It's kind of sad. Nowhere in these posts do I see anything about improving an breed, keeping a heritage or rare breed from becoming extinct, breeding for correct type, proper production or stronger stock. Just a lot of stuff about how to get the oddest looking chickens possible and make a little spending money on the side. A very wise chicken keeping friend of mine always says, "Just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done." This is especially true when the discussion is about living, breathing creatures who deserve better than to be treated as experiments to get the ugliest bird, or the baldest, or the (insert adjective here) bird. I'm not necessarily talking about breeding a Marans to an Easter Egger with the aim of getting green eggs. I'm talking about breeding for just plain weird because there is a market out there for them.
If I ever decided to breed chickens, I'd be looking for strength in the lines. I'd be looking for birds that are healthy, that do what they were bred to do well (whether that's meat, eggs, or dual purpose) and I want birds with longevity and the ability to withstand my particular climate. I know I'm not experienced or educated enough yet to take that step. I have a long way to go before I would consider myself qualified to take on rare or endangered birds. It's a huge responsibility and at 65 years old I'm still not there yet.
Now, I'll back on out of here. I can't change anyone's minds here, and to say anything more could be taken as inflammatory. I certainly don't mean it that way - I just wanted to insert a cautionary tone in this discussion.
Edited to add: It was just pointed out to me that this an old thread. Given that, I seriously considered pulling my post and just putting in "sorry, wrong thread" --- for all of about 10 seconds. But then I figured that if someone else found it and bumped it up, others might find it as well, and my response stands regardless of how old the thread is. So just in case someone else decides to jump into this thread, hoping for a magic answer on how to make money breeding chickens, this response is still timely.