Chickens have been important to the Delmarva Peninsula since the first settlers brought the ancestors of the modern-day chicken with them to Delaware’s shores. Between the seventeenth and early twentieth centuries, families in the country and in the city raised just enough chickens to meet their needs for eggs and meat. After 1923, however, poultry became economically important to Delmarva farmers. The marketing of broilers has since grown into one of the leading industries on the Peninsula.