Breeders of Rare Lamonas??

[FabledFeatherFarm]

I thought it was high time to start a thread on here, since it seems all the other Lamona threads are pretty outdated, and the current economic climate is driving a renewed demand for sustainable meat breeds. I’ll introduce myself as a newer breeder, I’ve had my Lamonas for 4 years, they’re a bit of Greenfire blood, Urinikis, Sunbird, and Grade Eh. I’d really love to hear from anyone else who is currently raising them. Mine adhere to the breed standard of pure white, red lobes, big single comb, short legs, yellow skin, long tails on cocks, but they definitely lay the more creamy eggs from the Gerdes blood than white. Let’s talk!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I would like to know more. I had not researched Lamonas since I learned they were supposedly extinct. Can one of you enlighten me what has been going on with the breed in the last 15-20 years?

 

[FabledFeatherFarm]

So I’d love if another of us chimed in with their perspective. From what I understand, there are maybe six currently selling. But the scoop is, Lamonas went basically extinct at the turn of the century, dropping down to just a few hens left of the breed. But Steve Gerdes- an expert in Lamonas- obtained those few hens and crossed them with his best reproduction rooster that he had produced using Lamon’s original method. He was able to get a very good rooster from that cross to breed back to those hens for a couple years, producing a decent number of true to SOP offspring. After Gerdes died, his breeding pens were split between several trusted friends, who continued the work and started selling limited numbers to the public. To my knowledge, those included Sunbird Farm, the Urinikis family, Greenfire Farm, and Grade Eh Farm. That’s one of the questions I’d love to ask another breeder: did anyone else get stock directly from Gerdes? Regardless, these breeders continued selecting in their breeding pens for several years, then apparently moved on to other breeds, but it’s still possible to trace at least 6 individuals who are still working with the bloodlines they had sold. Hope that helps!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That is well more than I knew. The last I knew was that they were no more and would have to be reconstituted as a breed from the original crosses. That is how I left it in my mind. Thanks for the information.

 

[FabledFeatherFarm]

It was certainly a close call! Had it not been for Gerdes, and the family that gave up their hens to help him….
Happy to share!