UK: EAT MOR CHIKIN

[marathag]

In the UK , Chicken was not a popular source of Meat in the first part of the 20th Century, only increasing during the War as an Emergency solution during the War, where Chicks could be purchased ,and raised to Chickens for their Eggs in backyards and Commons in homemade coops.

But eating Chicken?
Less than 1% in 1950, It was Roasts and Mutton. Chickens were for providing Eggs for Breakfast and Baking, not eating.
They were only buchered when egg laying days were over, not the tastiest way to be introduced to Chicken.

For Raising Animals, Chickens are among the easiest, and fastest growing

Is there a way to get the UK on a more Chicken heavy diet sooner, maybe due to US Chicken Factory Farming methods brought in sooner after the War to alleviate Meat Rationing, rather than after Rationing was all ended in 1954?

Like doing the Advertising Campaign posted at the top, besides being unrationed?

Discuss.

 

[Deleted member 94680]

Why didn’t the Americans send over more chicken during WWII?

Would that improve or impair it’s reputation?

 

[Dorknought]

But the consequences of running out...

 

[Sam R.]

If you battery farm hens you just get increased egg consumption until the 1990s.

 

[marathag]

If you battery farm hens you just get increased egg consumption until the 1990s.

As from the one chart, could that have gotten the UK off Egg rationing ahead of 1953, as with the War over that allows cheap Canadian grains into the country to feed those Hens?

 

[Emperor Norton I]

But the consequences of running out...

You can say Fuck in British advertising?

 

[marathag]

Why didn’t the Americans send over more chicken during WWII?

Would that improve or impair it’s reputation?

vs

 

[Nick P]

Chicken goes bad faster than beef or lamb or pork, especially in the summer time. Butchers in the UK didn't really have refrigerated counters until the 1960s and even then they were hugely expensive. IIRC something like 3 months income for an average shop.
The butcher would have to hang up freshly killed birds for the customer to take home and pluck and gut themselves. That's a long and messy job unless you pay extra for the shop boy to do it for you. Or you could buy a freshly cut side of beef that is oven ready - much easier.
Make refrigeration cheaper and more accessible?

Chicken feed. Large flocks can't live off grass alone like other livestock, not in the numbers required. You need to buy in lots of seed and grain for them. Delivery costs? Profit margin?

Chicken are prone to being hunted by foxes, birds of prey, and other wild animals so open air or free range farming isn't easy unless you can put up a huge secure fence which is expensive. Many battery farms made use of former military barrack huts on old airfields and army camps. Without those being cheap from 1946 onwards where do you house your flocks?

Chicken would have to be mass farmed and produced locally. Are the profit margins there for what is a quite labour intensive operation?
They can be quite prone to mass illness. Does that cost more to manage than cows or sheep?

 

[Mike D]

From what my Dad told me, when he was a kid in the 50s chicken was an expensive treat you only got occasionally. Unless you can find a way to drop the price you're not going to increase consumption.

 

[naraic]

It's important to note that chicken has gone through a similar path in the USA going from an average consumption per capita of 26 pounds a year in 1960 to 94 pounds a year each in 2018.

I can't find figures previous to 1960.

To me this implies that the growth in chicken is due to technological growth in some way. Perhaps as mentioned above the increased availability of fridges and freezers and the decreased association of chicken with food poisoning.

I vaguely remember when I was very young in the early 90s my grandmother still having the idea that you don't eat chicken unless you want food poisoning.

 

[Simon Darkshade]

The general information cited by most is correct. The combination between the lower numbers of production and the lack of refrigeration available in British butchers and kitchens/larders limited the consumption of chicken on a general level. The mass production of chickens and eggs was driven by the experience of the Second World War and a desire to avoid the circumstance again if possible and assisted by general advances in affluence and technology that permitted storage of large numbers of chickens in shops and at home.

As with several similar culinary WIs for Britain, the process can be advanced through earlier mass production of chicken AND significantly increased general affluence leading to US levels of home refrigerator ownership in the 1940s, for example, but these would take some pretty big economic drivers. The chicken in every pot would be the least of the consequences of that.

 

[DAv]

You can say Fuck in British advertising?

Not exactly, since a vowel's missing, but FCUK was a big clothing brand a while ago, so can skirt around it a bit.

 

[Albidoom]

You can say Fuck in British advertising?

No, but how you pronounce "For crying out loud!" is entirely up to you.

 

[Aisha Clan-Clan]

Peshawar Lancers' POD definitely had the british, well after they became the angrezi eating more chicken...

 

[AnonymousSauce]

But the consequences of running out...

KFC uses chickens? News to me, I was under the impression that was mystery meat.

 

[Alex1guy]

think some people have mentioned it, chickens were harder to preserve without fridges and there was an increased chance of food poisoning

 

[BlackDragon98]

Increase chance of Avian flu?
If UK does "go chicken", they might be hit by an avian flu sometime down the road.

 

[AJE]

Chicken would have to be mass farmed and produced locally. Are the profit margins there for what is a quite labour intensive operation?

For large distributors, there's certainly a profit margin. However that causes one problem for the UK: Chicken farmers in the US are infamously poor and have strict contracts, often being described as locked-in and taken advantage of by large distributors. That may be illegal in the UK, and so it might not be profitable if done by the rules there.

 

[marathag]

For large distributors, there's certainly a profit margin. However that causes one problem for the UK: Chicken farmers in the US are infamously poor and have strict contracts, often being described as locked-in and taken advantage of by large distributors. That may be illegal in the UK, and so it might not be profitable if done by the rules there.

OTL Chicken Farms have been run that way in the UK since the '50s, with the supply chains even less independent than the US Farms. most were corporate from the start, unlike the US .

In 1950, around 1M chickens were raised in the UK, as above, mostly laying hens
1965, was 150M and 200M in 1967. At this point, there were UK Poultry processing Plants surpassing what Tyson was doing in the American South,
doing 1800 birds and hour from slaughter to freezing for the Sainsbury store markets, for their push into frozen foods

 

[JanWellem]

Another important not yet mentioned factor that's made chicken production more economic was the introduction of fast growing hybrids, that'll reach their slaughter weight in just 4 to 5 weeks instead of 4 to 5 months.

Traditional vs fast growing hybrid chicken, both 5 weeks old