In 1925 there were more than six million farms in the United States, compared with two million now. They were mostly small properties, growing a mix of crops and animals, and they almost all raised chickens. Which type of chicken was a complicated question, because there were so many to choose from.

The January 1921 issue of the American Poultry Journal carried six pages of small-type classified ads featuring dozens of varieties from hundreds of breeders nationwide: Single-Comb Anconas, Silver Wyandottes, Brown Leghorns, Black Langshans, Light Brahmas, Sicilian Buttercups, Golden Campines, White-Laced Red Cornish, Silver-Gray Dorkings, Silver-Spangled Hamburgs, Mottled Houdans, Mahogany Orloffs, White Minorcas, Speckled Sussex.