December 14, 2024 • 11 mins
In honor of the holiday season, we are re-releasing our 12 Days of Christmas special! For the next 12 days, we will re-release one episode a day, each one with our own spin on the classic holiday theme, "The 12 Days of Christmas."
Katie tells us all about Hen Fever.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to
me three French hens, hence andcindy.
Would you be surprised at allto know that the term french
isn't really specificallyreferring to a specific breed of
hen, but rather just referringto anything foreign?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
that was so poorly timed.
Wait a minute.
So we're using the word frenchjust to refer to anything that's
not english, english, noenglish, go on.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
So, and it's.
It's also believed that it's.
It could be a play on the word.
So the latin word for uh,chicken is like uh, a golem.
So and and that's very similarto the Latin word Anything
pertaining to France is garlic,so chicken, france, so on.
(01:17):
Now, cindy, you've heard of thebeanie baby bubble have you?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
you've heard of the beanie baby bubble.
I have no, I used to have a lotof beanie babies.
I don't know where they went.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I think my mom threw them all out when I moved out.
That's too bad, because nowthey're worth nothing.
You've heard of the housingbubble yeah, yep the dot-com
bubble.
Have you heard of the chickenbubble?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
that's chicken pox.
Thank you very much, and it'scalled pus, not bubbles, sorry
that was no, no.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
But on a more serious note, like our children,
children are never going to haveto have chicken pox.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
That occurred to me a couple of years ago for the
first time.
It never hit me that my childwill never have to deal with
chicken pox.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, it was like a rite of passage in childhood.
I remember eating my own bodyweight in popsicles when I had
chicken pox, because I had themin my throat.
Yes, yes, yes, oh yeah.
Oh, the good old days.
Good old days Getting so itchy.
Now we just have COVID.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Delta Omicron Omicron .
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Omicron, Umicron, Everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Cron.
You say it Momicron, I say itMomicron.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Back to the chicken bubble.
Between 1845 and 1855 in theUnited States there was hen
fever.
No, not like saturday, likesaturday night fever.
Although some might say it wasjust as popular and perhaps even
more contagious, it was notactually an illness of any
(03:06):
variety.
Instead, it was a craze for allthings chicken, started by
queen victoria.
I feel like she's very much atrendsetter in her time.
Because of her we have thewhite wedding dress, the
(03:27):
engagement ring and nowobsession with chickens, afc.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Well, we're getting to that, oh, okay.
Seat, okay.
Well, we're getting to that,okay.
So in 1852, queen victoriareceived seven exotic hens from
china.
She was so excited by theselittle fluffy birds that she
built an elaborate chicken coopfor them, which she eventually
(03:55):
did fill with other types ofexotic animals.
And what she did fill withother types of exotic chicken,
and she would reportedly spendhours in the coop just sitting,
relaxing, drinking tea andwatching the little hens rung
amongst her skirts.
She would very carefullydecorate each egg that was laid
(04:15):
and then send them to royaltyaround Europe to show off her
wealth and her new hobby.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You know how around the holidays you always get that
gift from a distant relativeand you're just kind of like
let's all see what Uncle Stephensent.
Can you imagine people duringthis time like let's see what
Queen Victoria sent us oh, it'sanother egg.
Oh, let's see what queenvictoria sent us oh, it's
another egg.
Let's all pretend to be reallyexcited.
Make sure the next time we seeher at court you tell her how
(04:43):
lovely the egg was make sure yousay thank you, make sure you
take the chicken with you.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Just pull it out of the the closet, just.
You just have to have it withyou for 45 minutes when you see
her, and then you can, you putit away just have it out, when
she visits exactly so herpreoccupation with her little
feathered friends spread likewildfire amongst the lower
classes, as her perchance forpoultry was disseminated by
(05:13):
newspapers.
And it wasn't before longbefore this new craze swept
across the Atlantic to America.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Wait a minute, sorry, the chicken craze or the
decorating the?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
egg craze, oh.
No, the chicken, the collectingexotic chickens craze, oh okay,
that one by 1849, boston hadits very first poultry
exhibition, where reportedly10,000 spectators showed up and
there were nearly 300 exhibitors.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I mean to be fair.
I did also do that episode onthe Battle of Bull Run where
people showed up to watch theCivil War.
Not surprised people showed upto watch a bunch of chickens
well, these are all like chickenenthusiasts.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I mean it's, it's, it's the 18, it's almost 1850,
like.
What are you going to be doingwith your time besides breeding
chickens and raising chickensand seeing chickens exhibited
you?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
could read the book of children's mirth or go to a
chicken show mirth withoutmischief.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
And I have to say, cindy, like I read up a little
bit of up on the boston poultryexhibition, well, first of all,
you can still go to it, theystill have it.
Yes, it's not in boston anymore, it's outside boston.
It has been canceled for the2021 year due to COVID,
unfortunately.
However, I think maybe nextyear we should go.
(06:44):
I'm just saying.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I'm getting our tickets right now.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I was absolutely fascinated by the gentleman who
started the poultry exhibition.
He was a man by the name of DrJohn C Bennett, and to say he's
a colorful character is a bit ofan understatement.
He had commanded a company forthe Union in the Civil War.
He was an advocate of thehealth benefits of the tomato.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
He was a tomato advocate.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
He was.
He was a tomato advocate Atomavocate.
He was a tomavocate An advocato.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
An advocato.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
That's amazing.
He was, in addition to being anadvocato, he was a pioneer in
the use of chloroform as ananesthetic.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
He was a serial killer.
I'm not a serial killer, I'mjust a pioneer of the use of
chloroform.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
He was a leader of the Latter-day Saints movement
until he was expelled foradultery.
He also helped to found somemedical colleges, but then ended
up selling medical diplomas,and he also bred chicken.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Wow, a real Renaissance man.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
So the the boon in chickens.
It continued like into 1855, atits peak, at its Zenith, people
were spending up to a dollarper egg, which in modern money
that's about 30 dollars american.
What?
I said three thousand dollars,no, not that, and then a
(08:33):
breeding pair of birds, ofexotic exotic birds, would set
you back $120, which again intoday's money is about $3,600.
To kind of put things intoperspective, if you really want
to get an exotic it's a bantam,a Chinese bantam it's going to
cost you $4.19.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Stocking stuffers Adding to your Christmas
wishlist.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
There you go.
So by 1855, the market forthese birds had just been.
It had been absolutely floodedwith eggs and chickens, and
there was just no real marketfor them anymore.
I found one disgruntled chickensalesman, chicken.
(09:20):
They call him a chicken boss,but that didn't seem right
either.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
That sounds so right?
No, that sounds.
If I'm going to be sellingchickens, I am absolutely
calling myself the chicken boss.
Can you just see the TLC shownow?
Chicken boss, chicken boss,some angry guy in upstate New
York, I'm the chicken boss.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Because we know Ice Road Chicken Truckers was
already taken.
So this is what one purveyor ofpoultry is quoted as saying in
1855.
It's useless to try and sellthem.
You can't give up on them.
No one will accept them.
You can't starve them to deathbecause they'll aggravate you.
(10:02):
They'll become fierce anddangerous and they will knock
down the strongest closet door.
You can't kill them becausethey are as tough as a rhino and
live tenaciously like a cat.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Wait a minute, is this?
I mean they're describingchickens or they're talking
about feminists back in the day?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
No, he's talking about chickens?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
No, that's how they refer to suffragettes.
Suffragettes.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Tough as a rhino, scrappy as a cat, can't give
them away, can't lock them in acloset, can't do anything with
them.
They just want to vote.
And that, cindy, is the storyof hen fever.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Ah, ah, ah ah, staying a chicken, staying a
chicken, ah ah, ah ah, staying achicken.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Chicken, you're a fine girl, what a lovely chicken
you'll be.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I don't want to be a chicken.
I don't want to be a chicken.
So shake your butt.
On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to
me three French hens, hence andcindy.
Would you be surprised at allto know that the term french
isn't really specificallyreferring to a specific breed of
hen, but rather just referringto anything foreign?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
that was so poorly timed.
Wait a minute.
So we're using the word frenchjust to refer to anything that's
not english, english, noenglish, go on.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
So, and it's.
It's also believed that it's.
It could be a play on the word.
So the latin word for uh,chicken is like uh, a golem.
So and and that's very similarto the Latin word Anything
pertaining to France is garlic,so chicken, france, so on.
(01:17):
Now, cindy, you've heard of thebeanie baby bubble have you?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
you've heard of the beanie baby bubble.
I have no, I used to have a lotof beanie babies.
I don't know where they went.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I think my mom threw them all out when I moved out.
That's too bad, because nowthey're worth nothing.
You've heard of the housingbubble yeah, yep the dot-com
bubble.
Have you heard of the chickenbubble?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
that's chicken pox.
Thank you very much, and it'scalled pus, not bubbles, sorry
that was no, no.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
But on a more serious note, like our children,
children are never going to haveto have chicken pox.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
That occurred to me a couple of years ago for the
first time.
It never hit me that my childwill never have to deal with
chicken pox.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, it was like a rite of passage in childhood.
I remember eating my own bodyweight in popsicles when I had
chicken pox, because I had themin my throat.
Yes, yes, yes, oh yeah.
Oh, the good old days.
Good old days Getting so itchy.
Now we just have COVID.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Delta Omicron Omicron .
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Omicron, Umicron, Everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Cron.
You say it Momicron, I say itMomicron.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Back to the chicken bubble.
Between 1845 and 1855 in theUnited States there was hen
fever.
No, not like saturday, likesaturday night fever.
Although some might say it wasjust as popular and perhaps even
more contagious, it was notactually an illness of any
(03:06):
variety.
Instead, it was a craze for allthings chicken, started by
queen victoria.
I feel like she's very much atrendsetter in her time.
Because of her we have thewhite wedding dress, the
(03:27):
engagement ring and nowobsession with chickens, afc.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Well, we're getting to that, oh, okay.
Seat, okay.
Well, we're getting to that,okay.
So in 1852, queen victoriareceived seven exotic hens from
china.
She was so excited by theselittle fluffy birds that she
built an elaborate chicken coopfor them, which she eventually
(03:55):
did fill with other types ofexotic animals.
And what she did fill withother types of exotic chicken,
and she would reportedly spendhours in the coop just sitting,
relaxing, drinking tea andwatching the little hens rung
amongst her skirts.
She would very carefullydecorate each egg that was laid
(04:15):
and then send them to royaltyaround Europe to show off her
wealth and her new hobby.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You know how around the holidays you always get that
gift from a distant relativeand you're just kind of like
let's all see what Uncle Stephensent.
Can you imagine people duringthis time like let's see what
Queen Victoria sent us oh, it'sanother egg.
Oh, let's see what queenvictoria sent us oh, it's
another egg.
Let's all pretend to be reallyexcited.
Make sure the next time we seeher at court you tell her how
(04:43):
lovely the egg was make sure yousay thank you, make sure you
take the chicken with you.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Just pull it out of the the closet, just.
You just have to have it withyou for 45 minutes when you see
her, and then you can, you putit away just have it out, when
she visits exactly so herpreoccupation with her little
feathered friends spread likewildfire amongst the lower
classes, as her perchance forpoultry was disseminated by
(05:13):
newspapers.
And it wasn't before longbefore this new craze swept
across the Atlantic to America.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Wait a minute, sorry, the chicken craze or the
decorating the?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
egg craze, oh.
No, the chicken, the collectingexotic chickens craze, oh okay,
that one by 1849, boston hadits very first poultry
exhibition, where reportedly10,000 spectators showed up and
there were nearly 300 exhibitors.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I mean to be fair.
I did also do that episode onthe Battle of Bull Run where
people showed up to watch theCivil War.
Not surprised people showed upto watch a bunch of chickens
well, these are all like chickenenthusiasts.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I mean it's, it's, it's the 18, it's almost 1850,
like.
What are you going to be doingwith your time besides breeding
chickens and raising chickensand seeing chickens exhibited
you?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
could read the book of children's mirth or go to a
chicken show mirth withoutmischief.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
And I have to say, cindy, like I read up a little
bit of up on the boston poultryexhibition, well, first of all,
you can still go to it, theystill have it.
Yes, it's not in boston anymore, it's outside boston.
It has been canceled for the2021 year due to COVID,
unfortunately.
However, I think maybe nextyear we should go.
(06:44):
I'm just saying.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I'm getting our tickets right now.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I was absolutely fascinated by the gentleman who
started the poultry exhibition.
He was a man by the name of DrJohn C Bennett, and to say he's
a colorful character is a bit ofan understatement.
He had commanded a company forthe Union in the Civil War.
He was an advocate of thehealth benefits of the tomato.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
He was a tomato advocate.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
He was.
He was a tomato advocate Atomavocate.
He was a tomavocate An advocato.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
An advocato.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
That's amazing.
He was, in addition to being anadvocato, he was a pioneer in
the use of chloroform as ananesthetic.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
He was a serial killer.
I'm not a serial killer, I'mjust a pioneer of the use of
chloroform.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
He was a leader of the Latter-day Saints movement
until he was expelled foradultery.
He also helped to found somemedical colleges, but then ended
up selling medical diplomas,and he also bred chicken.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Wow, a real Renaissance man.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
So the the boon in chickens.
It continued like into 1855, atits peak, at its Zenith, people
were spending up to a dollarper egg, which in modern money
that's about 30 dollars american.
What?
I said three thousand dollars,no, not that, and then a
(08:33):
breeding pair of birds, ofexotic exotic birds, would set
you back $120, which again intoday's money is about $3,600.
To kind of put things intoperspective, if you really want
to get an exotic it's a bantam,a Chinese bantam it's going to
cost you $4.19.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Stocking stuffers Adding to your Christmas
wishlist.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
There you go.
So by 1855, the market forthese birds had just been.
It had been absolutely floodedwith eggs and chickens, and
there was just no real marketfor them anymore.
I found one disgruntled chickensalesman, chicken.
(09:20):
They call him a chicken boss,but that didn't seem right
either.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
That sounds so right?
No, that sounds.
If I'm going to be sellingchickens, I am absolutely
calling myself the chicken boss.
Can you just see the TLC shownow?
Chicken boss, chicken boss,some angry guy in upstate New
York, I'm the chicken boss.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Because we know Ice Road Chicken Truckers was
already taken.
So this is what one purveyor ofpoultry is quoted as saying in
1855.
It's useless to try and sellthem.
You can't give up on them.
No one will accept them.
You can't starve them to deathbecause they'll aggravate you.
(10:02):
They'll become fierce anddangerous and they will knock
down the strongest closet door.
You can't kill them becausethey are as tough as a rhino and
live tenaciously like a cat.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Wait a minute, is this?
I mean they're describingchickens or they're talking
about feminists back in the day?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
No, he's talking about chickens?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
No, that's how they refer to suffragettes.
Suffragettes.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Tough as a rhino, scrappy as a cat, can't give
them away, can't lock them in acloset, can't do anything with
them.
They just want to vote.
And that, cindy, is the storyof hen fever.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Ah, ah, ah ah, staying a chicken, staying a
chicken, ah ah, ah ah, staying achicken.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Chicken, you're a fine girl, what a lovely chicken
you'll be.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I don't want to be a chicken.
I don't want to be a chicken.
So shake your butt.
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