I haven't been on here in a couple of weeks. I wanted to chime in on Rudy's wyandotte breeder estimates. I show all over the country and very rarely see any of the colored varieties. I usually don't have competition in whites unless it's a large show. Of the white breeders out there (large fowl) I can only name a few that I can think of and know of. These guys are all raising a good number of whites each year and showing them on a fairly regular basis. These guys would include: Larry Dye(OK), Rick Hare(NY), Don Ryan(MN), Tom Nelson(ME), James DeWitt(KY), Jesse Paul(FL). These would be the guys I would consider "serious" breeders. Between all of us I would guess there may be 200 to 300 breeding birds. Probably closer to 200. Then there are several people I know that still have and occassionally show them. However, these people are not hatching more than 20 chicks a year. This is WHITES! Probably the most popular RECOGNIZED color. There may even be more SILVER LACED than whites! I would guess no more than 3 to 4 hundred show quality breeders in a given year.
Then you look at the rare varieties. Foley's, Konecny, and Shank are the only people I can think of that ever show Blacks. Dave Lefeber and Dave Anderson are the only two people that I know of breeding Buffs. Warren Carlow had advertised them before, but I have never seen them. Columbians are possibly making a comeback. Dave Lefeber and Don Monke have shown some pretty good ones. Don's are as big as the whites! Paul's Poultry has some beautiful Columbians posted on their website. (I would love to see them in person). Silver Pencilled are definately in need of some dedicated breeders. I do know Duane Urch has them about as good as you will find. Partridge are making a comeback. Rudy did a very good job of dispersing them among several fanciers. Now that he's back into it there is interest at every show for his birds. Hopefully Foley's, Rudy, and several others involved in the project can get them back in the showroom.
Anyway, my point is this....It is easy to think the estimates are low but when you really start looking into and finding out how few breeders there really are it's kind of scary.
Jonathan
