Make way for chicks

Smith, Bodfish, and Swift (SBS) in Vineyard Haven remains open during the pandemic restrictions. Perhaps best known as a purveyor of livestock feeds, the store sells pet food, seeds, and a springtime favorite, chicks.

“We’ve got a lot of inquiries for chickens and baby chicks,” owner Liz Packer said.

Like most stores that remain open on the Vineyard, business is conducted curbside at SBS, though some products are delivered. For chicks, they pick.

“Unfortunately we aren’t able to let people in the store so we just pick out a nice grouping of you know, six or eight or 12, the typical clutch,” Packer said. They come in a “cute little box.”

The chicks run five bucks a pop and in five or six months, Packer said you’ll have eggs. 

“They’re all going to lay brown eggs,” she said. 

The chickens themselves aren’t Velveteen Rabbit types.

“A lot of them are the old-world big heavyweights: the Rhode Island Reds and Buff Orpingtons…” she said.

The whole shebang is available at SBS for the wouldbe chicken farmer: feed, chicken wire, stakes, and heat lamps, among other items. 

“For the first month they need warmth,” she said of the chicks, “so a heat lamp.” She added that in addition to the obvious food and water, the chicks can’t be in a drafty environment as they don’t yet have feathers to insulate them. They must also be protected from raccoons and hawks. 

Packer said there’s a certain freedom that comes with collecting eggs from your own hens.

“You can be involved in what they’re eating, so when you hold an egg in your hand, you know what you’re eating,” she said. “Which is a really independent place to be in a world where you’re dependent on everything to make food happen.”

SBS stocks vegetable seeds, too. In March, Packer said, “We really got slammed.” 

What’s going on now with so much interest in seeds, Packer describes as a “revival” and a return to “victory gardens.”

“We’re not preparing for the worst, we’re preparing for the uncertain,” she said. “When things are uncertain, plant a garden.”

Though seed companies have been swamped, SBS has retained a steady supply of seeds, Packer said. “A lot of suppliers were getting hit so hard that they said they weren’t taking more orders, but they were still working with wholesalers such as ourselves.”

People who have been turned away by their mail order companies have found what they needed at SBS, she said. 

“People are taking a little bit of solace in ‘hey, I can put in an extra row of peas if not for myself, for my neighbor. Or I can teach my children to grow their own food because we’ve been dependent on a food system that might collapse.’ I mean, who knows?”

Packer said she’s monitored feed and grain supply chains closely and has been able to keep her store stocked with feed, forage, and bedding for livestock to service Islanders who depend on her products. “We’re the only livestock feed dealers on the Island,” she said. 

She said SBS carries everything from hay to piglet crumbles to duck mash to llama pellets. Yes, llama pellets. 

When the pandemic first hit, Packer said initially there was some concern about feed logistics, but for now those have abated. She said this is important because feed doesn’t keep.

“You know, you can’t buy a ton of lamb pellets for the year,” she said. “It’s not like soup you can put on the shelf. So you’ve got to keep it fresh.”

Packer said to the best of her knowledge SBS is the oldest continually operating store in Tisbury. She acquired the business in 2005. The company has a long relationship with Blue Seal. 

“SBS has sold Blue Seal feed for one hundred years,” she said. 

She described the company as providing good formulations and good ingredients. 

Packer acknowledged it was a privilege to be open and expressed thanks. “We’re really grateful we’re considered essential by our community,” she said.