Top of the flocks
“Never in the history of modern ‘bubbles,’ did any mania exceed in ridiculousness or ludicrousness, or in the number of its victims surpass this inexplicable humbug,” wrote George Pickering Burnham in his 1855 book The History of the Hen Fever: a Humorous Record. ‘Hen fever’ had gripped the public both here and across the Atlantic, inspired by a young Queen Victoria’s burgeoning aviary.
When the monarch was given seven exotic cochin China fowl from the Far East in 1842, their vibrant feathers and elongated necks stood in stark contrast to the dishevelled chickens that already inhabited Britain. A new hobby was born, with Victorians trading the birds at extortionate prices and tales abounding of fanciers hiring bodyguards to protect their coops. By 1855 the bubble had burst a little with a saturated market of overpriced chickens, but no longer was this bird the domain of peasants who hoped for a few eggs and a cockerel for the pot.
Perhaps with a little less fervour than in the mid-19th century, new poultry enthusiasts are back at the fore, with lockdowns forcing us to look
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