BURNACE MONROE HANCOCK

Burnace M. Hancock was born September 9, 1905 in Chatham County. He grew up on a farm and was one of eleven children. In 1926, he joined Siler City Mills first as a truck driver and later as a feed salesman.

Times were hard in the late 1920’s, and Mr. Hancock and Siler City Mills mail-ordered baby chicks and placed them with farmers as a means of increasing feed sales. He located growers and markets for the birds and Siler City Mills furnished the feed to these customers who grew out the chickens for processing. These fryers were shipped by rail to distant places such as Savannah and Cincinnati for processing.

 Mr. Hancock soon realized the potential of the poultry business and in the late 1930’s, he leased a warehouse and began devoting fulltime to hatching, feeding, and marketing chickens. He was one of the real innovators in getting the broiler business started in Chatham County.

Immediately following World War II, he started a processing business and was one of the first contract producers of broilers in the Chatham County area. He later expanded the business to include a feed mill and hatchery to make the business fully integrated. Today, his sons continue to operate the B. M. Hancock and Sons' Feed Mills producing approximately 375,000 broilers per week for processing. In addition they manufacture feed for other companies in the area.

Mr. Hancock’s contributions to the growth and development of the poultry industry in North Carolina, his pioneer spirit, his ingenuity, and his many other accomplishments highly qualify him for the North Carolina Poultry Hall of Fame.