Delaware Blue Hen

The Delaware Blue Hen is a landrace variety of chicken that was adopted by the Delaware General Assembly on April 14, 1939 as the state bird of Delaware. It is one of only three U.S. state birds that is not a species native to the United States.

While it is not a currently recognized chicken breed, the fame of the Blue Hen can be traced back to the American Revolutionary War: Colonel John Haslet's 1st Delaware Regiment (later the 198th Signal Battalion), which reported for duty near the outset of the war in January 1776, were nicknamed "the Blue Hen's Chickens," though they were more commonly known as "the Fighting Delawares."