Which really rare or unusual chicken breeds make the most money?

RavenWings said:

I so would do that, but silkies are tiny bantams and Malays are gargantuan standards with hawk eyes and killer legs. I think the silkie would be smothered to death, sadly and unfortunately. Even an Aseel would kill it by accident. I know that I want to cross a Turken with a Sumatra to try and develop one of the ugliest and creepiest chickens ever just for fun. I'm also crossing different one-color cochin breeds as well. I plan on doing a ton of things with chicken genetics, crossing a lot of different breeds.

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donrae said:

Do a search for username Dipsy Doodle Doo (hope I spelled that right). She has what she calls her "Build a Buzzard" project---if you want to see some funky looking birds, there's the place to go! She had an ad on the buy/sell section for culls from her project she called DipsyGoths--white feathered, black skinned birds--talk about creepy!

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stoneunhenged said:

White Leghorn all the way.

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RavenWings said:

Sounds great! But it will take a lot of time. I was wondering about other really rare chicken breeds that make great money for a chicken. Here's my list so far

Marraduna Basque
Madagascar-Game/Ga-Noi/Malgache
Cuckoo Scots Dumpy
Saipan Jungle Fowl
Derbyshire Redcap
Icelandic
Black La Fleche
White La Fleche
Tomaru Longcrower
Kosovo Longcrower
Denzili Longcrower
White Faced Black Spanish
Tolbunt Polish
Cream Brabanter
Gold Brabanter
White Houdan
Silver Penciled Rocks
Lavender Orpington
Blue Partridge Brahma
Mahogany Faverolle
Black Penedesenca
Partridge Penedesenca
White Empordanesa
Marans (Golden Cuckoo, Blue Copper, Blue Wheaten, Blue Splash, Birchen, Black, Black-tailed buff, Partridge/Golden-Salmon, Wheaten, and White)

Do you have any of them or know anyone who does?

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Blooie said:

It's kind of sad. Nowhere in these posts do I see anything about improving an breed, keeping a heritage or rare breed from becoming extinct, breeding for correct type, proper production or stronger stock. Just a lot of stuff about how to get the oddest looking chickens possible and make a little spending money on the side. A very wise chicken keeping friend of mine always says, "Just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done." This is especially true when the discussion is about living, breathing creatures who deserve better than to be treated as experiments to get the ugliest bird, or the baldest, or the (insert adjective here) bird. I'm not necessarily talking about breeding a Marans to an Easter Egger with the aim of getting green eggs. I'm talking about breeding for just plain weird because there is a market out there for them.

If I ever decided to breed chickens, I'd be looking for strength in the lines. I'd be looking for birds that are healthy, that do what they were bred to do well (whether that's meat, eggs, or dual purpose) and I want birds with longevity and the ability to withstand my particular climate. I know I'm not experienced or educated enough yet to take that step. I have a long way to go before I would consider myself qualified to take on rare or endangered birds. It's a huge responsibility and at 65 years old I'm still not there yet.

Now, I'll back on out of here. I can't change anyone's minds here, and to say anything more could be taken as inflammatory. I certainly don't mean it that way - I just wanted to insert a cautionary tone in this discussion.

Edited to add: It was just pointed out to me that this an old thread. Given that, I seriously considered pulling my post and just putting in "sorry, wrong thread" --- for all of about 10 seconds. But then I figured that if someone else found it and bumped it up, others might find it as well, and my response stands regardless of how old the thread is. So just in case someone else decides to jump into this thread, hoping for a magic answer on how to make money breeding chickens, this response is still timely.

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Debski777 said:

I was keeping in mind the breese and rumpless aracona (blue eggers),
I brought some babies home one pullet is all black, feather- footed and black footed, black comb. very curious what this one will turn out to be I think they threw a surprise one in the batch! I'd like a copper maran pair in the future perhaps.

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