Of course, we all know that raising chickens used to be 'standard procedure' on family farms a century ago. Those hard-working farmers raised enough meat birds and eggs for the family and sold the extras. But what about city people? Weren't urban folks the ones who were buying the extra meat and eggs from the farming families? That's what I thought. However, an article from the American Poultry Journal discusses how some city dwellers are choosing to raise their own chickens. And it was published in 1921. Here's the text:
You can click the images above to read the text, if you would like.
These look familiar...
Ecclesiastes 1:9
9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
These look familiar...
2 comments:
Those feeders and waterers for chicks haven't changed one iota have they? It's interesting you bring this up. It really isn't new. No more new than growing vegetables at home, which was more the norm in the early 20th century. I love this article though, it almost could have been written last week. The Santa Cruz area has a long history with poultry, both on the commercial front, and individual flock raisers. In Live Oak, between Santa Cruz and Capitola, in 1910, some land was subdivided and sold "The new lots were long and narrow, normally of 2.5 acres, and came with a "poultry unit" that included a kit for a two-bedroom house, and one or two large chicken coops stocked with a flock of 500 or 1,000 hens and roosters." Well, county ordinance wouldn't permit a stocking density that high now, nor the roosters, but with all the urban chicken keeping in town today, as well as out here, it's a little hint of times really not long since past.
Yep, that's what I was grouching about recently. The "new" urban farming is just what the "old" urban farmers did to keep body and soul together. . . same old same old.
But it's also nice in a way.
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