Gold Kist was a large chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

 producing company in the United States south. It was founded in 1933 by D.W. Brooks, a University of Georgia

University of Georgia

The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...

 agronomy

Agronomy

Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants for food, fuel, feed, fiber, and reclamation. Agronomy encompasses work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. Agronomy is the application of a combination of sciences like biology,...

 instructor as the Cotton Producers Association, a cooperative

Cooperative

A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...

 to help farmers in Carrollton, Georgia

Carrollton, Georgia

Carrollton is a city in West Georgia, United States, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,388...

, market cotton. It soon grew and diversified into fields such as fertilizer

Fertilizer

Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...

 and retailing farm supplies. It soon entered the poultry business. In 1998 it exited the agronomy business to focus on protein products, primarily chicken but also pork. In 2004, with the approval of its membership, it converted from being a cooperative to a for-profit stock-ownership company, listed on NASDAQ

NASDAQ

The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...

. In 2006, Gold Kist was acquired by Pilgrim's Pride

Pilgrim's Pride

Pilgrim's Corp., previously Pilgrim's Pride , is a former U.S.-owned company with its U.S. headquarters relocated to Greeley, Colorado. As a subsidiary of the Brazilian food giant, JBS, it is the largest chicken producer in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest chicken producer...

.

Operations

Gold Kist operated nine fully integrated poultry divisions in Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 and North

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 and South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

. Each division operated its own hatchery

Hatchery

A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish or poultry. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled conditions; alternatively, it may be for economic reasons A hatchery is a...

, feed mill, and processing plant.

Co-op

Gold Kist contracted with approximately 2,300 family farmers to raise the chickens. The farmers provide the houses, equipment, utilities and labor to grow the birds. Gold Kist provides the chicks, feed and technical assistance. When the chickens reach market weight, Gold Kist processes and markets them. This contractual arrangement gives farmers access to global markets but reduces their exposure to market volatility

Volatility (finance)

In finance, volatility is a measure for variation of price of a financial instrument over time. Historic volatility is derived from time series of past market prices...

.

Farms

Gold Kist operated three types of chicken farms; Pullet, Layer, and Broiler

Broiler

A broiler is a type of chicken raised specifically for meat production. Modern commercial broilers, typically known as Cornish crosses or Cornish-Rocks are specially bred for large scale, efficient meat production and grow much faster than egg or traditional dual purpose breeds...

.

Operations

The company's pullet farms are where select breeds are raised to about 20 to 22 weeks of age when they're moved on to our next type of farm.

Operations

On a Gold Kist layer farm pullets were grown for a few weeks along with Roosters

Roosters

Roosters is a 1993 American dramatic film with a screenplay by Milcha Sanchez-Scott that is adapted from her play of the same name. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1993 before being released in the United States in 1995....

 (about 1 rooster for every 8-10 hens) where they begin to mate and eventually lay eggs. The eggs that leave a Gold Kist layer farm (usually twice per week) were taken to the local division's hatchery. The birds were kept here for no more than 10 months.

Specifications

A Gold Kist layer house was usually 30-40 feet wide and 400-600 feet long. Each may house about 15,000 birds. A farm may contain a number of these but most contain only two side-by-side houses. Inside the house there are several automated systems including feed chains, water pipes, curtain drops, fans (two for every 100 feet (30.5 m) of length of the house), and a Cool Cell system acting like an air conditioning system during hot days.

Operations

The layer hens' hatched chicks were taken to a Gold Kist broiler farm where they were grown from the day they hatch (Usually just hours after hatching) for about 6 to 8 weeks.

Specifications

A Gold Kist broiler house was usually 30-40 feet wide and 400-600 feet long. Each may house thousands of chicks. A farm may contain a number of these; most contain about 4-6 houses. Inside the house there are several automated systems including feed chains, water pipes, curtain drops, fans, and a gas heating system to keep chicks warm.
KFC uses Gold Kist Farm Chicken.