AgrAbility Quarterly. The McCahills: Creativity and Technology Help a Delaware Couple Keep Raising Chickens

Client Story–The McCahills: Creativity and Technology Help a Delaware Couple Keep Raising Chickens

Growing up in Long Island, New York, Brian and Diann McCahill never gave much thought to a rural lifestyle. In 1978, the young couple lived and worked in a Connecticut town. But that was about to change. One evening at their bowling league, a team member mentioned he had family that farmed in the Delmarva region. Brian and Diann were intrigued and made arrangements to visit the operation.

A color photo of Diann and Brian McCahill standing in front of the control box for their water pressure adjustment system.
Diann and Brian McCahill at the controls of their water pressure adjustment system.

Shortly after visiting the farm and then researching contract chicken growing, the McCahills decided to move to Frankford, Delaware to set up their own poultry operation. Brian and Diann quickly settled into farming life and started a family. Today, Brian and Diann happily tend to more than 100,000 birds daily for Perdue Farms.

However, Brian’s back – injured while working for a newspaper company in Connecticut – deteriorated over the years. He has had three separate operations, the last of which fused vertebrae in his lower back. The constant bending and kneeling required tending to the chickens also affected Brian’s knees and lead to two operations on his left knee. Arthritis developed in Brian’s shoulders further decreasing his capacity to work around the farm.

When Diann injured herself on the farm in 2002, the McCahills started to worry that the physical demands of their current operation may be too much for them. Diann had sustained permanent damage to her left hand when her gloved fingers caught in a drill she was using to position the water lines in the chicken houses. It was during her occupational therapy at the local Easter Seals affiliate they learned of AgrAbility and were introduced to Sally Van Schaik with the Delaware-Maryland AgrAbility Project.

Sally visited the McCahill farm and conducted an onsite assessment of their poultry operation. In addition to the modifications Brian developed (see bottom panel), AgrAbility identified several ways the McCahills could reduce the lifting and bending necessary in their daily chores.

The McCahills and Sally enlisted Debbie Post of Delaware’s Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) to help the McCahills finance the modifications. It was DVR’s first case working with a poultry farmer and they were able to help fund a pallet fork, dead-bird incinerator, and whole house water pressure adjustment system.

The pallet fork attachment for the front-end loader enables Brian to unload 50 lb bags of poultry litter treatment and water conditioners by the pallet instead of individually. The 500 lb capacity incinerator greatly reduces the composting required to dispose of dead birds.

However, it is the new water system that has been the greatest help. In the past, Brian needed to kneel down and adjust 84 water regulators individually in the chicken houses. Now, with a PDS (Pneumatic Drinking System) Control and Regulator system that connects all water regulators to one control, Brian only has to make one adjustment in each house to change all the regulators. Diann feels that “the best benefit is I don’t see Brian in pain. I could see how sore he was after adjusting the regulators. He’d come in and sit down after working all day, but then couldn’t get up and move. Now, he’s free from that. I can see the biggest difference.”

A color photo of Brian kneeing next to Chickmate ® feeders and the PDS water control system inside a chicken house. Diann is standing next to him and they are surrounded by chickens.
Diann, Brian and the chickens with the PDS water control system and Chick Mate feeders.

The new water system also includes automatic and programmable flushing capabilities to clean the water lines. This feature eliminates the need to carry dozens of buckets of water to change the birds’ drinking water. “It was hard to carry buckets with my hand. I had to switch hands frequently,” recalls Diann.

Brian feels as though he’s “80 percent better” since they installed the modifications. However, to him the greatest benefit is the fact they can stay in the life they chose more than 26 years ago. “I used to worry about Diann if I couldn’t work. They [Delaware-Maryland AgrAbility Project] saved us a lot of pain and prolonged our life here on the farm” states Brian. “We enjoy it on the farm. We saw our kids grow up since we were on the farm.”

The McCahills are thrilled with the assistance AgrAbility provided. “If Diann didn’t get hurt,” Brian speculated, “we might not have known there are people out there who want to help you. Farmers don’t realize there are agencies out there. I think it’s great.”

A color photo of Diann and Brain McCahill with Sally Van Schaik. Brian is holding the 2004 AgrAbility Award plaque.
Diann and Brain McCahill with Sally Van Schaik (left).

Brian and Diann McCahill were honored by Easter Seals and the Delaware-Maryland AgrAbility Project (D-MAP) with the 2004 AgrAbility Award. “Brian has been very innovative in developing practices that can make his work easier,” said Sally Van Schaik, D-MAP staff member. He has installed dead bird disposal doors on one side of the chicken houses to reduce walking when disposing of dead birds, designed brood partitions that don’t require digging out litter to install, and constructed a paper rack to easily dispense brood paper.

Focus – Poultry: Broiler Chicken Production in the U.S.

In This Issue
Section 1: Client Story – The McCahills: Creativity and Technology Help a Delaware Couple Keep Raising Chickens Section 2: Focus – Poultry: Broiler Chicken Production in the U.S. Section 3: Assistive Technology Notes – Assistive Technologies for Poultry Operations	Section 4: State Project Feature – Delaware-Maryland AgrAbility Project Section 5: References and Resources Section 6: Contacts