Chickens were a very common small livestock on southern Alberta farms during the 1930s. Chickens were so common place that in most of the “Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture of the Province of Alberta” during the 1930s did not even mention them. In 1937, the report offers some insight into why that may have been the case, when it says: “No noted plan is evident in poultry raising. Chickens are kept on all farms, but no special effort toward specialized production, is attempted”.

Raising chickens provided a low cost food source for farming families in southern Alberta during the Great Depression. The financial benefit displayed on the Chicken action card is based off of the national grocery averages from the 1930s in Canada.

Bibliography:

National grocery averages: https://www65.statcan.gc.ca/acyb02/1937/acyb02_19370800009a-eng.htm

Lethbridge Herald, February 18, 1930 pg 11 (Good heading about chicks & a separate ad on the bottom left)

Government of Alberta. Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture of the Province of Alberta For the Year 1937. Edmonton AB: King’s Printer, 1937, 90.