he soon intended to rotate because of a drop in their production. Naturally, I wouldn’t get an egg per chicken every day, but it beat waiting about 20 weeks for baby chicks to mature and start laying.…
Life Sketches by Terry Berkson Retired Poultry FarmerRecalls ‘Roger’s Colossus’in Face of Avian Flu Epidemic Recently, Roger and Diane Vaughn—who operated the only small commercial poultry farm situated along the Route 20 corridor between Albany and Syracuse—retired. Theirs was one of about 15 remaining egg-laying operations in the state. At one time, there were 15 small farms like theirs within a 15-mile radius. Then, the average setup consisted of about 300,000 birds, which made the Vaughns’ flock of poultry look…