Interviews

1. Memories of railroad workers who stayed at family's prewar hotel in Spokane, Washington

2. Working as a night clerk at family's Spokane, Washington, hotel, throwing out the drunk residents

3. Family's hotel clientele, transients traveling by rail

4. Japanese American railroad workers are fired following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

5. Losing job with railroad because of being Japanese American

6. A racist encounter at a movie theater following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

7. Encountering a train full of Japanese Americans being transported to a concentration camp

8. Description of the process of chick sexing

9. The rigorous work schedule of a chick-sexer in upstate New York

10. The importance of speed and accuracy in the chick-sexing industry

11. The enormous demand for chick sexers in the chicken hatchery industry

George Yamada

(b. 1923) Chick sexer

The importance of speed and accuracy in the chick-sexing industry

The fastest I was able to go with a sustained speed was around 1,200 chicks an hour—with accuracy, that's what's important. Japanese, the Niseis were very, highly accurate. If you had a thousand laying hens, you would find maybe one or two roosters in the entire batch. In other words, if you had a hundred thousand laying hens and you only had ten roosters, they have to be destroyed because there was no, nothing for, like the broiler industry, they don't generally eat Leghorns. Leghorns known for its laying capability, whereas in the broiler industry, you want a fatter, heavier chicken, and quicker.

chick sexing

Date: March 15 & 16, 2006

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Megan Asaka

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Nisei male. Born 1923 in Spokane, Washington. Spent childhood in downtown Spokane where parents ran the World Hotel. Father also worked as a mail handler for the Great Northern Railroad. Attended Lewis and Clark High School and Washington State University. During the war remembers seeing train cars pass through Spokane with Japanese Americans headed to Heart Mountain incarceration camp, Wyoming. Drafted into the army in 1944 and served at the Military Intelligence Service Language School in Fort Snelling, Minnesota and Presidio, California. After World War II, worked as a chick sexer in upstate New York and surrounding region for thirty years. Returned to Spokane in the mid-1970s and pursued a career in real estate. Currently lives with wife, Susie, in Spokane and is an active fly fisherman. (March 16, 2006 )

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George Yamada

The importance of speed and accuracy in the chick-sexing industry

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