Show Getting Chicken In Colonial Pot Took A While It took Colonial farmers more than twice as long to get a decent decent de de- de cent Sunday chicken in the pot as it does now That's the conclusion reached by South Dakota poultry scientists scientists in a recent mini experiment experiment ment with a Bicentennial tinge Since they didn't have a living replica of the Colonial cackler available they fed rations representative representative rep rep- Of 1776 1876 1926 and 1976 to modern chickens At eight weeks of age the fed Colonial chick weighed in at just over three pounds By contrast the chicken fed the modern modem diet topped well over 4 a pounds for the same period The other two diets were in between In actual practice the old way with Colonial type stock would take up to 18 weeks and about 15 pounds of feed to get geta a table product that would even compare with today's chicken in the amount of meat pro pro- The modern bird reaches reache the pound 3 level at six weeks on only 5 pounds of of feed We didn't have much to go goon goon goon on for the 1776 diet except that we surmised chickens in those days did a lot of their own foraging for scraps grain seeds weeds and insects says say Wendell Carlson animal science professor at South South Dakota Dakota 1 State University Who C conducted te dj l the experiments The 1876 diet was easier to determine By that time nutritional factors and general poultry poultry poul poul- try improvement were beginning beginning begin begin- ning to be applied Minerals and protein were added and as a result the 1876 chicken was 22 percent more efficient in its use of feed than its ancestor ancestor ances ances- tor of a century earlier In 1926 vitamins were introduced introduced intro intro- to chicken rations and the birds became 30 percent more efficient In 1976 pure amino acids as well as Increased increased In in- creased protein and energy levels go into diets of the modern mod ern chick which is 50 percent more efficient than its ances ances- tor Little interest in commercial poultry production was shown in this country until after the American Revolution and the first real progress in poultry husbandry didn't come until until after 1920 when artificial incubation bation was developed Early farm flocks were small and chickens ranged the woods and fields virtually ox ori on their own Today as many as birds may make up a single flock and they're grown in specially ventilated and equipped equip equip- ped houses Diets are figured out to the gram and fed by the ton and a modern modem chicken may never see the light of day until on the way to market Carlson points out that the brief South Dakota experiment reflects the value of research It shows up in breeding research research research re re- re- re search for faster growth of a larger bird getting more meat on a bigger frame he says Nutritionally of course weve we've come a long way and disease disease di dl sease control and have been a tremendous help |