Wallowa County Chieftain
CHICKS
Continued from Page A1
It’s successful in many ways
but not necessarily financially,
they contend. The Hawkins Sis-
ters Ranch is a snapshot of the
real cost of raising quality meat.
It is one of two Oregon
Department of Agriculture
small poultry licensed process-
ing facilities in Eastern Ore-
gon, taking advantage of new
rules that allow small-enter-
prise farms that process 20,000
or fewer birds per year to meet
sanitary and other rules without
having to be USDA inspected.
The chickens can only be mar-
keted in Oregon.
Their facility is housed in
a new 13x40-foot “Old Hick-
ory Shed” that has been fitted
to meet state sanitation require-
ments. They’re serious about
sanitation. Mary will not even
touch a turkey chick if she’s
been working with chickens or
vice versa. The interior of the
facility is spotless, even in the
midst of processing birds.
The operation is on their
father Merel Hawkins’ 300-
acre farm on Bear Creek Road
in Wallowa. Merel is retired,
and most of the land is leased
for cattle grazing, so the sisters
are getting the use of the little
space required for the chicken
business free.
In this facility, on this land,
the sisters will butcher approxi-
mately 6,000 chickens over the
next six months.
Other families who bring in
birds from their own flocks for
processing will have raised 60
percent of those birds. The sisters
charge approximately $5 per bird
for processing. They sell their
own birds for $5 per pound, pre-
dominantly to Wallowa County
customers who have spoken for
them well in advance. Approxi-
mately 400 birds are sold to Port-
land customers through Carman
Ranch Direct.
Yet, even with no mort-
gage and selling chicken at $5
NEXT?
Continued from Page A1
Rohla said Monday she
wasn’t sure the foundation
would be able to take on that
responsibility. It is a federally
registered nonprofit.
“It probably couldn’t be
done only with volunteers,”
Rohla said.
Generally, Wallowa County
officials are supportive of con-
tinuing the grants under the
auspices of another entity.
Talks have been ongoing to
find homes for the grants with
Building Healthy Families and
others.
Wallowa County’s expe-
rience is similar to Josephine
County, which floated the idea
to create a library district in
2014. When it failed, a non-
profit was created to help fund
and promote the libraries.
The measure was reshaped
and appeared on the bal-
lot again in 2017 and was
approved. It was combined
with a proposal to fund an adult
jail and juvenile detention facil-
ity. The package won narrow
approval at 93 cents per $1,000
of property value.
The original defeat of the
issue there meant supporters
had to get creative.
“The theory was that if
From A1
wallowa.com
A13
RIGHT Although the Haw-
kins sisters’ chickens are not
technically “free range,” they
are certainly outdoor birds
with a grassy run. The Haw-
kins sisters also feed local-
ly sourced nonGMO organic
feed of their own blend.
BELOW These turkeys, just
a few days old, will grow
up to be much sought-after
Thanksgiving dinner.
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
per pound, raising chickens
humanely on naturally sourced
custom-designed feed doesn’t
pencil out.
“On paper it’s ‘Ah, I
shouldn’t be doing this.’” Mary
said. “The correct choice, on
paper, is ‘do not do this.’”
Mary took a business course
a few years ago that required
rigorous number-crunching and
proved that financial reality.
And yet the Hawkins Sisters
are still in the chicken business.
Their employees earn wages.
“I’ve analyzed, and I think
it’s just me being stubborn,”
Mary said. “I think: ‘surely
there’s a way to raise chickens
on a small scale!’ I think I do
it because it’s a puzzle (how to
make it pay).”
And it’s hard to quit when
you’re successful on so many
other levels.
“It’s an amazing product
that people really want, and
there’s a huge demand,” Mary
said. “Flavor and texture are
wonderful, people remark on it
all the time.”
They’ve already met and
bested many challenges. First
challenge, growing a healthy
bird. The Cornish cross bird is
the most economical to grow
because it has been developed
to grow fast and huge.
Other chicken breeds may
take up to six months to reach
butcher weight and years to
reach maturity – the factory-fed
Cornish cross can weigh as
much as 10 pounds live weight
in 56 days and yield a six pound
roaster.
Feeding a fast-growing
chicken up to that weight that
quickly can lead to a high mor-
With the defeat of the library district
measure comes the opportunity to go back
to the drawing board.… We must put aside
our differences and collaborate to build the
future of Wallowa County Libraries.”
— Angela Bombaci
coordinator for the “Yes for Wallowa
County Libraries” committee
everyone who voted ‘yes’ for
the district donated what they
would’ve paid in taxes, we’d
be able to fund our library,”
said Kate Lasky, who has been
involved in the issue from the
beginning. “We operated our
library as a private nonprofit
with a value for transparency,
accountability and frugality to
honor donor contributions in
the same way a government
agency would honor taxpayer
contributions.
“Our libraries were never
able to open enough hours or
have enough funds to have a
healthy book and materials
budget, but we were open and
that’s all that mattered.”
The nonprofit had a small
paid staff that worked to coor-
dinate the efforts of volunteers,
Lasky noted.
The funding burden for a
nonprofit in Wallowa County
Please join us for
this FREE event.
Lunch Provided!
would likely be less consid-
ering the three largest cit-
ies already fund a core library
service.
In addition to talking strat-
egy Wednesday, the foundation
will also cast for new board
members. Rohla said anyone
interested should come early to
discuss the possibilities.
The foundation’s charter
requires that all areas of the
county be represented on the
foundation board.
Current members in addi-
tion to Rohla include Autumn
Wilburn, Mike Crawford, Mag-
gie Holcomb, Kay Sawin, Bon-
nie Marks and Lorien James.
One position remains vacant.
Most of the past year has
been dedicated to getting the
library district qualified for the
May ballot.
A separate fundraising com-
mittee operates in consultation
FREE
CEU’s
TRAUMA INFORMED CARE TRAINING
WHEN:
June 13, 2018
Thursday, June 14, 2018
WHERE: Cloverleaf Hall, 668 NW 1 st Street, Enterprise, OR 97828
TIME:
8:30 am – 3:00pm,
Coffee & Snacks at 8am. Lunch provided.
WHAT:
Begin to understand the benefits of a trauma informed system Learn
next steps for implementation of trauma informed care in our community
WHO:
All professional staff and community members from education, health-
care, housing, child welfare, early childhood, judicial, law enforcement,
systems of care, community and mental health services as well as indi-
viduals with lived experience, youth, and family advocates.
REGISTER ON
EVENTBRITE OR CALL
(541) 426-4524 Ext. 1031
In partnership with:
tality rate. Birds can die of
heart failure, leg deformities
from too much weight to leg
strength, infections from lying
down full-time. The butchered
bird can have an enlarged heart
and a flaccid pale liver that
must be discarded.
The Hawkins Sisters have
solved these problems through
their growing and feeding phi-
losophy. They feed their own
custom blend with no corn or
soy, and they don’t confine and
overfeed to make what Mary
calls a “Frankenstein Bird.”
Their chickens are vigorous,
with the foundation board.
“With the defeat of the
library district measure comes
the opportunity to go back
to the drawing board,” said
Angela Bombaci, volunteer
coordinator for the “Yes for
Wallowa County Libraries”
committee, which functioned
independent of the foundation.
She issued an invitation to
anyone who voted against the
district to attend Wednesday’s
meeting.
“We’d love their input,”
she said. “We must put aside
our differences and collaborate
to build the future of Wallowa
County Libraries.”
docile and seem happy. The sis-
ters reckon the average weight
of their eight- to 10-week old
bird, when processed, is about
four pounds.
Right now, the third week of
June, there are 325 new arriv-
als in the Hawkins brooder
barn. The chick brooder space
is a large, clean and roomy
shed with both fresh air and
six warming lamps. The sisters
will order a new batch of chicks
every four weeks through
September.
A few hundred feet away
in the hay pasture are the “out-
door” growing houses; home-
made arched chicken struc-
tures that allow the growing
birds plenty of protected space
but provide freedom to come
and go into the attached grassy
yard. Although not free range,
they have access to grass and
bugs and are fed the Hawkins
locally grown custom blend
feed.
The operation will go dor-
mant by Thanksgiving. The
turkeys, a new endeavor, are
expected to yield a few dollars
over the financial break-even
point.
IN BRIEF
Legislators do not have a bill
limit for the 2019 Legislative
Session and as such, both say
they wish to introduce any legis-
lation to address issues or prob-
lems facing Eastern Oregon.
Elected officials are asked to
bring any issues facing their city
or county to the meeting.
In addition to the Wallowa
County Commission and com-
missioner-elect, District Attor-
neys and Sheriffs, County
Clerks, Treasurers, Surveyors
and Assessors have been invited.
Mayors and City Coun-
cil members from Enterprise,
Joseph, Lostine and Wallowa
are also expected to attend.
Legislators plan
summit July 10
Sen. Bill Hansell and Rep.
Greg Barreto will host a dis-
cussion with elected officials
from Umatilla, Union and Wal-
lowa Counties to discuss poten-
tial legislation for the upcoming
2019 Legislative Session.
The event is 1 p.m. Tues-
day, July 10, at Eastern Oregon
University Huber Auditorium
(Badgley Hall, Room 102) in
La Grande.
WALLOWA COUNTY
Health Line
519 W. North Street, Enterprise
541.426.3413
Mon-Thurs 9 to Noon/1-5pm; Fri. 9-1
Grand
Opening
Party!
Fri, June 15th
10 am - 7pm
Help Us
Celebrate Our
5th Season!
Keycode Entry
Weight Room • Cardio
Women’s Circuit • Tanning
202 W. Main, Enterprise
541-426-0313
Forests in a
Changing World
David Mildrexler, PhD
Systems Ecologist, Wallowology
Forest ecosystems play a vital role in the biosphere, but rapid
environmental change, particularly climate and land use changes
threaten to undermine the many valuable ecosystem services that
forests provide. David's research examines the ecology and
biophysical properties of Earth’s forests, their sensitivity to climate
change, natural disturbances, and forest management, and what
people are doing around the world to help forest ecosystems gain
resiliency in the face of an uncertain future.
Discovery Walk • 10am
Presentation • 7pm
Fri, June 15 • 7 pm • FREE!
All Day:
Food, Games,
New Exhibits,
Raffles,
and More!
Natural History Discovery Center
508 N. Main • Joseph • 541-263-1663 • wallowology.org
