Poultry in motion

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? In the First State, we have our own chicken conundrum: Which came first, UD's matchless poultry-health research or the outstanding financial success of Delaware's broiler industry?

The answer is both. Working together, the University and poultry growers are responsible for the industry's remarkable success--a scientific and commercial achievement that has kept Sussex County the largest broiler-producing county in the United States for almost 70 years.

From the start, University scientists and Cooperative Extension educators have worked hand in glove with Delmarva's poultry growers. The first UD Extension poultry specialist was hired in 1925, within two years of the earliest commercial flock of broilers in the state. Extension marketing educators helped organize the fledgling business into a cohesive industry, which was critical to the prosperity and success of the broiler business and Delaware. From this early cooperative effort evolved the Delmarva Poultry Industry Association.

Over the years, UD researchers have been responsible for breakthroughs in poultry housing, management, nutrition, health, reproduction and productivity. From early sulfa drug research to efficient disease protection through vaccines and bioengineered birds, University scientists have contributed to the success of broiler production. It was this research that resulted in broilers with the best feed conversion ratio of any domesticated land-based animal. The time needed from broiler hatch to market, which once took 16 weeks, now takes only seven, and when once it took 4.7 pounds of feed to produce a pound of meat, it now takes 2 pounds of feed, thanks to UD poultry nutrition research. That's progress and economy.