The origin and history of chickens

The origin and history of chickens

It may be hard to imagine, but sketches of chickens found on shards of pottery and on cave walls suggest that during the Roman Empire, these birds were worshipped.

 Long before being considered a menu item, they were used as sacrifices to Roman and Greek gods. 

In Greek culture, the Greeks would offer chickens as sacrifices to the gods to try to appease them or in the hopes of receiving something they wanted. 

The Romans, who were a superstitious people, believed slaughtering a chicken could help them make decisions in battle.

The Keeper of the Sacred Chickens” was a position in the army and a title one of the soldiers held.

 Romans carried a cage of sacred chickens with them when they went to war.

They would throw food and crumble at the bottom of the chicken cages when the troops needed assistance, such as when they should attack.

If the chickens ate, it was a sign that everything was fine.

 If they did not eat, then something was wrong, and the soldiers were to take caution.

In one particular battle, when the Keeper of the Sacred Chickens fed the birds, they did not eat.

The Roman general Publius Claudius Pulcher was headstrong and ignored the birds; he tossed their cage into the sea. He said they could drink if they did not want to eat.

 The Romans then lost their battle, the Battle of Drepanum.

So how did hens and roosters get from Asia and Europe to America? History suggests Christopher Columbus carried chickens with him on his ships from Italy during his second voyage to the New World. 

With today’s ever-changing

technology, scientists still search for more specific answers and are conducting DNA testing on remnants of chicken bones found in North and South America. 

These bones may predate Columbus, indicating the birds were there before he landed on the continent.

 If this is the case, a breed of chicken may have developed in the Western Hemisphere from another breed of bird, or another explorer might have brought chickens with him.

From 1500 to the 1900s, chickens were raised on small farms and in family backyards primarily for producing eggs. 

America’s poultry industry did not come to fruition until 1923, when Celia Steele, a housewife in Sussex County, Delaware, had the foresight to see that chickens also could be sold as broilers and not just layers. 

A broiler chicken is raised for meat, and a layer lays eggs. 

She saw the profit potential and purchased 500 chicks intending to sell them for meat. 

At the time, poultry was a delicacy and typically was not sold for meat, so Steele’s first flock sold for 62 cents per pound.

Later in 1924, the birds sold for 57 cents per pound, which is the equivalent today of close to $15 per pound.

Homemakers and restaurant owners discovered the versatility of preparing chicken (frying, broiling, roasting, and as stew meat), causing demand to increase.

By 1926, Steele’s flock increased to 10,000, and less than ten years later, the prospering Steeles owned seven farms.

Even today, Delaware, the birthplace of the broiler chicken industry, remains one of the country’s biggest chicken producers; the state delivers millions of birds each year.

The 1940s saw the integration of the chicken industry.

Before that time, feed mills, farms, processing operations, and hatcheries worked independently of each other, according to the National Chicken Council. 

The integration of these made the chicken industry more efficient and streamlined — the feed mills loaned money to the farms to buy chicks from the hatcheries. 

When farmers sold the flock to the processors, they used the money they received from the processors to pay back the feed mills.

 This practice became more common and regulated as chicken consumption increased. Refrigeration also helped the industry because it allowed consumers to store their meat longer. Factory farming produced more products for less money, and raising chickens that

scratched around in the backyard became less popular and not as lucrative.

In the 1950s, production increased to meet the needs of the baby boom. 

Vertical integration — when one company controls all processes from marketing to production in an effort to reduce costs — helped manufacturers afford new technology, which increased sales and profits.

 Entrepreneurs with vertical integration systems controlled most of the chicken industry at this time. 

In the 1960s, marketing expanded to television and print, which made poultry brand names more recognized and popular than ever.

Automation technologies of the 1970s helped producers meet consumer demands.

 Regulations and laws became more focused on production as people became more educated on the poultry’s nutritional values, diseases associated with chickens, and the process of speeding up chicken growth. 

The government and the public scrutinized the cleanliness of chicken plants, the environments the chickens lived in, and the way the birds were killed.

 Poultry was not the only industry with stricter regulations; the United States overall was setting higher standards and fine-tuning its food markets. 

Regulators’ eyes were open to the potential harm of unsafe practices, and they closely monitored the progress of food production. 

Demand was steadily increasing, and chicken producers enhanced chicken growth to meet these needs because faster-growing birds meant more poultry available in a shorter amount of time, which in turn meant increased profits.

In the 1980s, demand for poultry expanded further, when fast-food restaurants added chicken tenders and nuggets to their menus. 

Fast-food giant McDonald’s, famous for its burgers, introduced Chicken McNuggets in 1983. By the end of the year, the chain was the second-largest chicken retailer in the world, second to Kentucky Fried Chicken in the fast-food market.

This chicken sensation helped increase poultry sales overall.

In 2003, the amount of chicken nuggets sold in all restaurants increased to more than 200 percent of the amount sold in the 1990s. 

McDonald’s is credited with introducing the nugget into the American way of life. 

It was not just a fad; the chicken nugget became a staple that appeals to all age groups.

By 1992, chicken sales surpassed beef sales for the first time. In 2001, U.S.

exports of poultry to other countries reached $2 billion, an all-time high. Not only were poultry broilers booming within America, they were also increasing globally.

Stricter laws developed in the past six decades to ensure the safety of the birds produced for consumption, and the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture (USDA) enforces these rules. 

These laws became necessary after animal-handling practices were deemed inhumane, and factory conditions were ruled unclean.

 Because of the new rules, birds are less expensive than they once were.

 More birds are currently available, which drives the cost down. 

The birds have more meat on their bones because they are given special feed to plump them up quicker.

They are produced in cleaner, safer environments than they were in the past. 

Although debate continues over the humane treatment of these animals, government regulations aim to achieve the best possible conditions for both the workers and the birds.