I just read an article in Hobby Farm's Chicken edition that listed "Breeds in Need" according to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy Conservation Priority list, the "Critical" breeds are Campine, Chantecler, Crevecoeur, Holland, Modern Game, Nankin, Redcap, Russian Orloff, Spanish, Sultan, Sumatra and Yokoama. Critical means fewer than 500 breeding birds in the US, with five or fewer primary breeding flocks and globaly endangered. Their next category are "Threatened", which mean there are fewer than 1,000 breeding birds in the US with 7 or fewer primary breeding flocks and they are Andalusian, Buckeye, Buttercup, Cubalaya, Delaware, Dorking, Faverolle, Java, Lakenvelder, Langshan, Malay and Phoenix. They also have a "Watch" list and a "Recovering" list.
I just spent a big chunk of last night reading up on the birds listed in the Critical and Threatened list, since I'm considering doing the same thing you are considering doing (waiting till next summer), looking at cold hearty and decent egg production, but I also want to consider raising any "culls" for meat, keeping the best of every generation to breed next year's crop. I'm kind of leaning towards Dorkings, Delawares and Buckeyes, with perhaps a Langshan or Cochin as a broodie. I'd love to keep in touch with you about what you decide and how it works. Maybe we can compare notes.
