Most Expensive Chicken In The United States & The Most Sought After Breeds We Don't Have In America

[massoumicyrus]

Wondering what the most expensive breeds are in America that we do have....
The kind that are $100 at a day old.
Reference:
https://greenfirefarms.com/ultra_exotic.html


Then, wondering, what are the breeds out there in the world that would be on that list of ultra exotic/expensive --- but, aren't in the states.


Curious to make a list sort: Ex: "10 Most Expensive Chicken Breeds In The World"

 

[donrae]

@junebuggena And that's where I start to get lost: "They aren't making much money off of it"

When you have a chick that costs $100 - and say you have 10 hens shooting them out - call it 50 chicks a year.

That's 500 x $100 = $50,000 a year from 10 hens (I know this is assuming that nothing is going wrong --- ) But, someone is going to have to explain to me where there is a huge hole in what I'm not seeing.....

The only thing that I've found about the breed I took an interest in (Ayam Cemani's) is that it seems other breeders cull 75% of their chicks, ETC.

The hole I see is folks seeing rare breeds simply as dollar signs. Folks see something like the bolded above and start churning out chicks. They don't bother to cull that 75% that should be culled and in a few years the market is flooded with poor quality representations of the breed or variety. That's why your Cemani's you paid 3K for, I now see at my local livestock auction going for a few bucks each. Happened with Legbars also. They hit the market, the best thing since sliced bread....now the color and type is all over the place, so is egg color.

Breeding chickens isn't a money making business. You pick a breed you love and work to improve it.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Culling means removing from the breeding flock. Some males may sell. Most won't, so yes, some breeders do eat their cockerels that aren't good specimens. The females that aren't breeding quality are easier to rehome as backyard layers.

That is what it means to some breeders. That is what it means to me. However, there are many breeders where "cull" means to eliminate as many as possible as soon as possible, so as to not waste resources on those that won't contribute to their breeding stock. I have had many discussions with prominent breeders who claim that the only way to move a breeding program forward at a quick rate is to hatch 100s of chicks each year, with the expectation that at least 1/4 of those chicks will be killed on evaluation at 1-2 weeks old, and another 1/4 will be culled at 6 weeks old. These breeders are looking for any excuse to eliminate a chick, just so there won['t be as many to grow out. They specifically discuss how important it is to know how to disarticulate their necks at this age right at the evaluation table, because it is more efficient to put them in the trash can instead of putting them in a "reject" bin and then later having to get them out again to kill them.

There is nothing inherently horrible about this. These chicks are being handled gently and killed humanely. It is not like what happens at hatcheries where the males are thrown into a macerator alive, or even worse thrown into a trash can alive, crushed to death by the ones thrown on top of them, with the ones that survive the crush sealed in a trash bag, trash bags packed tight into a pickup truck, and taken to the dump to die a slow death. So a quick and painless death at an evaluation table is definitely a better alternative. And these breeders are absolutely right. You will develop your breeding program much faster if you are selecting the top 1% of chicks out of 1000 chicks hatched, than if you are selecting your top 1% of chicks out of 100 chicks hatched. But for me, if I'm going to hatch out a chick, I'm not going to kill it until it is large enough to make a meal. At least that way its life isn't wasted. I know, emotional mish mash. But it sits well with me. I guess I still have the luxury of not being the most efficient person out there, and that's ok with me.

 

[0wen]

Ok but like I said just because it is imperfect to one, doesn't mean it is worthless to someone else. Why not give it away to someone else as am ornamental? this solves the problem of feeding non contributing eaters...

What are they secretly paranoid that they're terrible at choosing and they're reject will end up with a blue ribbon at some podunk County Fair? Then they're even greedy to the grave.

I'd like to know who these people are so I dont buy from them. I don't want every chick I buy to have 2 ghosts behind it. Unless...does no one really want the extras?

If you've ever bought a hatchery chick then you've all ready bought a chick with a line of ''ghosts'' behind it. Standard practice for years on top of years to toss out/grind up/use as packing peanuts/whatever with male chicks. The ag industry is what it is and will likely continue to be that way for a very long time. Your best chance at avoiding that is to buy from known breeders. It may take some time, but you can almost always find what you're looking for if you are patient.

On why some breeders destroy rather than give away cull chicks - often because of the possibility of 'bad' birds perpetuating. As mentioned earlier in this thread about Cream Legbars - a few years ago they were the 'flavor of the month' selling for a ton. Once they got out breeding went wild and now you have birds that have colors/feathering/build all over the place. Legbars are a dime a dozen today and a big % of them are no better quality than bulk hatchery birds. Same thing is happening/will happen with Cemani, Svart Hona, Orust - everything. It's the nature of the beast - some people want to 'preserve the breed,' others want to make a quick buck, and others are hobbyists who happen across one and breed them incidently or as a home project. Realistically, all of them are probably ok to some degree. As an example, I have a couple dozen "show quality" bantam rocks that I'm working towards a breeding program with - my "culls" will go to backyard farms, 4-H kids, whatever - I'm not a subscriber of needless slaughter. I also have a m/f pair of Svart Hona that are part of my hobby/egg flock - cockerel appears to be of good quality (only 5 weeks old so far) but the pullet has obvious flaws (a white toenail or 2, she had difficulty hatching, needed feet splints, still has a slightly crooked toe) and would never be part of a breeding program in a legitimate program and likely wouldn't had survived her hatch (I assisted - a lot) and if she had probably would've went into a cull basket. However, as long as illness, injury, or predation doesn't take her - I'll likely hatch from her eventually. If friends/relatives want a Svart Hona, they'll get it from her likely as I don't see making people pay a couple of hundred bucks for a bird from somewhere else if they just want a novelty addition to their flock. A lot of scoffs at that school of thought, but it is what it is.

All the hoopla over others telling you how to manage your own birds reminds me of how pretentious Ameraucana breeders use to be (and honestly a lot still are) over people saying/spelling Americana or calling Easter Eggers Ameraucanas.

Anyone who cared, all ready knew the difference. I liked (still like) going to Ameraucana stomping grounds and showing pictures of my Ameraucana based olive egger mutts and "showing them off" - you can almost see some of them have a stroke through their computer monitor.

 

[junebuggena]

Culling means removing from the breeding flock. Some males may sell. Most won't, so yes, some breeders do eat their cockerels that aren't good specimens. The females that aren't breeding quality are easier to rehome as backyard layers.

 

[dheltzel]

Lots of chicks have sold for more than $100 per chick. Ayam Ceymani's have the rep for being ultra expensive, and GFF was selling them for $5,000 / pair. Reese Legbar pullet chicks were $250 each for a while.

Prices are whatever the market will bear, while many are astonished by a high price for a chick, it very often makes great economic sense. If you are an accomplished breeder, you can be generating revenue from that chick in about 6 months and make your money back very quickly if there aer enough people wanting the new variety.

 

[massoumicyrus]

@dheltzel I wasn't questioning the economics of why a chick makes sense to buy at a high price point.... The answer isn't rocket science. I bought a pair from GFF for $3K when Cemani's were relatively new.

Trying to get a list of what the most expensive chickens in the U.S. (CURRENTLY) are.

And what we don't have here that - would - be more expensive, and how much.

**Obviously the market changes.

 

[junebuggena]

Greenfire Farms is one of the only poultry breeding farms in the country that actually seeks out, and imports new breeds. They are the go to breeders for rare breeds, often because they had the first or only in the country.
Some 'breeds' accepted by the Poultry Club of Great Britain, that are not in the U.S. at all are the U.K. Araucana (they are different from the U.S. Ameraucana and Araucana), Brakel, Ixworth, Norfolk Grey, Scots Dumpy, and Thuringian. If you did a search for chicken breeds from each European country, I'm sure you could come up with a list of hundreds of breeds that haven't ever been imported to the U.S.

 

[massoumicyrus]

@junebuggena OK, but, what's to know which of those breeds will fetch a high price point here in the U.S.?

 

[junebuggena]

Honestly, you can't know what breeds will sell here, until you've imported, bred, and have chicks to sell, which is why most breeders don't spend the resources on importing new breeds. It's just too much of a risk for the money that has to be spent to get them here.
Greenfire Farms doesn't import breeds for the profit, they do it for the conservation and preservation of each breed. I can promise you that even though their birds are expensive, they aren't making a lot money off of them.