PROFITABLE POULTRY: NATION'S CHICKEN CHAINS FEED PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

SIKESTON, Mo. -- It used to be that the chicks were in the mail, but today's poultry farmers have a much more advanced and elaborate plan for raising chickens.

Several area poultry farmers raise chickens for the Tyson Foods plant at Dexter, Mo., where the meat is processed, packaged and shipped to grocers.

The chain cranks out more than 30 billion tons of chicken a year and Sikeston farmer Joe Heckemeyer raises about 1.5 million chicks in a year.

It used to be that baby chicks were boxed 100 to a crate and sent from hatcheries to the nation's farmers via the U.S. mail. Now, with millions of baby chicks sent out daily from hatcheries, the transportation facilities have changed.

The chicks arrive by a redesigned school bus, suited just to that task. Sometimes they come to the farm via large van, or semi-trailer truck, said Heckemeyer, who received his latest shipment of 190,000 chicks earlier this month.

In the next six or seven weeks, the small chirping, bouncing, yellow chicks will fill out to white broilers, fattened to about 5 pounds each. The birds will be trucked from the farm to the Tyson Foods plant at Dexter.

Tyson, the nation's leading chicken production chain, has farms spread across half the nation that produce more than 30 billion tons of chicken a year.

The chicks only stay seven weeks in Heckemeyer's sheds.

"We go through about six cycles a year," he said. His half-dozen, 650-foot long chicken sheds house more than 32,000 chickens each.

"When the baby chicks arrive they are small, about as big as your thumb," said Heckemeyer.

The chicks that arrived here last week had been hatched at Dexter in the morning and taken to the farm in the afternoon. The chicks are counted and medicated and placed in boxes of 100 at the hatchery.

Under farmer-Tyson contracts, Tyson provides each farmer with thousands of birds and feed. Growers must provide the barns, utilities, water and care for the chickens.

Heckemeyer says most growers -- there are 7,600 farms in 16 states -- have good relations with Tyson.

"We started the chicken business about five years ago," said Heckemeyer. "We've never been sorry. It provides a set income for farmers."

And it's fascinating to watch them grow, said Heckemeyer.

Don Kelley agrees. He has been helping with Heckemeyer's chicken and cattle operations for more than two years.

Heckemeyer, who farms about 640 acres southeast of Sikeston, also raises cattle and a few acres of grain soybeans, corn and wheat. He and his brother have another 1,200 acres of pine trees, which provide pine needles for livestock bedding.

The birds at the Heckemeyer farmer and about 18 to 20 other farms in the area are kept as comfortable as possible. In the winter, thermostatically controlled heaters keep the birds warm. In the summer, automatic fans and motor-driven curtains keep the air moving.

The overall shed temperature is kept at 84 to 86 degrees to start with, but dips to 82 as the chicken grow. Special poultry heaters maintain a 115-degree temperature in some areas.

"Automation also helps feed and water the chickens," said Heckemeyer. The birds drink from nipple drinkers that dispense water. Automatic feeders keep the specially formulated feed coming when the birds begin to eat.

In the first three to four weeks, the chicks eat a total of about 4 tons of food per week, said Heckemeyer. "By the time they're grown, they'll be going through 4 tons a day."

Getting into the chicken business is an expensive proposition. Heckemeyer's six chicken houses cost an average of $135,000 each to build. But the chicken ranch doesn't take up much space on the farm only about 20 acres, he said.

Raising chickens can be labor intensive.

"It's a day's work," said Heckemeyer. "We have three people involved, and we'll spend two to three hours each per day." Cleaning is the biggest part of the job, and it's not a clean job.

"We go through every house every day," said Heckemeyer. "There will be an occasional fatal, and we have to removed them. We also have to keep the floors clean."

Generally, the survival rate of the small chick is over 97 percent.

Heckemeyer uses rice hulls, obtained locally, on the floors. "After each cycle, we have to completely clean the buildings," he said.

As the chickens grow, so do the cleaning details. About half of the 650-foot-long structures are used when the baby chicks come into their new home. As they grow, new sections of the sheds are opened, until the entire space is used by the time the chickens reach full growth.

Tyson has 83 plants in 20 states, and produces a variety of products from Cornish game hens to boneless, skinless breasts, chicken patties and full dinners.

There are other national poultry processing companies, which generate a $27.5 billion chicken industry in the United States. Tyson produces twice the poultry products of Gold Kist, which is No. 2 on the poultry list. The top five includes Tyson, Gold Kist, ConAgra Poultry, Purdue Farms and Pilgrim Pride.

U.S. producers ship about 18 percent of their chickens overseas, with Hong Kong and Russia as the No. 1 and No. 2 markets for the American chicken farmer. U.S. producers are now competing with Latin America producers for the export market.

Missouri poultry production has increased over the past decade and a half from 7.4 million in 1987 to 40 million chickens last year.

Although every county in the state has some poultry production, eight counties account for more than 94 percent of the total.

Scott and Stoddard counties became large-scale poultry producers in the past decade. Barry, McDonald and Newton counties have been large poultry areas since the mid-1980s. Others among the top eight counties included Pettis, Morgan and Lawrence counties.

Arkansas, Tyson's home state, is the largest poultry producing state in the U.S. Farmers in Arkansas raise about 15 percent of the nation's chickens -- about a billion birds a year, valued at more than $2 billion. Second on the list is Georgia, followed by Alabama, North Carolina and Mississippi.