WHY ARE RARE BREEDS RARE?

[Rare Feathers Farm]

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Yeah, I've always tried to stay away from "normal" anythings. I have weird breeds of dogs, even! LOL I like old, old breeds and breeds that no one else seems to have.

 

[KKluckers]

L&Schickens :

Six years ago I bought some "Very Rare" Malaysian Serama eggs on e-bay. I got 6 eggs for $75!! I thought that was a deal at the time. Now, I see Serama eggs going for $2 or $3 a dozen on e-bay. They were rare, but got so popular so fast they are no longer rare at all. I am fine with that as I never wanted to make money off of mine, but I am sure there are a lot of people who are bummed their little "Rare" chickens are so over populated and no longer rare at all.

A lot of people like the rare breeds because no one has them. I would love for the Orpington (all varieties) to become popular and common again. Most people think a Orpington is a Buff Orpington, no other varieties.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

L&Schickens :

Six years ago I bought some "Very Rare" Malaysian Serama eggs on e-bay. I got 6 eggs for $75!! I thought that was a deal at the time. Now, I see Serama eggs going for $2 or $3 a dozen on e-bay. They were rare, but got so popular so fast they are no longer rare at all. I am fine with that as I never wanted to make money off of mine, but I am sure there are a lot of people who are bummed their little "Rare" chickens are so over populated and no longer rare at all.

Yeah, I can see that happening...I think there will be a fine line between over-breeding rare chickens and not. I mean, I want to see these breeds become known but at the same time, I don't want everyone to own them so they become your standard breeds like RIR and the like.

 

[rooster-red]

Some breeds are not as popular because they lay only 1 or 2 eggs a week, not a great choice if you're looking to get all the eggs you can for the feed you'll use.

Funny thing is that I have some rare breeds that are supposed to lay 3 a week that are laying 6-7 a week, and have been for the past year.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

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A lot of people like the rare breeds because no one has them. I would love for the Orpington (all varieties) to become popular and common again. Most people think a Orpington is a Buff Orpington, no other varieties.

Yeah...I hatched out some buffs from Corey. They were very cute and all, but I ended up selling them to a lady who already had some hens (older ones) that were slowing down their egg production. She just LOVES that breed and they work for her...I offered her some cochins too, but she didn't want them. She said she just wanted the BO's. To each their own.

I have some black/blue/splash orps in the bator right now...so I really needed to make room for the new ones to come out.

 

[KKluckers]

Quote:
Yeah, I can see that happening...I think there will be a fine line between over-breeding rare chickens and not. I mean, I want to see these breeds become known but at the same time, I don't want everyone to own them so they become your standard breeds like RIR and the like.

I took one of my first Splash roosters to auction because of knock knee. They pulled him out of the box and all you could hear is ooo;s and ahhhs LOL.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

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Yeah, before my sultan was killed--she was laying every day. Other people told me to only expect a random egg or two every now and then....

 

[patandchickens]

I have heard that Houdans are not easy to raise -- less robust health, pickier about environmental conditions, less fertile (both in terms of # eggs laid and in terms of egg hatchability).

I do not know for sure if this is true -- if it is, then that right there might have something to do with their scarcity -- but certainly the reputation *alone* would discourage me from wanting to mess with 'em myself.

The other thing to bear in mind about 'rare breeds' is that there are an AWFUL lot of chicken breeds (especially if you consider 'worldwide' not just in north america), many of which are fairly similar to each other anyhow. Given that there are many more people who don't have chickens than those who do, you would expect a lot of breeds to be rare just from the luck of the draw, sorta, you know?

JMO,

Pat

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

That's good to know...although what sort of reputation are you talking about? Easy to kill?

 

[FLchook]

I know low hatch rate plays a part for the Auracanas. If an embryo gets a double dose of the tuft gene, it kills the embryo. Going back to basic genetics...thats 50% loss from day one.

Dont know much about the others.