Colored Chicks to Order (May, 1947)
Colored Chicks to Order
FRANKLY, we didn’t believe it either. But the evidence looks pretty convincing. It seems that down in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a certain experimental-minded senor named A. R. Zeno injected two dozen eggs with various vegetable dyes two hours before hatching time. When the chicks broke through their shells they were peeping happily and were apparently quite normal except that their feathers were bright blue, red, green, pink and lilac. And here they are as they arrived by Pan American air express eight hours later in New York City. Chick authorities generally agree that the process is harmless. Says Dr. Walter Landauer, Connecticut Agricultural School: ‘The injection of the dye does not hurt the chick because it goes into the albumen without actually getting into the chick itself.” Dr. Alexis L. Romanoff warned against the process becoming a fad. There’s a law in New York against importing chicks as toys, he added.
Rather like peanuts salted in the shell - these chicks were dyed in the shell! I can’t agree that this is harmless to the chick, though - seems to me that this would cause issues with the eyes and mucous membranes no matter how inert the dye may be.
Alan
Comment by mrchurchill109 — December 12, 2007 @ 8:45 am
I wonder if that headline could run today without getting up the ire of some readers?
It looks like an ad from a Las Vegas phone book in the early 60s
Comment by Neil Russell — December 12, 2007 @ 9:05 am
Neil: I was thinking the same thing when I posted it
Comment by Charlie — December 12, 2007 @ 9:34 am
One question remains: WHY?
Comment by hans — December 12, 2007 @ 11:37 am
Back in the 1980’s I saw pastel dyed chicks for sale at the local feed & seed store around Easter time. I don’t know if this is how it was done.
Comment by Travis — December 12, 2007 @ 11:42 am
It seems that this is still how they do it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3615191.stm
Comment by Eamonn — December 12, 2007 @ 12:50 pm
From that BBC posting it seems not to harm the chicks in any way and it looks like they have been doing it for some time.
However I would still caution against going into a store and saying “I want some colored chicks”
Just can’t let it go for some reason today!
Comment by Neil Russell — December 12, 2007 @ 3:30 pm
I well remember getting “colored chicks” for Easter in 1956. They only lived a few weeks after getting them. If only Lou Reed had sung colored chicks instead of girls this thread would be taking a walk on the wild side.
Comment by Mike Brisendine — December 12, 2007 @ 4:14 pm
I saw one of the in China a few years ago. People said it would quickly die. Not sure if it is from the dye of from too much handling. (My older brother raised normal chickens for 4H. Chicks need to stay warm. Heat lamps, etc. Still, a certain percentage would die.)
Comment by Perf — December 12, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
Live fast, dye the young…
(sorry)
Comment by Stannous — December 12, 2007 @ 8:39 pm
Stannous
There are times when sorry just doesn’t cut it…….
Of course if you boil the eggs before they hatch it makes the “Dye Hard”. Now THAT’S sorry……
This 4H webpage also has a link to how to do it. Seems that ornithologists use this technique so it apparently doesn’t cause them any harm. http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/Em.....nswer1.htm
Comment by Firebrand38 — December 13, 2007 @ 11:54 am
So, I can make my black baby white by dyeing him with bleach? SCORE
Comment by WishItWould — December 17, 2007 @ 8:44 am
DENIED!!!
Comment by Firebrand38 — December 24, 2007 @ 9:02 am
A classic “kids” science experiment is to take a store-bought but still small slab of celery plant, slit it down the center, then grow each end hydroponically from small alcohol shot glasses, one side filled with red food coloring, the other with blue. Guess what you get? Dual colored adult celery! Red dye was toxic those days, so I hope the new stuff still works.
Comment by NikFromNYC — January 11, 2008 @ 10:58 pm
Well people, that’s the favourite toy of some chinese children. Sadly, they (the children, not the chicks) seem blissfully ignorant of the fact that their new toy is alive and needs food and care…
Comment by Desman — March 15, 2008 @ 7:57 am