Small Home Gazette, Spring 2023

Old MacDonald Had a Farm…

by Gail Tischler

And on his farm he had some chicks
With a cluck-cluck here
And a cluck-cluck there
Here a cluck, there a cluck
Everywhere a cluck-cluck

In the early 1900s, when more Americans lived a rural lifestyle, it was common to have a few chickens in the barnyard to produce enough eggs for the family. Chicken meat was a delicacy, only served on special occasions and holidays.    

Not considered necessary “livestock” animals on family farms, raising chickens was a woman’s (and sometimes children’s) responsibility. Extra eggs were sold at a local farmer’s market or to the community grocery—this was the source of the farm wife’s “egg money.” Closer to city centers, local farms supplied eggs to the townspeople.   

Raising chickens was not a sophisticated enterprise. Chickens ate whatever they could forage with occasional handouts of grain and kitchen scraps. They lived outdoors in trees and bushes, and they did not survive well over the winter months due to a lack of vitamin D—all of which led to a high mortality rate.

Rechickenize France

After nearly three years of intense WWI combat, America’s future allies in Europe were facing starvation. Farms had either been transformed into battlefields or had been abandoned as agricultural workers became soldiers. The U.S. entered the war in April 1917. When in 1918, countries like France ran out of fresh food (including chickens), the Daughters of the American Revolution organized local fundraising campaigns to “rechickenize” France. Those who contributed were given a pin. Their slogan was “Every dime given means a chick placed on a farm, every quarter puts an egg in an incubator.”    

A USDA government poster in 1918 declared: “Uncle Sam Expects You To Keep Hens and Raise Chickens.” The poster above simultaneously addressed at home food security, childhood responsibility, recreation, income potential, and patriotic duty—all with a simple appeal for backyard chickens.    

America’s backyard chickens were superstars for the war effort. They foraged for their own food; turned kitchen scraps into nitrogen-rich compost; removed harmful garden insects; tilled the soil for crops; and gave fresh, healthy eggs. Farm and suburban chickens were also revenue earners when there were extra eggs to sell. By producing their own crops and raising chickens, families were allowing more food supplies to be made available for our allies as well as our troops in Europe. 

The Broiler Industry    

In the 1920s, egg farms were still mostly backyard systems. As selling eggs became profitable (people in cities were eating, on average, one egg per day), some farms started building up flocks of about 400 hens.

The hens still roamed around outside but now had a coop for roosting. Weather and predators continued to be problems. Research on moving hens to indoor living showed many benefits. While expensive, specialized large hen houses resulted in much healthier birds.

A wide variety of printed material was available to chicken farmers. Sources of the information ranged from the American Poultry Journal, USDA Farmers’ Bulletin, Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, incubator manufacturers, Everybodys Poultry Magazine, and writers with “MD” credentials. All contained plans and designs of what were considered modern hen houses.    

The hen houses allowed farmers to scientifically control what the birds ate—another major step forward in maintaining healthy hens and ensuring eggs of consistent quality. These changes reduced hen mortality to 18 percent a year.    

In 1923, Cecile Steele of Delaware ordered 50 chicks from a hatchery to keep her household in eggs. She got 500 by mistake and decided to raise them for meat birds. According to family legend, she stored the chicks temporarily in a repurposed piano box while waiting for a local lumberyard man to build her a new shed. Her enterprise did so well, that by 1926 she bought a broiler house with capacity for 10,000 birds. She is considered to be the pioneer of the commercial broiler industry. (A broiler, or fryer, is a young and tender chicken between 6 to 10 weeks old, weighing 3 to 4 ½ pounds.)

Fried Chicken, Please   

So, just how did bungalow era people prepare their chicken meat? The Country Gentleman was an American agricultural magazine covering a wide range of farming topics including agronomy, stock raising, and machinery as well as recipes for preparing chicken meat. Recipes did not change much from the 1910s to 1920s. Fried chicken is fried chicken.

“Excellent Ways of Cooking Chicken” by Elizabeth L. Gilbert, The Country Gentleman, June 29, 1912.

Pair with Baking Powder Biscuits

Salt the pieces and roll them in flour. Have the skillet hot, with plenty of lard at smoking heat. Allow the chicken to brown quickly on all sides. Then reduce the heat, add a little water from time to time and cook until very tender—an hour is not too long for a good-sized bird. When done make a rich cream gravy. Baking-powder biscuits are the best accompaniment for this dish.

“Good Things to Eat” by Corra Harris, The Country Gentleman, October 1, 1928.

A Wealth of Butter

We dress the chickens to be fried here the day before and leave them on ice. The next day we cut them up, saving out the giblets and bony pieces to make a stew for the next meal. If we are opulent in butter, which is usually the case here, we salt and lightly pepper the nice pieces, dust them in flour, and place them to fry in a skillet of hot fat or butter. We do this quickly, turning the pieces until they are golden brown.

Another popular chicken dish was chicken à la king. Thought to have been invented in the Roaring Twenties, its popularity continued for the duration of the century. Rather than representing the exuberance of the era, it was comfort food at its finest. The dish consisted of mushrooms, peppers, diced chicken and creamy sauce served over rice or toasted bread.

Renewed Interest in Chicken-Keeping    

Since the 1920s, hens have been bred to be more “thrifty” producers of meat and/or eggs. Chickens live longer and healthier due to improvements in diet, housing and care. Mortality has dramatically reduced from the beginning of the 1900s, when it was about 40 percent, to less than 5 percent today. Chicken diseases are better understood and treated, and vaccines are available for several of the more lethal diseases.    

In 2010, the Egg|Plant Urban Farm Supply store opened in St. Paul when it was still unusual to raise chickens in the Twin Cities. Though legal in both cities, Minneapolis typically issued only 15 permits annually. Over the next 10 years, sales of baby chicks at the store increased slowly but steadily every year as many suburbs began to allow chicken-keeping as well. By 2019, according to Audrey Matson, one of the store owners, it seemed like most people in the metro area knew someone who was keeping chickens.

“We observed that most new chicken-keepers wanted to be closer to where their food came from and to provide healthy organic food for their families,” said Matson. “They have young children, or remember when their parents or grandparents had done those same things, and were excited to do them in an urban setting,” Matson added. 

During 2020, those same trends really took off with people spending more time at home due to COVID. Chicken sales at the store and at hatcheries and farm stores around the country saw big increases that year and into the next. Matson said, “At the present time in 2023, we are seeing another surge in interest due to the high cost of eggs and concerns about avian influenza. Most backyard flocks today range from three to six chickens, which provide plenty of eggs for a typical household. It seems that backyard chicken-keeping is a trend that will be with us again for some time.”    

So, Grandma’s hens have come a long way. Raising small flocks of chickens within city limits is becoming a popular pastime for many families. Urban residents keep chickens in their backyards for many of the same reasons as rural residents. Some urban residents want to produce eggs or meat for their families to save money, live more sustainably, or simply know where their food comes from; others keep “fancy” or ornamental chickens to exhibit. Some urban residents have chickens to eat insects in the lawn and garden; others simply appreciate watching the birds in their yard, which can be a relaxing and sometimes comical sight.

Resources

Rules and regulations:

• “Backyard Chicken Keeping,” City of St. Paul
• “Backyard chickens,” City of Minneapolis
• “Keeping Backyard Poultry,” Minnesota Department of Health
• “Raising Urban Chickens: Understanding the Legal Basics,” Do It Green! Minnesota

Chicken-keeping supplies:

• Anoka Ramsey Farm & Garden
  Anoka, MN
  763-421-0223
  anokaramseyfarmandgarden.com
  Live poultry and supplies.
• Egg|Plant Urban Supply Company, St. Paul
  651-645-0818
  eggplantsupply.com
  Live poultry plus chicken-keeping supplies. They offer a “Backyard Chicken Basics” class which satisfies requirements for permit application in Minneapolis and some metro suburbs.
• Fleet Farm
  Minnesota locations in Blaine, Brooklyn Park and Oakdale. Chicken-keeping supplies.