Old and Rare Breeds

[Talithahorse]

I wonder how much weather had an effect on the breeds or whether there was "too much" human manipulation. I know with horses, weather and environment can have a huge effect on the breeds.

 

[Alaskan]

I wonder how much weather had an effect on the breeds or whether there was "too much" human manipulation. I know with horses, weather and environment can have a huge effect on the breeds.

I think people bred what they liked... and of course what grew well where they were located..... taking into account their management choices.

Like I think in lots of the Nordic areas the birds were kept inside, in a barn, or even in the kitchen all winter long.

Just sayin' that is the only explanation for why so many of those breeds have such big combs.

 

[Talithahorse]

I agree. I suspect bantams were fairly common up north since they would be more easily kept inside. However, I did see somewhere up in the far north where they were raising chicks using big cement blocks and a heat lamp. I suspect something like that might be used, especially since it was sunk into the ground to hold in the heat.

 

[Finnie]

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.