A good number of people in my neighborhood enjoy keeping a few chickens in their back yards for a steady supply of quality eggs. A short way down the road, the town of Fair Oaks celebrates chickens by letting them wander free on the streets of Old Town and has held an annual Chicken Festival every September since 2005. But all this is nothing compared to the pride the Sonoma County city of Petaluma takes in their historic poultry industry! Ten years after this episode of California’s Gold first aired in 2009, The Butter and Egg Days tradition is still going strong and remains popular with all ages.

A 1916 brochure called the town of Petaluma “The largest poultry center in the world,” and up until the sixties, Petaluma was a major player in the world of chickens. In 1915, Petaluma shipped 11,681,134 dozen eggs.

Huell travels to Petaluma to attend the annual Butter and Egg Days celebration, which ran from 1916 to 1928 and was brought back in the early eighties. Petaluma pulls out all the stops in this wonderful small town gathering. You won’t want to miss the Cutest Chick costume contest.

Continuing our look at Historic Chickens, the Petaluma Historical Society takes Huell to one of original chicken farms that once lined the hills of this town. Beautiful moss covered chicken coops are slowly decaying, but are an integral part of Petaluma’s landscape.

This incubator, displayed at Folsom’s History Museum, was produced by the Jubilee Incubator Company of Sunnyvale, California. As an improvement in 1900, it was heated by hot water rather than kerosene

(Click on the linked image below to see the video.)