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

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?
 
Silver Bielefelders are pretty rare. They are rare because the silvers were often culled at birth until a new breed standard was set for them. Green fire is one of the only places you can get them.
 
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.
 

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