IMO The research done at Universities focuses on the super production methods of chicken management; the pre-mass production breeds that fell out of favor some 50 years ago is not of financial value to the livestock industry so they are not studied. ALBC has one study on turkeys and liveability when purposely exposed to a particular disease, where the Bourbon Red outlived the Narrigansetts.
With the dramatic increase in the old breeds and addition of more breeds from abroad, and the more people are adding chickens ( and other poultry) into their lives and farms, we do need to know which strains and breeds are more useful for a specific geographic area. But until then . . . .
Don Schrider who wrote an article in the Backyard Chicken Magazine that examines a number of dual purpose chickens including whether a particular breed leans more toward egg production or toward meat, and a few that are equally good for both. A very interesting article. Like all magazine articles space is limited and subjects are kept short so there is no specifics on disease resistance but some info on climate suitability.
I don't know how to find it on- line and link it--maybe someone can do that.
