Everybody knows about Colonel Sanders. But do you know about Charles Weeks? The chickens sure do.

In 1920, the L.A. Chamber of Commerce invited a pioneering rancher from Northern California to come to the San Fernando Valley and try out his water-saving method of raising chickens. Charles Weeks is credited with doing away with free range chickens.

He confined his birds to coops, making it possible for farmers to raise chickens on small plots of land. The method caught on, and egg farms sprouted all over the Valley.

Bill Robertson, director of L.A.'s Bureau of Street Services, says the San Fernando Valley's chicken legacy is commemorated on a Northridge street sign.

"Fullerfarm Street was named after the Fuller Poultry Colony. It was just east of Zelzah Avenue and south of Devonshire back in the 1920s."

The Great Depression hit poultry farmers hard. Many went bankrupt. Charles Weeks gave up chickens and moved to Florida to raise papayas.

This past November, California voters rejected Charles Weeks' innovative way to boost egg production. They passed Proposition 2, which requires chicken farmers to give hens enough room to stretch their legs.

(Airdate: 1/10/2009)