“Chicken feed” refers to feed for chickens and other poultry, but also means a small or insignificant amount of money or anything of little value. It originated from chickens being fed scraps and leftover grain. The term was first used in print in 1836 and has since been used to describe anything unimportant. Despite the modern poultry industry, the expression retains its original meaning.
Chicken feed is a type of feed intended for chickens and other poultry. The term “chicken feed” or “chicken feed” has also been an American expression since at least the 19th century. Referring to money, it means the same thing as “little change” or “peanuts,” a tiny, even insignificant amount. By extension, “chicken feed” can mean anything that’s unimportant or too small to be trifled with. This is one of several disparaging expressions relating to chicken in English, including “chicken heart”, “chicken liver” and “chicken grate”.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, pioneer farmers on the American frontier raised various grains and livestock. The best grain was saved for human food needs and to feed larger animals such as horses and cattle. These large animals were expensive to acquire and often important to daily farm life. Chickens, by contrast, were generally cheap and plentiful, meaning their nutritional needs were not prioritized. They were often fed table scraps or any grain left over from larger animals.
As a result, “chicken feed” soon became a common phrase for any small or unimportant amount. Like chickens themselves, any quantity identified in this way was regarded with such contempt that it bordered on scorn. In this sense, the phrase first appears in print in the 1836 memoirs of American pioneer and statesman Davy Crockett. Crockett was describing professional riverboat gamblers, playing cards with the locals for pennies. By cheating or outsmarting the locals, gamblers could make good money playing these chicken feeder games.
The use of “chicken feed” to describe small amounts of money remains its most common meaning. A similar term is “peanuts,” as in “to work for peanuts,” meaning low or insignificant pay. The phrase has taken on a broader meaning, describing anything of little or no value. An unusual example appears in Robert Hendrickson’s Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins. During the Cold War of the mid-20th century, spies sometimes fed rival agents misleading information to lead them astray; they called these red herrings “chicken feed.”
Nowadays, the poultry industry is a lucrative global business. Chicken farmers, whether independent or corporate, often purchase specialized feeds that include nutrients designed to produce healthy birds and eggs. The production of these feeds is itself a significant sector of the agricultural industry. In short, chicken feed is neither unimportant nor cheap in the modern era. However, the expression retains its original meaning in common English usage.
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