What are the rarest chicken breeds? Why are they rare?

[Farmgirl283420]

I was just wondering out of curiosity what some rare chicken breeds are and why are they rare? If anyone has some I would love to see pictures!

 

[BGMatt]

So I'm kind of going to go with a meta answer here...something my mentors taught me growing up and is now more true than ever as more and more flavor of the month trendy "rare" breeds are promoted and now people/hatcheries even doing designer "breeds"

The rarest chicken there is, is a well bred to standard chicken.

The truth is there is NO bred or variety that is not in need of more excellent breeders. How many breeds are technically around but genetic dead ends? How many are propped up by one or two serious breeders and what happens if those flocks get wiped out due to predator or disease? Or if those breeders pass away?

 

[Amer]

One of the rarest here in the US is the Redcap. It is the only breed in the APA Standard of Perfection that I have never seen. People I know that had them didn’t like the personality of the birds so maybe that’s part of it.
More rare breeds can be found on the American Livestock Conservacy.
https://livestockconservancy.org/heritage-breeds/conservation-priority-list/#640c23860bb3b12ec
There are other rare breeds in other parts of the world, but these are just breeds that have spent some time in America.

 

[p4PaDuck]

They are really darn ugly too!

 

[AprilsAcres]

I consider show quality, bred to the Standard of Perfection birds to be rarest birds you can try to buy. It is easy to buy hatchery quality, flock bred birds. Go to the Ohio National chicken show or other large poultry show and look at those birds. They are the best of the best and years of breeding has gone into producing most of those birds. You will easily see the difference between a Standard of Perfection bred bird and what is generally available at hatcheries and stores. Now try buying chicks, eggs or birds from the breeders. The supply is limited if they bother to sell at all and prices reflect the work put into producing them. Even charging high prices, most breeders of the best fowl are not making a profit and yet the public complains. It can be quite a hassle dealing with the general public who are used to buying cheap fowl.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Most are rare because there's no point in keeping them unless you are passionate about preserving that breed. They don't grow fast enough to be worth raising for meat and they dodon'lay nearly as many eggs as cheaper, easier to find breeda

 

[p4PaDuck]

Dong tao chickens are an extremely rare breed, and their slow growth rate makes them really expensive.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Dong tao chickens are an extremely rare breed, and their slow growth rate makes them really expensive.

They also aren't allowed out of the country, so they're not able to be bred by other breeders

 

[Farmgirl283420]

I feel bad their legs look painful!

 

[p4PaDuck]

Yeah. I didn’t know they weren’t allowed out of the country.