Why Delmarva and Chickens?
Many factors contributed to the early success of the poultry industry on the Delmarva Peninsula. The mild climate of the region keeps heating and fueling costs at a minimum, while the sandy soil facilitates drainage of liquids in chicken manure, thus helping to control disease. Building costs were also able to be kept at a minimum because much of the peninsula was covered by lush green pine forests in the 1920s and 1930s making timber easily accessible and inexpensive. Additionally, the peninsula is also in close proximity to important markets in America, such as Philadelphia and New York, so finding a market for the chickens was not a problem. Finally, many of the workers had prior experience with chickens by raising them as barnyard fowl and using them for the production of table eggs.[iii] Not only were building costs low, but land was cheap as well, and banks, seeing dollar signs, were eager and willing to give growers credit. In the state of Delaware there was a tendency among far
