Chickenfeed

In my old dictionary the meaning of chickenfeed is given as: an unimportant amount of money. However, this meaning is now looking very dated.

The farmer who supplies eggs to our local shop in Dinas Powys is cutting down the size of his flock due to the rocketing price of chicken feed; this is in turn due to the rocketing price of grains generally, especially maize. He reckons he will be spending an extra £300 a month if he keeps his flock at its existing size. The increase in price in feed explains the increase in the price of chicken in the shops.

Breakfast this morning was crunchy nut cornflakes (maize) [I have just been given a splendid black and yellow promotional Crunchy Nuts Cornflake cereal bowl - thanks Chris]. I cooked scrambled eggs for lunch. Tonight we had chicken legs in a spicy sauce with rice and salad. Grain and chicken feed.

Chicken feed is no longer chickenfeed.