Delaware Chickens

Delaware, The First State,

so called because they were the first to ratify

the US Constitution.

It's also number one as a financial hub

with over 60% of Fortune 500 companies incorporated there.

Wilmington, the state capital,

is also known as the Chemical Capital of the World,

a trend that took root when Dupont built

a gunpowder factory to serve a growing country.

Now the industry is more research driven,

producing materials like Nylon, Teflon, and Kevlar.

There is another area where Delaware can claim

a number one status, and that is in raising chickens.

That's with a C - and an H - is in... chickens.

1923 - Ocean View, Delaware.

A local farmer named Cecilia Steele placed

her annual order for 50 chicks from a nearby hatchery,

but someone in the hatchery office added a zero

to the order and sent her 500 instead.

Chickens at the time were predominantly raised to lay eggs,

but Ms. Steele took the mistaken order as a sign

that maybe it was time for her business to grow,

and kept all 500 of them.

Her idea was to sell the whole chicken, not just the eggs,

and within a decade the industry slogan became

"A Chicken In Every Pot".

Today the poultry industry accounts for 75%

of the states' total agricultural income.

In chicken numbers that's 200 million

broiler chickens per year.

200 million...

And yes, that's number one in the country,

all beginning in a lowly chicken coop

that measured 16 feet long by 16 feet wide,

in tiny little Delaware,

and is now proudly on display at the

Agricultural Museum in Dover.