NORTHAMPTON — Some 20 years ago, Richard Adams’ brother George started renting out a shed-like structure on the property the brothers managed at 1095 Florence Road.
When George got sick a few years ago, Adams, who said he operated Ravenwold Greenhouses and left the other farm activities and rentals to his brother, asked him about the various renters and money handling.
“He told me, ‘Chicken Man 1,’ ‘Chicken Man 2,’ and ‘Chicken Man 3,’” Adams said. “And that’s all I ever knew.”
George Adams died about a year and a half ago, leaving Richard Adams in charge when a Northampton animal control officer came to do a barn check last Thursday and found 427 birds, plus evidence of an illegal cockfighting operation. It’s the largest such operation state animal welfare workers say they’ve ever seen.
Property owner Paul Duga Jr. of Hatfield said Tuesday he had no involvement with the farm other than ownership.
On Wednesday, Adams showed where the birds were found in a low, wooden shed-like structure with small glimpses of chicken wire fencing visible. The shed appears ramshackle next to the neat wooden barns and sheds on the front of the property near where customers peruse brightly colored flowers.
Adams, who is the farm manager and owner of Ravenwold Greenhouses, said he didn’t have a key to the structure and could not go into a rented area without permission. He said he had no idea about the cockfighting, and said his brother wasn’t involved, either. They simply leased the property out, he said.
“They were regular roosters, they sounded like regular roosters,” Adams said. “Some neighbors said to me they liked hearing them crow in the morning, since we’re out here in the country.”
He said he was confident cockfights were not held on the property. The rented structure was not big enough to host any fighting, he said, and added that if there had been any fights on the property, there would have been a number of cars pulling in and out. He said he would only see one or two cars occasionally pull down the property’s short dirt road to the rented space.
“The place ain’t that big,” he said.
Adams asked the Gazette not to photograph the structure because it is the site of an active police investigation.
However, he said there had been some other renters who leased out a different section of the property who also had chickens. He said he ended their lease shortly after his brother died because they were “messy,” leaving grain bags on the ground and generally not picking up around the structure. He had planned to end the lease with “the chicken guys” soon as well, he said, for similar reasons of upkeep. And now, he said he wishes he had.
Northampton police descended on Ravenwold Greenhouses last Thursday after an animal control officer discovered signs of cockfighting — an unusually large number of roosters, “boxing gloves” that are placed over a rooster’s spur during training and a bag of medication and needles common to cockfighting — around 2:30 p.m. that day, according to police Sgt. Victor Caputo.
Caputo said there also appeared to be a small fighting area with blood spatters, which police believe was a training area because it was not large enough for a large crowd to gather and watch a fight.
After being seized from the farm, the birds were taken by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to the MSPCA-Nevins Farm in Methuen. The MSPCA said this was the largest cockfighting bust it has ever been involved with.
As of Tuesday, 100 of the birds had to be euthanized by the MSPCA after being deemed too aggressive for rehabilitation, according to MSPCA director of adoptions Mike Keiley. Most of the remaining birds will also have to be euthanized, Keiley said, after serving as living evidence. However, Keiley said the MSPCA is looking for homes for about 150 hens and chicks which the MSPCA is eager to try to save.
Northampton Police Detective Jared LaValle said Tuesday that criminal charges would likely be filed in the coming weeks and police are still investigating.
As for Ravenwold Greenhouses, Adams said he’s not concerned that the bust will harm his greenhouse business because most of his customers know him personally.
“They know I wouldn’t do that type of activity,” he said.
M.J. Tidwell can be reached at mjtidwell@gazettenet.com.