Chickens and ducks. Heidi Hanson / Pixabay.com / 2013 / CC0 1.0
The 19th of March is Poultry Day.
Poultry is a term that refers to domesticated birds which are purpose-raised on farms to provide food to humans in the form of either meat or eggs.
Wild birds that are hunted get classified as “game”.
What could you do today to celebrate Poultry Day?
- for breakfast, you could have turkey bacon;
- for lunch you could have chicken wieners or a chicken sandwich;
- maybe fried or roasted chicken for dinner;
- take your kids to a local farm where they can see chickens or turkeys;
- teachers could start an egg incubation project for their class;
- help your children learn what is involved in raising poultry (4-H has many resources).
You might also want to look into raising backyard chickens. The British Hen Welfare Trust (www.bhwt.org.uk) rehomes “retired” former commercial hens, and you can adopt chickens from them as backyard pets. You give the birds a second lease on life and in return you get to enjoy the eggs. (Be sure to look into local regulations, and read about the amount of work involved, and how to raise and handle live poultry safely, etc.)
It’s worth noting that environmentally, poultry is a more efficient source of meat than beef, pork or lamb: [1]Pork and chicken production. In: Explore How Farmers Produce Food Sustainably. University of Reading. Module 3.7. Accessed January 2021 at https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/explore-how-farmers-produce-food-sustainably/4/steps/995609
- 7.7 kg of feed is needed to produce 1 kg of beef;
- 6.3 kg of feed is needed to produce 1 kg of lamb;
- 3.6 kg of feed is needed to produce 1 kg of pork;
- 2.2 kg of feed is needed to produce 1 kg of chicken.
#NationalPoultryDay #PoultryDay
See also: Poultry
History
The earliest print reference that CooksInfo is aware of for a Poultry Day on the 19th of March dates to 2002:
“Don’t ruffle any feathers today, and shake off any ‘fowl’ mood. It’s National Poultry Day, so thank your local chicken, turkey and duck farmers for everything they provide.” — Four to go column. Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call. 19 March 2002. Page E2, col. 6.
Sources
British Hen Welfare Trust. Go potty for poultry on National Poultry Day. 4 July 2017. Retrieved February 2018 at https://www.bhwt.org.uk/national-poultry-day/
Dejong, Lisa. Chicks flock to Tractor Supply Company on National Poultry Day. Chardon, Ohio: Cleveland.com. 19 March 2018. Accessed February 2021 at https://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2018/03/chicks_flock_to_tractor_supply.html
Harlow, Luke. National Poultry Day. Gainesville, Florida: Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. 16 March 2018. Accessed February 2021 at http://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/clayco/2018/03/16/763-nationalpoultryday/
Isom, Cathy. Celebrating National Poultry Day. Southeast AgNet Radio. 19 March 2018. Accessed February 2021 at http://southeastagnet.com/2018/03/19/celebrating-national-poultry-day/
National Poultry Day. Egg Farmers of Alberta. 19 March 2016. Accessed February 2021 at http://eggs.ab.ca/farming/farming-by-dog-rump-creek/national-poultry-day/
References
| ↑1 | Pork and chicken production. In: Explore How Farmers Produce Food Sustainably. University of Reading. Module 3.7. Accessed January 2021 at https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/explore-how-farmers-produce-food-sustainably/4/steps/995609 |
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