What are the rarest breeds of poultry and domestic waterfowl

[Anonymous]

Just wondering what the rare breeds are in poultry? I know the RBST do a list, but it doesn't cover turkeys,geese, and ducks as far as I know. Thank you 99

 

[Anonymous]

the ones you see in the poultry books but never see for sale are the rarest ones lol. old english pheasant fowl and nankins are rare.

 

[Anonymous]

I just thought I would quite like to 'help' a rare breed. We have the room and broodies, so that wouldn't be a problem. I'll have a look at the ones you have mentioned. Thank you.

 

[chrismahon]

Went to Ashby show and met Ruth Dalton, the RBST Field Officer for the North. She gave us a leaflet called 'Poultry Breeds at Risk' which seems to list most of the established Pedigree breeds anyway. Even Buff Orpingtons are listed as are the aforementioned two. Marsh Daisys are listed, but the last few years has seen a brisk trade in hatching eggs so I wouldn't say they were rare now. The Marsh Daisy Club has even started to breed odd variations with some significant original traits missing or reduced. If you do help a rare breed I believe you need to be sure that you are working with the original strain and not some modern show variation. Orpingtons were a Utility breed but many have lost their egg laying capacity in the quest for better colouration and characteristics for show. We are trying to recover Blue laced Wyandotte's utility characteristcs for our own benefit but realistically we should go back to the Original White variety. It seems that the blue lacing brings with it some strange character disorders and the least blue we have lay the best and are the nicest natured. So I suppose what I am saying is what does rare mean? Is it few numbers of birds in total or few original breeding strains remaining. Perhaps someone has given this issue more thought than me and has some better ideas?

 

[darkbrowneggs]

African Geese - I don't know how "rare" they are, but when I wanted some they were next to impossible to source. I choose them as a breed as they are totally non-aggressive, and though I loved the idea of geese I didn't want something around that attacked everything.

They have proved charming and very non-aggressive. Laid a fair number of eggs, and the gander fertilized pretty well 100 percent of her eggs, and those of another goose as well. All in all - what it said on the tin

I also had tremendous difficulty when I wanted some Exhibition Rouen Ducks- again I wanted something placid, and that would eat my slugs and horse flies, and again did what they said. They are also said to taste delicious, though I cannot verify this

I will try and post some photos

All the best
Sue

 

[Anonymous]

I would love to see some pics of your Rouen ducks Sue. I've just hatched some Runners out and also a couple of chicks.
Funnily enough I have a friend who knows Ruth! I didn't know what she did until recently though 11 I also know she is very particular about what breeds of poultry she keeps as she is wanting to preserve them. If anything doesn't meet up it goes in the pot :shock: I think she has some Amrocks.
Thanks for replying guys.

 

[foxy]

Most breeds have a society which looks after them and is affiliated with the Poultry Club of Great Britain, so even though the RBST has a classification a lot of the breeds have their own club here in the UK, which means there are a lot of existing supporters and breeders.

The PCGB club also supports the Rare Poultry Society which manages the rarer and conservation side of poultry, and is basically an "umbrella" club for all the rare breeds in the UK which are not currently supported by their own club. Members who an active interest in a rare breed or who are trying to maintain/resurrect a breed are called "registrars"
.
Dorinda a member here I think is a registrar of Svart Honas, beautiful black skinned and very rare birds!

Here is a link to the rare breed club UK

http://www.rarepoultrysociety.co.uk/breeds

 

[dorinda]

I don't go by the RBST lost - a lot of them are almost common at shows - I go by the Rare breed society - I've got one very rare breed over here - Svart Hona - Swedish Blacks - not rare in Sweden though - there are only 6 adult birds over here and about 20 chicks - I know because they're mine
Here are a couple of pikkis of them taken at Wigtown show last week - the male won his class "male non-standard" it was the first time a lot of people had ever seen them - and the first show they have been to in the country!

sorry Kate just seen what you have written - I imported the eggs and have all the svart Hona population here - but Julia Keeling is the registrar - as she is for Ayam Cemani - we are trying to work out if there is a lonk somewhere along the line as they have some similar characteristics (comb wattles etc)

 

[foxy]

Thank you for posting Dodo! I just love those congrats on your wins btw

 

[foxy]

Sorry Dodo just read your bit at the bottom..wasn't sure if you were the Registrar .. I now remember the discussion around the possiblity of a "lonk" (sorry! ) between the Svart Hona and Ayam Cemani.

 

[darkbrowneggs]

Wow - that is the blackest bird I have ever seen!

Someone asked me to post some photos of the African Geese and Rouen - so here goes

 

[Anonymous]

That cockerel is amazing! We are off on holiday near Kippford in Oct. I bet all the shows will be over by then. Loving the Rouens and the geese too.

 

[E3lx]

New Hampshire Red chickens?
I wanted to breed them, but I could'nt find anywhere that sold them. Dont know how rare rare is though

 

[animartco]

Went to Ashby show and met Ruth Dalton, the RBST Field Officer for the North. She gave us a leaflet called 'Poultry Breeds at Risk' which seems to list most of the established Pedigree breeds anyway. Even Buff Orpingtons are listed as are the aforementioned two. Marsh Daisys are listed, but the last few years has seen a brisk trade in hatching eggs so I wouldn't say they were rare now. The Marsh Daisy Club has even started to breed odd variations with some significant original traits missing or reduced. If you do help a rare breed I believe you need to be sure that you are working with the original strain and not some modern show variation. Orpingtons were a Utility breed but many have lost their egg laying capacity in the quest for better colouration and characteristics for show. We are trying to recover Blue laced Wyandotte's utility characteristcs for our own benefit but realistically we should go back to the Original White variety. It seems that the blue lacing brings with it some strange character disorders and the least blue we have lay the best and are the nicest natured. So I suppose what I am saying is what does rare mean? Is it few numbers of birds in total or few original breeding strains remaining. Perhaps someone has given this issue more thought than me and has some better ideas?

Hi Chris. Yes before I looked into it I was thinking, get a rare breeed and breed it on true to standard, and sell them and try to make it less rare. What a noble thing to do. But I don't know it very seldom seems to happen that way. Standards change SO easily! There are loads of breeds, perhaps most of the older ones, that if I turned up at a show with the true macoy original breed, it would be chucked out as not conforming! I wish there was a way of setting standards more rigorously in older breeds, before they disappear completely. For modern breeds of course it doesn't matter so much. They don't have such valuable genetic history.

 

[chrismahon]

Seems to me that the really rare breeds are those that have still got their Utility characteristics fairly intact. There are a few breeders that use the show standards as a rough guideline but put Utility at the top of the list and I would say those are the people to talk to. No they won't win shows but they will lay fairly well, live a long time and make good table birds. Of course there is also the 'pet' factor. Are they nice natured and inherently less stressed and therefore less prone to problems or too highly strung?
We'll carry on with our Wyandottes and see what happens. So far the ones remaining are fairly placid but we have still got the odd nutter (they have been fitted with bright orange leg tags) that we won't breed from.