Old and Rare Breeds

but personally wasn't very successful with the rare breed of my choice. I didn't have the resources to large scale breed, struggled to find good birds, and thus now have more common breeds.

I think this sums up why a lot of heirloom breeds fell by the wayside. My personal choice for rare breed is Redcaps. What you read about them makes them seem like they used to be an awesome dual purpose chicken. But somewhere along the line, they lost their good qualities. In their case, I bet it was due to breeding for exaggerated comb. Now you can't find any good ones.

I tried one Hatchery in 2016 and those 13 chicks were a complete failure. This year I'm giving it one more shot with a different Hatchery. If these don't work out, then my Redcap plans will come to a dead end.

On another note, I found Partridge Penedesencas at my local Tractor Supply this year! Those must be increasing in popularity if TSC got them in. Mine turned out to be 2 boys and 2 girls. I hope I like working with them.
 
I believe Sicilian Buttercups are a very ancient (italian) breed, and the American Buttercup Club has stated the breed needs help to stay out of obscurity. They are also the only breed in the world to posses a buttercup comb, so it's a trait that should definitely be kept alive.
 
I think this sums up why a lot of heirloom breeds fell by the wayside. My personal choice for rare breed is Redcaps. What you read about them makes them seem like they used to be an awesome dual purpose chicken. But somewhere along the line, they lost their good qualities. In their case, I bet it was due to breeding for exaggerated comb. Now you can't find any good ones.

I tried one Hatchery in 2016 and those 13 chicks were a complete failure. This year I'm giving it one more shot with a different Hatchery. If these don't work out, then my Redcap plans will come to a dead end.

On another note, I found Partridge Penedesencas at my local Tractor Supply this year! Those must be increasing in popularity if TSC got them in. Mine turned out to be 2 boys and 2 girls. I hope I like working with them.
Can you follow up and let us know how it's going with the redcaps? I'm putting this on my 'possible' list next year.
 
Can you follow up and let us know how it's going with the redcaps? I'm putting this on my 'possible' list next year.
So far the Redcaps from Sandhill Preservation are healthy and growing well. It's like night and day compared to the ones I got from Murray McMurray in 2016. It's too soon to tell what kind of size, shape and color they are going to end up with, but just the fact that they are living and not dropping one by one makes me very happy. I'll try to remember to come back and update with pictures once I see how they mature.
 

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