Jared,
What a thoughtful post- you have me thinking about how to reach the general public, who won't generally know about PP or Backyard Poultry, or other great places where there are ads.
And may I insert, thank you! for sending people to the Delaware Club site. We are trying so hard to promote and preserve the dual purpose qualities of these birds- we think they are a pretty perfect bird for the backyard flock owner who wants to become a bit more self sufficient.
I am not the most knowledgeable person here, obviously, but I have eaten some of my own Dels, and there are a couple of things that come to mind - I don't know if this is true for other Heritage breeds or not. First, when people order the Cornish cross broiler birds, it seems to me from what I have read, that they are getting a chicken who basically sits there and eats and poops- there are no long range plans for these chicks. They will be in the freezer in a flash. Your Heritage bird is apt to be active, foraging, running around and playing,and will have a different texture meat because of this. There are great articles out there on HOW to cook Heritage fowl, and it does make a difference. I know, I experimented. Also, people may have to wait longer to process Heritage birds, they DO grow slower than the CX: we processed ours at about 20 weeks, and they really needed maybe another month on most of them. But that is worth it - even if it costs to keep those extra roos around for a while, because our goal is better and healthier food that we have grown ourselves. I think there are breeders out there who are working on their Heritage lines for faster maturity, but in general, it is just going to take a little longer, from what I understand.
How to get the word out there? I think it is up to the individual selling to make a point to market the good dual purpose birds AS dual purpose birds- most CL ads or IWANNA ads that I have seen just list the breed with no other info. I know ads cost money, but just adding the words "dual purpose" could raise interest, and it doesn't cost much to explain what that means over the phone or by email to the people that respond to the ads.
Breed Clubs that take out ads could certainly promote that aspect. I do think there is going to be a continued interest in the dual purpose bird, and promoting that aspect is a two fold good thing - the more rare breeds could experience a revival, and the general public who is interested will be getting some darn good eggs and Sunday dinners.
I hope I didn't miss your point and go rambling off, but little sleep and posting on one cup of coffee sometimes takes me off on side roads.