Sam, did you not see the Tur? Rashi brings the Minhag with a plant from the times of Gaonim. So, the Minhag of doing ?? ??? ?? is thousands of years old. And that’s exactly what I meant by “one form or another”. I was responding to someone not understanding the concept of ?? ????? ??. The Tur, though, mentions using chickens from the times of Geonim.
The Mechaber is coming off the Rashba, who acknowledged that it is widespread but didn’t like the looks of it. You mention a Lashon that is not there and doesn’t come from the Rashba he is coming off. It is silly to disregard the Maharil and Ashkenazic Mesora stemming from Geonim (which the Rashba might not have been aware of) because of an archeological Lashon of the Shulchan Aruch.
If I’m not mistaken, this is one area where the Sefardim don’t accept the Mechaber.