Rarest breed of chicken in the US?

[Chickielady]

I saw the McGraws, a form of Araucana..nice!
And my DH would KILL me and torture me long after death if I ever brought a longcrower home.
They are something all right...

 

[ChooksChick]

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There's a constant discussion regarding whether the Vorwerk Bantam is the same as the Golden Lakenvelder. I've found conflicting information on this more times than I can count and have a flock that I find smaller than the average Lakenvelder in the US, by no means the size of the described LF Vorwerk, and the breeders from whom I got my three lines all called them Golden Lakenvelders...it's a mess trying to determine the real history of this bird in the US.

 

[ChooksChick]

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Does anyone still have any of these? Is there a sustainable population of them?

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

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I believe the finished version of the McGraw looked more along the lines of a pea combed Hamburg. The rumpless ones that were posted were an intermediate phase that became the Max Rumpy, or Rumpie. (Either way, another rare, nearly lost breed.)

Both the McGraw and the Manx Rumpy have very, very few surviving breeding flocks left. I think we've only been able to track down one flock of true McGraws. (Of course, BYC is not the end all, be all of poultry researching, LOL.)

 

[DrinkTheRainbow]

Ga Tre
Hand-fantail Ma Lai Bantams
IDK lol anything foreign and hard to get and isn't pure blood?

 

[ejb3810]

Perhaps a confusing issue with the Vorwerk in the U.S. is that they look somewhat similar to the Lakenvelder, and in fact the Lakenvelder bantam was one of the five (5) breeds which Wilmar Vorwerk used to create his Vorwerk Bantam. Mr. Vorwerk died in 2009 at the age of 96, I believe. He raised and bred bantam and other chickens and fowl from 1927 on. He spent many years in the development of the Vorwerk Bantam, and it was admitted to the ABA Standard in 1985. The other breeds used in the development were Buff Wyandotte Bantam, Black Tailed Buff Rosecomb, Blue Wyandotte Bantam and Buff Columbian Rosecomb. As you can see the Vorwerk Bantam is not just a gold form Lakenvelder.
I have Bantam Lakenvelders and Vorwerk Bantams. Both of these are in short supply I think. The large fowl Lakenvelder seems to be more readily available than the bantam. The difference between the bantam Lakenvelder and Vorwerk Bantam is much more than color.
I also have McGraws. One of the few remaining flocks I believe. They are Silver Spangled with no muff or beard, but they do lay a blue (not green) egg.

 

[Chickielady]

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Boy, I for one would love to see photos of these chickens, please !!

 

[JohnGalt]

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[Illia]

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Because the least liked thing about chickens are the roosters and their crowing.

Personally if I had the money, I'd put a LOT of work into importing some Kosova Longcrowers. Beautiful, spunky looking birds, a very long crow but deep and quiet at the same time, and truly a rare breed that isn't like our increasingly common finding of more Orpington colors being imported.

I love Long Crowers, but I'm not a fan of a normal single combed looking bird like Denizlis, and I don't care too much for a long high pitched crow. I like mine deep and low, like a monster or dinosaur or something is creating it.

 

[welasharon]

Illia, what kind of crow do the shamo have? You speaking of dinosaurs made me realize I have not read anything about their crows. I may have found someone who wants the o shamo and lives near me AND hatches eggs so, unless I can find someone to get started birds from (my preference), I will be watching your auctions! It will be a bit before he is set up to hatch.
sharon