I'm interested in the history of `it all' so will post links to online material that is freely available (Adobe Acrobat Reader is free to use as well).
This was John D. Rockefeller's `model' for American Independence:
(the poster reads, in part, "Get a big lot and raise your own chickens")
Well, rapid adoption of in-home refrigeration rubbed out that thoughty notion and resulted in Tyson, etc.`stealing' all the `egg money'
I've posted this before (chicken/human history - U.S.)
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1996/5/1996_5_52.shtml
This is the American Livestock Conservancy's Download page (scroll past turkeys to chickens - they focus on heritage breeds)
http://www.albc-usa.org/downloads.html
In the ALBC documentation I discovered a reference to: The Call Of The Hen. And, found the book scanned in its entirety here:
http://www.archive.org/details/callhenscience00hogarich
This is a very thorough tome (you might want to replicate his experiments in determining `prepotency' by skull size, and let us know how it goes).
A quote from this book may sound familiar:
"The writer's introduction into poultry-keeping was in the city of
Boston, Massachusetts, in the autumn of 1857. By the spring of '68
I had a flock of nearly 400 birds, among them a lot of the best Single
Comb White Leghorns that I could find. I went in person to New
York City to get them. My friends thought such extensive poultrykeeping
the limit of folly, and freely remarked that I was going crazy.
In those days eggs were almost worthless during the spring and summer
months, but would often sell for fifty cents per dozen in the winter."
The last is The Dollar Hen (another early 20th Cent. guide)
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13254
Be aware, the illustrations/photos might be upsetting (I suppose physiology might be a bit gruesome for some) and you've gotten the `heads-up'.
This was John D. Rockefeller's `model' for American Independence:
(the poster reads, in part, "Get a big lot and raise your own chickens")
Well, rapid adoption of in-home refrigeration rubbed out that thoughty notion and resulted in Tyson, etc.`stealing' all the `egg money'
I've posted this before (chicken/human history - U.S.)
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1996/5/1996_5_52.shtml
This is the American Livestock Conservancy's Download page (scroll past turkeys to chickens - they focus on heritage breeds)
http://www.albc-usa.org/downloads.html
In the ALBC documentation I discovered a reference to: The Call Of The Hen. And, found the book scanned in its entirety here:
http://www.archive.org/details/callhenscience00hogarich
This is a very thorough tome (you might want to replicate his experiments in determining `prepotency' by skull size, and let us know how it goes).
A quote from this book may sound familiar:
"The writer's introduction into poultry-keeping was in the city of
Boston, Massachusetts, in the autumn of 1857. By the spring of '68
I had a flock of nearly 400 birds, among them a lot of the best Single
Comb White Leghorns that I could find. I went in person to New
York City to get them. My friends thought such extensive poultrykeeping
the limit of folly, and freely remarked that I was going crazy.
In those days eggs were almost worthless during the spring and summer
months, but would often sell for fifty cents per dozen in the winter."
The last is The Dollar Hen (another early 20th Cent. guide)
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13254
Be aware, the illustrations/photos might be upsetting (I suppose physiology might be a bit gruesome for some) and you've gotten the `heads-up'.
