In the 1940s the U.S. Department of Agriculture and A&P supermarkets teamed up to hold a contest to see who could breed the meatiest, most efficient, most visually appealing chicken.

Research:

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Shrader H.L. “The Chicken-of-Tomorrow Program; Its Influence on ‘Meat-Type’ Poultry Production.” Poultry Science. Volume 31, Issue 1, 1 January 1952, Pages 3-10. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119513013
Wiehoff, Dale. “How the Chicken of Tomorrow became the Chicken of the World.” Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. 3/26/2013. https://www.iatp.org/blog/201303/how-the-chicken-of-tomorrow-became-the-chicken-of-the-world

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Chicken Music