RIP Foghorn Leghorn, Killed By Industrial Ag

I commented on your post in the Platter (4.00 / 5)

but it's scrolling down so I'll just re-post it here.

Will also add for any Canadian readers that we do have a org that's doing the same thing as the US Conservancy

Rare Breeds Canada http://www.rarebreedscanada.ca/

It's something that I'm -**personally interested in.
Last fall I started raising chickens for the first time and I tried to get a heritage breed.  I ended up with Barred Plymouth Rocks which are a heritage breed but not one of the most endangered ones. I decided on them because their traits fit with what I needed and my main goal this year is to learn the basics about raising chickens before I get into looking at the more endangered varieties.

Last year I attended a weekend event put on by Rare Breeds Canada. Several of the talks hit upon some of the points of what the article did. Most people who have heritage flocks or have kept heritage birds do so because they love and care for the breed and it's more of a hobby. They were talking about similar issues of trying to find ways to make them commercially viable as way to help increase their numbers.

  "To save them, we have to eat them," says Bender. "We are losing genetic diversity in our country's livestock."

There is a lot of truth to that.

This quote though I tend to disagree with.

 

 The move to preserve old-fashioned breeds of chickens might not have the backyard appeal of the Brandywine tomato or the Kentucky Wonder bean. But to gourmets, the idea is growing.

I actually do think that there is appeal and potential market in the small backyard chicken keeping realm.  I'm thinking about people who might like to keep a smaller number of birds like three or four for their eggs and where they are treated more as pets or part of the household then a farmer raising them for sale and not breeding a perpetual flock.

I do think that it's appealing for many people who have or are looking at having chickens like this to not only get the benefits of having their own chickens but to be part of something bigger...helping to preserve the life and genetic diversity of many of these chickens.

Adding to what I posted before as I've had more time to think about it.  The biggest issue I found when looking for a heritage breed for my own backyard flock was trying to find them, then availability and then location in terms of their accessability. It was simply easier to go to a local farm co-op and buy chicks but then you are basically getting the same sort of chickens that a larger scale farmers use.

One of the reasons I went to the event last year was that I had hoped to find people who would sell them. They were there but their wasn't any emphasis or much awareness of people that might be interested in half a dozen for a non farm based chickens and people that weren't interested in or couldn't become part of the actual breed saving programs.   Basically the mechanism for selling didn't make it easy. I did talk to one of the members about it and she did say that she had noticed that there was a growing trend in this area and that maybe it was something to look into and promote more. It's not that they weren't interested in doing it, it's just that there hasn't been a big market for that sort of thing up to the present and they weren't geared toward it. That doesn't mean they can't be though.

Maybe this would be a good place to ask the question of other readers.

If you were in the position of getting a few birds for your backyard mainly for eggs and such would you be interested in getting a heritage breed?

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by: elizajade @ Mon Apr 27, 2009 at 23:10:31 PM UTC

Thanks, great comment... (4.00 / 4)

I think we'll start to see a move towards growing interest from all ends - especially as more cities start allowing backyard chickens, more people realize the benefits of same and realize that there's still eggs that taste like eggs and chickens that taste like chicken out there; and as more groups like the one you linked to begin to promote the issue more.

I'm no expert (there are quite a few here however...), but I would also think that many heritage breeds would be the best fit for keeping almost as pets in urban backyards, where massive and rapid amounts of egg or meat production aren't the reason for their being kept.

This is a great point -

I do think that it's appealing for many people who have or are looking at having chickens like this to not only get the benefits of having their own chickens but to be part of something bigger...helping to preserve the life and genetic diversity of many of these chickens.

Absolutely...

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Mon Apr 27, 2009 at 23:54:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Almost makes me wish we could raise chickens (4.00 / 2)

but apart from any local ordinances on the issue, my wife won't have them. She's a farm girl and remembers dealing with animals way back when, and doesn't want any part of that now. She won't even let me have a dog (which is another story).

I have succumbed to the Twitter craze. @Omir55

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by: Omir the Storyteller @ Tue Apr 28, 2009 at 01:33:52 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

No time for chickens (4.00 / 1)

I have become interested in three chickens in a chicken truck (a mobile coop that you can move around your yard) but realize I don't have the time. I barely have the time to keep up with the weeds in the vegetable garden.

So- at this point I am basically a chicken voyeur. If and when I get to retire, I would like either Rhode Island Reds or Ameraucanas- because they are hardy, friendly and lay eggs.

Any other ideas? Any proposed breed has to meet these three criteria

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by: la motocycliste @ Tue Apr 28, 2009 at 17:15:55 PM UTC