Chickens – I Don't Get It

What Wearing Two Belts Feels Like

One word: exhilarating.

photo by Danny Lehman, "Then and Now" — photo by Danny Lehman, “Then and Now”

Perhaps I should have titled this Splendor in the Marigolds. I don’t think I’ve felt that level of pure bliss since the 1900s, if ever. Perhaps it’s the Nick Cannon tilt of his hat that’s got him smiling so.

NickCannon

Clearly they both like hats and grey vests.

Actually, the joyful prostrate man is a harvester in Bajio, Mexico in 1990, presumably done with a day’s marigold harvesting. As pretty as they look, the marigolds were solely used in chicken feed.

It’s true. Per www.fresheggsdaily.com, marigolds, as well as other plants that contain the pigment xanthophyll, are routinely added to commercial layer feed to artificially boost the color of egg yolks of the chickens eating the feed…According to a report from PoultryDVM, the entire Mexican marigold plant has been used to treat respiratory illnesses and eye issues- and feeding up to 3 grams of the dried petals to the chickens resulted in improved egg yolk color.

Now don’t go and discount egg yolk color. Do you think Neil Armstrong could have gotten to the moon if he hadn’t eaten bright yellow egg yolks for his last meal on Earth?

Actually, that’s fried chicken and peaches. The Reddit image showed Armstrong having his “customary late dinner” in March of 1969, according to the caption of the TIME/Life photo. It was stated to be his last meal before the Apollo 11 mission. But it wasn’t his last meal before taking one small step for mankind.

It was steak and eggs–and he ate the meal (mid-left) with the rest of the crew members of the moon mission, not alone with a newspaper.

Oops! I appear to have gone off on a long rabbit trail. Sorry, readers!

Breed Your Own Foghorn Leghorn

These are the last of the salvaged Progressive Farmer ads, and two of the only color ones in the otherwise dull beige magazine. It sure enough does catch the eye. The girl with the twinkle in her eye, the baby chicks, Mom’s head-to-toe modern ensemble–not worn by any farmer’s wife, I can assure you. Here’s the whole thing:

As I don’t often ever come across the word “leghorn” in my daily life, I was reminded of Foghorn Leghorn, the Warner Bros chicken from back in the day.

Also in the magazine, in the same brilliant color, was another ad for raising chicks, with a view of the “brooder room.”

At first I thought indignantly, “Well, it wasn’t cage-free 75 years ago either!” but then I realized you have to provide clean, dry, comfortable quarters for birds throughout the year and not let them roam about to be stolen by wily foxes.

So there you have it, folks: the last of the farming ads of 1939. And remember–chickens were waaaaaay smaller (and healthier) then. See for yourself.