Help Identifying Chicken Breed in Old Photo from Tennessee

[Foley Hill Chicken Finger]

Hello all! I am new to the forum and I'm in East Tennessee. I recently found an old black and white photograph of my late Mammaw Josie's old homestead in Anderson County. The photo was taken between 1936-1942. In the photo you can make out some of the chickens. I know this is probably a long shot, but I was wondering if anyone can help me identify the potential breed or breeds? I'm looking at starting my own backyard flock with the intention of raising eggs and helping to preserve a heritage purebred species if possible.

 

[nuthatched]

Looks like leghorns, and possibly Rhode island red.
Most people had access to very minimal breeds so most birds were mutts.
Some of the older breeds in the USA would Leghorn, Rhode Island Red, Plymouth Rocks, Winnebago (wyandotte), Dominikers (Dominique), if you were fancy you may have Cochin or Brahma.

 

[Foley Hill Chicken Finger]

Looks like leghorns, and possibly Rhode island red.
Most people had access to very minimal breeds so most birds were mutts.
Some of the older breeds in the USA would Leghorn, Rhode Island Red, Plymouth Rocks, Winnebago (wyandotte), Dominikers (Dominique), if you were fancy you may have Cochin or Brahma.

She grew up very, very poor, so I know they likely couldn't have afforded expensive breeds. I believe you are right in that they are likely mixed. There is a funny (also not-so-funny) story that she liked to tell. Her two older brothers, Millard and Roy, were about 10-12 years old and were slaughtering chickens one day. Millard was holding a chicken while Roy was going to cut its head off. Roy accidentally cut off the tip of Millard's finger along with the chicken's head. One of the other chickens grabbed the finger and ran off with it! I guess we would call that justice, haha! He was more upset with the chicken than with Roy over the whole ordeal. Mammaw loved telling it and would crack up laughing about it!

(I had to edit this because I was thinking it was wood they were chopping, but I went back and looked at a note I made in 2015, when I was writing down some of her family stories and she said they were slaughtering a chicken!)

 

[nuthatched]

She grew up very, very poor, so I know they likely couldn't have afforded expensive breeds. I believe you are right in that they are likely mixed. There is a funny (also not-so-funny) story that she liked to tell. Her two older brothers, Millard and Roy, were about 10-12 years old and were cutting wood one day. Millard was holding the wood while Roy cut it with the ax. Roy accidentally missed and cut off the tip of Millard's finger. One of the chickens grabbed the finger and ran off with it! He was more upset with the chicken than with Roy over the whole ordeal. Mammaw loved telling it and would crack up laughing about it!

Wow, that's a story for prosperity.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Some of those lighter ones look to have some game in them which wouldn’t surprise me for the area either. But I agree probably mixes of Leghorns with some game thrown in.

 

[Foley Hill Chicken Finger]

Some of those lighter ones look to have some game in them which wouldn’t surprise me for the area either. But I agree probably mixes of Leghorns with some game thrown in.

Thank you!

 

[Foley Hill Chicken Finger]

Wow, that's a story for prosperity.

Here are a couple of photos showing his finger. I believe it was his left index finger, with his military photo probably being reversed due to the negative. We never learned the fate of the chicken that stole the finger...

 

[nuthatched]

Here are a couple of photos showing his finger. I believe it was his left index finger, with his military photo probably being reversed due to the negative. We never learned the fate of the chicken that stole the finger...

Oh wow.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Lots of fingers got lost that way. We had a man in our church missing part of a finger, same thing. Holding wood while a sibling chopped. No chicken in this story, though.

 

[Foley Hill Chicken Finger]

Lots of fingers got lost that way. We had a man in our church missing part of a finger, same thing. Holding wood while a sibling chopped. No chicken in this story, though.

Teenagers today have no clue.....they didn't call them the Greatest Generation for nothin'! They grew up tough! Uncle Millard was a cool guy and a great brother to my mammaw. She had dropped out of school after 7th grade to help take care of her sick mother and raise her little brother. She worked multiple jobs and they barely could afford groceries. Uncle Millard had an account at the local general store and Mammaw would go get what they needed and she sneaked in a can of snuff. He never told on her or complained, he just paid for it. She dipped snuff for the next 75 years, up until the Lord called her home.