Rarest breed of chicken in the US?

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
I actually got mine through Sandhill's lines...I bought hatching eggs off eBay and just kept culling. I'm waiting for the next year's catalog to come out for Sandhill and then I'll be ordering from them. I have found that if you order 25 or so of one breed from them you can usually end up with a decent pair or trio to start with and then cull from there...

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
Think I heard Craig Russell had some, he is the president of the SPPA.. If nothing else, I'm sure he can point you in the right direction for a new start. http://feathersite.com/Poultry/SPPA/SPPA.html


-Daniel

Thank you I was thinking of this fellow last night when I was trying to help this fellow find some names to contact. One of the problems I get my self in to is people say they have a breed of chickens like you mentioned Orps or Reds ect then when we dig in and see the picctures they are Hatchery stuff. Dont even look close to the breed. If you start out with this stock it would take twenty years to get to the level that say Craig Russell has right now. So its always better to go for the best stock available and then try to improve them as best you can. That is the purpose to be a good student to the standard of perfection and to try to keep the gene pool going for the breed you wish to have.

I just found out last night in my home state of Washington there is some nice White Cornish large fowl and Black Austrolorp large fowl out of Calif. So at least we got to sources that we may be able to get to that are above average type and colored birds.

I have a freind who could get eggs from these two people hatch them and then ship the chicks at five weeks to me or a person who would want this stock to start with.

I am thinking of the White Cornish as they are the old Lewis Strait line.

Thanks for helping on the Dorkings. I will also tell him about your whites I was on your web site and remembered seeing them a week ago but it takes me a while to try to figure out all the breeds I have seen and liked.


Also super rare are light sussex large fowl I remember seeing these on your web site from Washington State. I dont know much about this breed but the color sure looked sharp. They came from Europe and how long ago? bob

http://www.rarefeathers.com/apps/webstore/products/show/958446

Who knows what the next breed will be. I got a message from a lady in the deep south who says she has Stantard Rhode Island Reds from a master breeder who shows at the Lake City Fla show. Dont know who this person may be but may find another lost strain of Reds maybe my old line.

I am still looking for Partridge Plymouth Rocks from the old Tommy Stanley line from Virgina. Joel Gilman sells hundreds of chicks per year surely some one out there got chicks from him . He has very good Plymouth Rocks and Rhode Island Reds. bob

I love my Light Sussex...the few downsides to them are:

Their size--they eat A LOT and need a LOT of room

Single combs--I've had frostbite issues with them

SLOW maturity--it took my pullets about 8+ months to start laying

Good things:

VERY friendly (thank God--because a massive rooster like that would not be any fun to have around!)

Lay very well

I just sold my extra rooster and bought another Light Sussex pullet as well as a Coronation pullet. So I'll have splits next spring as well.

 

[RioLindoAz]

Nankins

 

[punky rooster]

Quote:
Nankins are rare but they are not the rarest breed in the US

lomanas seem to be

 

[hinkjc]

Quote:
"up to the waste" - that's a good one!

Until people actually breed the lavender project birds towards a breed standard, they will continue to look like that. I don't think they are worse than hatchery stock, but they are not good enough to call pure orpingtons either yet (and there are no pure lavender orps out there yet). As far as I know, I am the only one still working to develop/improve them. My hopes when I shared the project were that others would too, but when I posted asking for others to share their progress, I got zero replies on anyone working to improve them.

So I may still have some of the rarest color varieties in the country for orps yet. I'll keep working on them.

 

[Illia]

Hinkjc - You're working on true Orpingtons. You've got birds that have come a long way.

But honestly, have you taken a look now at how many people have Lav Orps? And how many are selling them? . . . And how many of them are going backwards in progression? . . . And, well, how they look in type?

 

[hinkjc]

Yup, I've seen them. I see it with other breeds too.

 

[KyBlue]

Quote:
Nankins are rare but they are not the rarest breed in the US

lomanas seem to be

"True" Nankins are far more rare than you think. There are many people and a hatchery or two that claim to have them, but most have very little Nankin blood in them.

 

[RioLindoAz]

Quote:
Nankins are rare but they are not the rarest breed in the US

lomanas seem to be

"True" Nankins are far more rare than you think. There are many people and a hatchery or two that claim to have them, but most have very little Nankin blood in them.

The only way to tell if they're true is to check if they correspond to the standard, correct? I don't see how its wrong to mix in another breed to improve a line.

 

[PineappleMama]

.