Uncle Sam Expects You To Keep Hens and Raise Chickens !!

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I live in a part of the country where there are a lot of pre1940's houses, As you drive along you can't help but notice the majority of them have small outbuildings that, at one time, were chicken coops. Many are neglected, some have been remodeled into garden sheds and a few are still housing chickens,. This is not just in the country but small towns and in the older areas of large cities. Growing up in the 40's I remember having home grown chicken almost every Sunday dinner if it was a big family get together.

In my own case, although my parents weren't in the ag business (both came from farm backgrounds), we rented a house in town with a huge barn and coop behind it. When I was 5 my maternal grandmother gave me 5 bantams chickens--a rooster and 4 hens--that we raised long enough to get one set of chicks.
 
Back in the early part of the last century (1917 - 1918) the following was published in multiple poultry magazines :
View attachment 2010211

The text reads:
Uncle Sam Expects You To Keep Hens and Raise Chickens
Two Hens in the Back Yard for Each Person in the House Will Keep a Family In Fresh Eggs
EVEN the smallest back yard has room for a flock large
enough to supply the house with eggs. The cost of main-
taining such a flock is small. Table and kitchen waste pro-
vide much of the feed for the hens. They require little attention
only a few minutes a day.
An interested child, old enough to take a little responsibility,
can care for a few fowls as well as a grown person.
Every back yard in the United States should contribute its share to a bumper crop of poultry and eggs in 1918.
In Time of Peace a Profitable Recreation
In Time of War a Patriotic Duty
"Every back yard in the United States should contribute its share to a bumper crop of poultry and eggs..."​
That sure sounds like our vision: "A chicken in every yard!"​
How cool is that!?!?
celebrate.gif
(oh, and please don't post anything political in this thread or we'll need to remove it)​
Very cool!
 
Quote:

"Every back yard in the United States should contribute its share to a bumper crop of poultry and eggs..."
That sure sounds like our vision: "A chicken in every yard!"


How cool is that!?!?
celebrate.gif



(oh, and please don't post anything political in this thread or we'll need to remove it)

I've just printed 20 copies for random distribution around town. Sometimes living in a college town rocks!
Haha we should have T-shirt’s made with an old coop on em !!!
 
I'm trying to get a higher resolution version / scan. There may be one in one of the Google Book scans linked from the first post.
Oh Please, PLEASE DO! I'll post 'em around here, for sure!

EDIT: OOPS! I just realized that this was a VERY old post ... AFTER I responded, of course (That's what ya get for highlighting an Oldie-but-Goodie!)
Still - I'm gonna go searching, 'cause I'm hoping the higher resolution version was found and posted. I am SO putting few up around town ... and in each of our Kindergarten classrooms ... right next to the incubators that will start showing up in the next couple of weeks!
 
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maybe you could change the date on it to 2010, and distribute it nation wide. The politicians won't remember if it's something they approved of or not.
They already DID approve it ... Remember "A chicken in every pot?" We'd only have to add a letter ... A chicken in every Spot! We can blame it on Autocorrect!
 
Oh Please, PLEASE DO! I'll post 'em around here, for sure!

EDIT: OOPS! I just realized that this was a VERY old post ... AFTER I responded, of course (That's what ya get for highlighting an Oldie-but-Goodie!)
Still - I'm gonna go searching, 'cause I'm hoping the higher resolution version was found and posted. I am SO putting few up around town ... and in each of our Kindergarten classrooms ... right next to the incubators that will start showing up in the next couple of weeks!
So what happens with the chicks you hatch? A few years ago I ended up with 4 broiler chicks that a teacher had sent home to a family that knew nothing about chickens. They we’re getting fed corn flakes. A friend of theirs asked me if I would take them. I didn’t know what the little yellow chicks were till they grew up. I think planning ahead for the fate of the chicks should be a requirement of these projects.
 

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