One animal that played no part in pre-contact Indigenous foodways was the chicken. Domesticated chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) are not native to the Americas; they were first domesticated thousands of years ago in Southeast Asia and spread westward through trade and conquest. It was only with the arrival of Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries that chickens first appeared on the continent. For Native communities, including the Lenape, this marked the beginning of a new chapter in food history—one shaped by both forced adaptation and selective integration.

Pre-Contact Lenape Food Systems

The Lenape people lived in semi-permanent villages and followed a seasonal rhythm of movement and harvesting. Their staple crops—corn (maize), beans, and squash, often referred to as the "Three Sisters"—formed the basis of a nutritionally complete agricultural diet. They supplemented this with abundant wild resources: deer, bear, wild turkey, rabbits, shellfish, and freshwater fish were all hunted and consumed.

Turkeys, in particular, held a significant role. Native to the Eastern Woodlands, they were one of the few animals in North America that came close to the role chickens would later occupy in terms of meat and egg production, although they were never fully domesticated before European contact. Their meat, feathers, and even bones were used in clothing, decoration, tools, and ceremonial contexts.

The Arrival of Chickens

When European colonists arrived—first the Dutch and Swedes, followed by the English—they brought with them chickens as part of their traveling livestock. These birds were housed in early homesteads for eggs, meat, and occasionally feathers. Chickens quickly became part of the colonial landscape, offering a compact, relatively easy-to-manage protein source for settlers who were still adjusting to the unfamiliar New World ecology.

It didn’t take long for Indigenous groups to encounter these birds. Trade, observation, and occasionally appropriation brought chickens into Native communities, where they were first viewed as exotic, then useful. Some chickens escaped or were traded, and began appearing in Native villages near colonial settlements.

For the Lenape and other Eastern Woodlands peoples, the chicken became a new component of an already diverse food system. Though it lacked the ceremonial or mythic significance of traditional game animals, it offered a reliable source of protein and was often kept alongside other animals, such as pigs or cows, that entered Native foodways during the colonial period.

Chickens in Native Agricultural Colonies

As European colonization intensified and land dispossession escalated in the 18th and 19th centuries, many Native groups were forcibly removed from their ancestral territories or resettled onto mission lands and reservations. These sites were often structured around European agricultural models and encouraged—or required—the keeping of Old World livestock, including chickens.

In some cases, chickens became part of Native economies. Eggs could be sold or traded in nearby towns, and chickens themselves could be raised for meat or as part of subsistence agriculture. While these practices were often imposed by colonial powers or Christian missions, many Indigenous people adapted them to their own ends, using chickens to maintain a degree of food independence in restrictive environments.

Among the Lenape, now largely displaced to Oklahoma, Ontario, and parts of Wisconsin and Kansas, chickens were integrated into agricultural routines during and after removal. In Oklahoma, where Eastern and Midwestern tribes were resettled, small-scale poultry keeping became common, especially among farming families adapting to new climates and landscapes.

Traditional Knowledge and New Animals

Despite their Old World origins, chickens were sometimes incorporated into Native knowledge systems. Indigenous understandings of animal behavior, ecology, and stewardship shaped how chickens were raised. Unlike the rigid models of commercial farming, Native chicken-keeping often mirrored traditional relationships with animals—emphasizing sustainability, observation, and respect.

Moreover, chickens did not replace traditional foodways but supplemented them. Even in modern Native communities, chickens are often part of a larger ecological and agricultural strategy that includes traditional foods like corn, beans, wild game, and medicinal plants. In this way, chickens became one more thread in the living fabric of Native resilience and adaptation.

A Symbol of Cultural Adaptation

Today, chickens are present in many Indigenous communities across North America, from Navajo flocks in the Southwest to poultry projects on Northern Plains reservations. While they are rarely a focus of Native cultural identity, their presence tells a quiet but powerful story about cultural adaptation and persistence.

For the Lenape and other Eastern tribes, chickens represent more than just a colonial import. They are a practical response to a changing world—an Old World bird that found its place in the New World through Native ingenuity, resilience, and adaptability.