In the late 1940s American agriculturalists developed the Chicken Breast Meter, a new tool that determined the breast angle of meat-type chickens. In contrast to measurements associated with egg laying, this instrument provided data useful to the breeding of meatier chickens, particularly broad-breasted birds considered attractive by the post-war American consumer.

Several versions of this scientific instrument came into being, including one developed by West Virginia poultry man John E. Weidlich, an accomplished chicken breeder whose "Sweater Girl Chickens" earned national honors in the 1948 Chicken-of-Tomorrow contest. Inexpensive and easy to use, this instrument added a new dimension to breeding experiments besides the weight of a fully grown and ready-to-harvest bird. With the aid of this new instrument, “breast angle” began to appear as another column of scientific data in published articles and reports.

In my talk, I describe the factors that led to this instrument’s development and explain why it fell from favor within a few decades. My paper highlights scientific knowledge at work and the trade of instruments; it also discusses the amateur/scientist divide, government support of science, and popularization of science with the public. In explaining how chicken producers turned to science in pursuit of a "better bird," I will show food-related scientific instrumentation as a realm worthy of further exploration.