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shipment to restaurants and hotels. This was a very good price; adjusted for inflation, that would be $9.22 today. So, the next year, she ordered 1, 000 chicks, and within three years, she was growing 10,000 chicks. News of her success spread, and soon other Delaware families began to raise broilers
to meet the growing demand for cheaper, higher-quality chickens. In 1928, a campaign flyer promised “A Chicken for Every Pot,” a promise of prosperity. For chicken still was not the ubiquitous cheap meat found today in every grocery store or fast food restaurant, large or small. And for that, we can thank Delaware and Mrs. Steele.
While agriculture is Delaware’s most important industry, poultry growing, processing, distribution, and marketing contributes 70% of the $1.7 billion agricultural income in the state. Delaware is home to 634 farms that have 2,368 active chicken houses with a capacity of 66 million chickens at
any one time. Fisher says that companies that produce and process chicken employ as many as 3,321 people and generate an additional 7,659 jobs in supplier and ancillary industries. While farms are the most visible employers, chicken- processing companies such as feed grain growers and millers, chicken house builders, ventilation and equipment suppliers, breeders, transportation and cold storage, and research facilities are just some of the other companies that employ Delawareans. Most of the grain grown in Delaware is used for chicken feed. Poultry grown in southern Pennsylvania and the Eastern Shore of Maryland also is processed in Delaware. Most Delaware chicken is consumed domestically, with about 10% is sold overseas with Mexico and Canada our largest international markets.
“Delaware produces safe, nutritious, and delicious poultry products that the world wants to consume,” Fisher said. “The opening of the Chinese market to U.S. chicken on Nov. 14 means that our chickens are valued around the world and that the demand will only continue to grow.”
One of the reasons that Delaware poultry is so highly valued is its quality. All U.S. chicken is hormone-free and steroid-free and has been so since the 1950s. Farmers use selective breeding, good care, and excellent growing conditions to produce high quality chickens. Most grocery stores that sell
“THE POULTRY INDUSTRY IS THE QUIET ECONOMIC ENGINE HUMMING ALONG IN THE BACKGROUND.” James Fisher
Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc.
chicken offer “conventionally raised” chicken on their shelves, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This means that farmers, working with veterinarians, can administer antibiotics to a flock to treat illness. However, according to DPI’s Fisher, all U.S. chicken purchased by consumers is
“free of any measurable antibiotic residue.” Still, in response to consumer demand, poultry producers are raising organic and antibiotic-free chicken. Some brands can be identified by labels such as “no antibiotics ever.” Instead, growers use other types of vitamins and minerals and supplements such as oregano to keep their flocks in good health.
The Delaware poultry industry and our universities and colleges attract visitors from all over the world. Delaware poultry technology extends well beyond growing and processing. Visitors come from as far as Ethiopia or Romania to learn about breeding, biosecurity, disease prevention, response and control. Delaware companies, the academic community, and the not-for-profit sector work together to share their knowledge with other countries to ensure a safe and healthy international poultry industry that will meet consumer demand, now and in the future.
Though it would seem that our state bird, the Delaware Blue Hen, was so designated in honor of the poultry industry,
one had nothing to do with the other. During the U.S. Revolutionary War, the Delaware soldiers were known for their courage and fighting ability, similar to the gamecocks
(a sport outlawed today), favored by Capt. John Caldwell of Col. John Haslet’s regiment. Col. Haslet’s men earned the nickname “Caldwell’s Gamecocks” and later “the Blue Hens’ Chickens” for their bravery in fighting the British. As leader in the U.S. poultry industry, it is a name we proudly wear.
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