Imported Chicken Aristocrats Reach
City as $140 Hen Lays Golden Egg
This is NOT a photo of Mr. Lombard holding a Speckled Sussex. It's some professor named Smith holding an unidentified chicken in about 1910. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org) Preening their feathers contentedly and cackling exultantly, two roosters and six hens, aristocrats among fowls and globe trotters, arrived in Minneapolis yesterday from Sussex, England. They will make their home with Mr. and Mrs. A.M. Lombard, 4725 Pillsbury avenue. Distinctions claimed for the imported chickens – Speckled Sussex—are:
- They are probably the first chickens brought to Minneapolis from across the Atlantic ocean, and have traveled more than many persons travel in a lifetime.
- They commanded what may be a record price. They cost $800 in England, duty was $250, and other charges brought the total cost to $1,120, or $140 each.
- One of the hens celebrated her arrival in Minneapolis by laying an egg, provoking a series of boastful crows from the rival roosters.
The imported chickens were delivered yesterday by the American Railway Express company. Mr. and Mrs. Lombard are chicken fanciers who have about 60 domestic Speckled Sussex.
