The Poultry De-Bock-Le - Part 1: From Scratch: How the Sickest Chicken Got Started

Most everybody has seen a commercial chicken farm with their long houses and plentiful scent. However, this isn't how it all started. Before the 1920s, things were calm, and traditional with small flocks being raised primarily outdoors. But then came the broiler. A breed favored for its meat and the dual-purpose meat and egg-laying bird fell to the wayside.

In 1926, Mrs. Cecile Steele in Ocean View, Delaware is who we have to thank for the beginning of the commercial chicken industry; her story began with attempts to support her family while her husband was away on Coast Guard Duty. In '26, she raised 10,000 birds at once (starting from having raised 500 in 1923 due to an ordering accident where she had meant to purchase 50). These chickens took about 19 weeks to raise to adulthood, considerably longer than the average 6-8 weeks from the broilers of today. It should also be noted that the Perdue chicken empire began in this same region, along with many other commercial chicken operations as a result of seeing what Mrs. Steele did. Which props to you Mrs. Cecilie we respect a woman working to provide for her family while her husband was on duty

However, while these Americans were on the fast track toward the large indoor operations of today, there are still a considerable number of differences between then and now. While the chickens were being grown in houses, they still had access to the outdoors and were foraging for their diets, antibiotics or medications weren't the standard procedure of daily chicken life, and feed was most often made onsite or at a local mill. And while Mrs. Cecile may have been pushing out large flocks of chickens, most people were still growing on a much larger scale at this point. Most farmers were raising for their local community and not shipping birds across America to go sit on grocery shelves 10 states away.

Things rapidly progress from this point as Americans started getting a stronger taste for the main white meat, and the living conditions of these chickens only got worse. So much worse that you're going to have to check back for out next installment of The Great Poultry De-Bock-Le.