Rear-view Mirror
by Maurice Smith
Warden Avenue north of Aurora Road, home to King Capon Ltd., Bill’s Turkey Farm and King Cole Ducks Ltd., is fondly referred to by some as “Poultry Alley”.
The King Cole story begins with Charles Murby, who worked in the cattle industry around Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. In 1921, Mr. and Mrs. Murby and their children, James and Peggy, immigrated to Canada and took up residence on a farm near Sarnia, Ont., where young James received his first lessons in raising cattle and fowl for the market place.
When he married Margaret Burnett in 1936, the newlyweds established a small chicken raising operation from which they supplied their clientele in and around southern Ontario. Eventually their business expanded to serve major customers in the Toronto region.
Wanting to be closer to these customers, this enterprising pair pulled together $11,000 and in 1947 purchased one hundred acres on Warden Avenue in Whitchurch Township, where they built a small chicken hatchery and processing plant. Their son Robert, born in 1937, was soon taking his turn performing farm chores and learning the family business.
One day, two gentlemen from Newmarket asked if the family would mind raising a few Pekin ducks, as they had a requirement for them in their wholesale meat business. Soon after, the Murbys produced the first ducks for their new customers. “That’s simply how it all started,” James said, with a smile.
When the gentlemen kept coming back with ever-increasing orders, James, Margaret and Robert realized there were no other suppliers in the area to satisfy this growing market. They soon multiplied the size of their flock and began taking their product to open air markets such as the large one on Yonge Street in Thornhill. By 1952, with a much wider customer base, they had given up chicken production and were focusing on the product for which they were becoming famous.
In the 1960s they averaged about 1,000 ducks a month. Today, their ducks and drakes (five ducks to one drake; no wonder the male only lasts for one year) produce approximately 10,000 eggs per day. Their facilities include a hatchery with a capacity to store up to 250,000 of these gems.
Like so many other enterprises in our area, this farm is being passed down through the family. Today there are 12 fourth-generation offspring, at least during school breaks, involved in the operation. Ducks do not differentiate between Saturdays, Sundays, public or seasonal holidays to lay an egg. Collecting these has become one of the many chores involving family members.
When processing a duck, every portion, from tongue to feet, is utilized. Even feathers are collected, washed and bundled to be stuffed into duvets, chesterfields and pillows. Four fully grown ducks produce one pound of feathers.
Products from this location have been shipped to such exotic places as Tahiti and Japan, but in the main they are now only sold in US and Canadian markets. James, now 97 years old, still shows up at the farm most days, but, he insisted, “Sorry, no more of those long hours.” And his granddaughter Pattie added, “He even takes Christmas off.”
What started as a small family poultry farm has grown to a campus of 20 buildings spread over a thousand acres. It employs 120 people and is the largest duck producing operation in Canada. And home for this family and their corporation is still right here in Whitchurch-Stouffville.
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