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Why chickens are twice as big today as they were 60 years ago
MarketWatch ^ | January 7, 2017 | Evie Liu

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 ...


TOPICS: Food
KEYWORDS: chicken; chickenobesity; chickens; dietandcuisine; helixmakemineadouble; meat; obesity; poultry; respectchickensday
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To: stars & stripes forever

I get my chicken and duck from local Asian market. They buy from the local Anish. Chickens are small, and delicious!


41 posted on 01/08/2017 11:44:20 AM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra (Don't touch that thing Don't let anybody touch that thing!I'm a Doctor and I won't touch that thing!)
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To: Trump20162020
When I was growing my, my grandmother used to send me into the chicken house to grab one or two for her to make for dinner. She'd butcher and dress them on the spot and they were so delicious no matter how she cooked them (usually fried).

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.

42 posted on 01/08/2017 11:44:46 AM PST by SamAdams76
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To: Trump20162020

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?


43 posted on 01/08/2017 11:46:12 AM PST by Blurb2350
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To: Trump20162020

They’re bland tasting too.


44 posted on 01/08/2017 11:53:45 AM PST by WKUHilltopper (WKU 2016 Boca Raton Bowl Champions)
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To: TalBlack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G0stojwYjI


45 posted on 01/08/2017 12:00:16 PM PST by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: Trump20162020

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.


46 posted on 01/08/2017 12:05:38 PM PST by PCPOET7
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To: Trump20162020

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.


47 posted on 01/08/2017 12:05:40 PM PST by PCPOET7
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To: Ciaphas Cain
You ain't kidding...


48 posted on 01/08/2017 12:06:58 PM PST by GreenLanternCorps (Hi! I'm the Dread Pirate Roberts! (TM) Ask about franchise opportunities in your area.)
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To: GreenLanternCorps

Bow down to your new Chicken Overlords.


49 posted on 01/08/2017 12:10:20 PM PST by FreedomStar3028 (Somebody has to step forward and do what is right because it is right, otherwise no one will follow.)
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To: TalBlack

Perdue produces great chickens


50 posted on 01/08/2017 12:12:28 PM PST by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: Trump20162020

They are bigger for the same reasons that pro athletes are bigger: selective breeding and hormones.


51 posted on 01/08/2017 12:14:07 PM PST by Pearls Before Swine
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To: Trump20162020

They’re fed 30-40% protein. Hard to do that affordably without careful planning.


52 posted on 01/08/2017 12:15:25 PM PST by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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To: SamAdams76
Reminds me of my Grandmother and my Aunt making chicken and noodles in Altamont, Utah in 1956.

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.

53 posted on 01/08/2017 12:16:39 PM PST by Little Bill (o)
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To: Trump20162020

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.


54 posted on 01/08/2017 12:17:08 PM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Friday, January 20, 2017. Reparations end.)
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To: GreenLanternCorps

Holy Jurassic Barnyards!!


55 posted on 01/08/2017 12:29:30 PM PST by Delta 21 (The minority demands NOTHING !)
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To: Oldexpat

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.


56 posted on 01/08/2017 12:33:37 PM PST by blackbetty59
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To: Trump20162020

Bigger due to breeding? Did Jimmy the Greek write this?


57 posted on 01/08/2017 12:36:28 PM PST by ReaganGeneration2
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To: tet68

LOL! Excellent observation.


58 posted on 01/08/2017 12:37:32 PM PST by Roger Kaputnik (Just because I'm paranoid doesn't prove that they aren't out to get me.)
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To: Trump20162020

Because they are fed beef from cartle injected with growth hormones?


59 posted on 01/08/2017 12:39:13 PM PST by WMarshal ( Schadenfreude, it feels so good!)
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To: tet68

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. :=)


60 posted on 01/08/2017 12:40:16 PM PST by Bob (Now, Republicans get to sing "Happy Days Are Here Again". Enjoy the suck, rats.)
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