Regardless of whether they used the same chicken for the photoshoot, these images pretty accurately depict how drastically broiler chickens have changed through the latter half of the 20th century.
Prior to the 1940s, chicken wasn’t a super popular meat, and it was generally old egg-layers that were killed for meat. As demand for chicken grew, broilers were selectively bred for feed conversion, weight and time to slaughter.
The modern broiler chicken grows to an enormous size in a very short (6-8 week) timeframe. They also tend have some pretty bad health issues as a result: impaired mobility, cardiac issues and a compromised immune system.
Regardless of whether they used the same chicken for the photoshoot, these images pretty accurately depict how drastically broiler chickens have changed through the latter half of the 20th century.
Prior to the 1940s, chicken wasn’t a super popular meat, and it was generally old egg-layers that were killed for meat. As demand for chicken grew, broilers were selectively bred for feed conversion, weight and time to slaughter.
The modern broiler chicken grows to an enormous size in a very short (6-8 week) timeframe. They also tend have some pretty bad health issues as a result: impaired mobility, cardiac issues and a compromised immune system.