Posted on 01/08/2017 10:37:13 AM PST by Trump20162020
American families are getting smaller and yet chickens are getting larger.
As we begin 2017, Americans can look back at 2016 as yet another year with record-high chicken consumption—an average of 89.6 pounds per person. That’s more than three times as much as our grandparents ate.
Chickens we eat today are twice as big as they were 60 years ago. In 1955, the average weight of chickens sold on market was 3.07 pounds, while the number for the first half of 2016 was 6.18 pounds, according to National Chicken Council, a nonprofit trade organization based in Washington, D.C.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
I get my chicken and duck from local Asian market. They buy from the local Anish. Chickens are small, and delicious!
One thing I remember however, is that she used to discard the wings (or use them for soup). She referred to the wings as "junk meat".
Who knew that decades later, entire restaurant chains would be dedicated to the wing of the chicken!
Drumsticks and thighs were alway my favorite parts of the chicken to eat.
Battery chickens have been hybridized and bred to grow very large, very quickly, with minimal input (food). Because of their rapid growth, added to the premium placed on breastmeat, some of them have trouble standing upright by the time they’re ready for processing (slaughter). Is it any wonder that backyard chickens and “pastured” eggs and chicken have become so popular?
They’re bland tasting too.
so I take it we have a chicken obesity problem. I think we better put the chickens on a diet something like the USDA school lunch program that has been approved by Michael Obama.
so I take it we have a chicken obesity problem. I think we better put the chickens on a diet something like the USDA school lunch program that has been approved by Michael Obama.
Bow down to your new Chicken Overlords.
Perdue produces great chickens
They are bigger for the same reasons that pro athletes are bigger: selective breeding and hormones.
They’re fed 30-40% protein. Hard to do that affordably without careful planning.
Granny went out selected three or four prime candidates and whacked off their heads. The chickens flew up in the air spewing blood all over except on Granny.
Into the house plucked and dehaired into the pot with home made noodles and home grown veggies. I still remember how good they tasted.
No mention of the great 1948 A&P Grocery Chicken of Tomorrow contest. A&P was the Walmart of yesterday.
http://modernfarmer.com/2014/05/today-eating-winners-1948-chicken-tomorrow-contest/
“So who won? Arbor Acres White Rocks’ white feathered birds beat the competition in the purebred category, but Red Cornish crosses from the Vantress Hatchery definitely outperformed them. And as it happens, those two breeds would eventually be crossed and become the Arbor Acre breed — whose genetics now dominate poultry farms worldwide.
“By 1964, Arbor Acres was producing chickens cheaper and faster than anyone in the world — and Nelson Rockefeller noticed. He bought the company, and the cycle seemed complete. It went global, and as of 2013, over half the chickens raised in China have a genetic link to the Arbor Acres stock.
“But what about the thousands of famers who lost the Chicken of Tomorrow contest in 1948? At least half of their farms are gone, along with their ancestral chicken breeds. Purdue University cites the greatest decline in diversity coincided with the rise of industrial chicken production in the 1950s.”
However, it should be noted that the chicken of today has much less flavor, and is so over-bred that it could likely not survive long after the time it is to be harvested.
But there are still farms that raise “heritage” chickens of different stock, sold at premium prices for those who want the “authentic” chicken taste of yesterday.
Holy Jurassic Barnyards!!
You are right and that’s only something a southern cook would probably know;) Your frying chickens need to be small to be good fryers. I learned that from my mother, and she learned it from her mother, on down. I like mine 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 lbs, (the smaller the better) but I can’t find chickens that small these days. The only place I see them are in the deli at the supermarket, and they order them specifically that size for the deli. I asked why they don’t order them for the meat section, but nobody could give me an answer. I only fry chicken once in a blue moon now, so I guess it doesn’t really matter.
Bigger due to breeding? Did Jimmy the Greek write this?
LOL! Excellent observation.
Because they are fed beef from cartle injected with growth hormones?
After a post like that, I have to ask — How many climate change research organizations have emailed you to offer a grant? Such insights would be a huge asset to their work. :=)
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