Meli,
 
As Ron suggested, although some of these reminiscence may not even come
close to answering your question, they certainly bring up some
interesting and perhaps relevant questions.  My parents had chickens
during the Depression.  I assumed for their own use.  My Mother told me
many people in the area during the Depression raised chickens.  This was
in South Jersey, not really rural, but not exactly suburban either.
When I was growing up in the 50s we had stewed chicken and dumplings
almost every Sunday night.  Later I assumed this was a hold over from
the Depression.  On Monday nights we would often have pancakes topped
with the remains of the chicken stew.  So did chicken become a staple
during the depression?  As Wendy's work and others suggest, it was a
luxury item around 1900.  Was it the depression that made it a staple
(assuming it was)?  Another question that comes to mind is, is there a
difference in bone preservation between bones from fried chicken, stewed
or boiled chicken, and the pet chicken that was ceremoniously buried
(ignoring articulation and grave goods)?

Lee Cranmer
Historical Archaeologist
Maine Historic Preservation Commission
 
P.s. to avoid the headless chicken running around, throw it in an empty
trash can - it does make a racket though.