It couldn’t have been a ‘leg man’ who first got the idea of breeding chickens specifically for the size of their breasts.  Not when you consider that the modern industrial chicken grows so fast, chest-wise, that it’s only a matter of months before their scrawny little legs break under the weight of their huge, misshapen bodies.

Nyel and I were talking about the size of those breasts just the other night.  It used to be, when I made Chicken Parmesano, four chicken breasts fit snugly into my 8” x 8” glass baking dish.  This past Tuesday, I was hard pressed to get two breasts in the dish.    Plus, they don’t taste like they used to.  Not as much flavor and, sometimes, a rather spongy texture.

Yesterday, I caught part of a report on NPR about the slow-growing (ahem!) furor over these huge breasts. I learned several interesting, though not always reassuring, facts about the commercial chicken industry.  First, that there aren’t any GMO problems involved – those big-breasted chickens have been developed by selective breeding.  Thirty or forty years ago (when I was first tucking those Parmesano Chicken breasts into my oven) it took chickens four months to reach three pounds.  Now, apparently, they reach twice that in half the time.

All very well and good for the ‘lucky’ girls who are slaughtered for meat sooner rather than later.  However, those that are held back for breeding continue growing at the same horrendous rate and their legs begin to break under their weight.  Plus their little hearts give out.

Normal Eggs from Our Normal Hens

The animal rights activists have been making a fuss and now at least one of the big commercial breeders has agreed to go back to raising ‘normal’ (34-B?) sized chickens.  They say the conversion will take about six years to be complete using the same natural selective breeding process only backwards and, of course, they caution that putting a chicken dinner on the table will become more expensive.

The report also said that Whole Foods has gone on record as no longer buying the big-breasted birds.  “Normal only,” they say.  I wonder how many more retailers will follow suit. We’ll certainly be on the lookout.  And, no, we haven’t even considered raising our girls for meat.  Eggs, yes.  Eggs, only.  Meanwhile, let’s hear it for strong-enough legs, stout hearts, and normal sized body parts!