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Where Have All the Barnyard Breeds Gone? (And a Sustainable Poultry Workshop with Jim Adkins, August 5-7, 2014, NSW, Australia)


Instructor Jim Adkins teaching the Hogan Principles of Production at Heritage Creek Farm

With the industrialization of agriculture, dual purpose heritage breed poultry have been all but eliminated from Australia with a small number of exhibition fanciers being their sole keepers. These historical normal birds with their amazing hardiness, foraging abilities, delectable flavor, and production qualities not to mention visual appeal have been replaced by a hybrid bird not capable of breeding true to type and without the thriftiness of our old school varieties. Admittedly, these new, hybridized breeds do achieve huge growth rates and enormous egg production but at what cost?

The Isa Brown laying bird has been bred to lay so many eggs whilst consuming so little grain that she cannot maintain body weight and actually begins to cannibalize her own body with the onset of egg production. It makes logical if not scientific sense that a bird that has to put its own flesh and blood into its eggs cannot be packing a very high nutritional punch into them. These hens are typically culled after one season of laying because their bodies cannot keep up with those levels of production for a second year. Due to their slight frame and minimal flesh, they are simply burnt and occasionally composted.

The industrial meat chicken aka ‘Cornish cross’ is well described by Joel Salatin as the nascar high octane racing car of the chicken world. These meat chickens are capable of reaching slaughter weight at as little as 5 weeks of age and generally are not kept longer than 10 weeks because at this age their double breasted ,meaty carcass can no longer be supported by their slight chassis and they become less and less active. Once again, these birds do not breed true to type making it impossible for a farmer to hatch his own chicks. There are in fact only 4 companies in the world that have access to the breeding stock of these birds and have ingeniously positioned themselves with a monopoly over the entire industry.

I know that many producers would make a swing back to these breeds of yesteryear if it would be profitable. This is especially true with the emerging popularity of systems such as pastured poultry. Might I add that the only thing missing from the renaissance of historically normal systems such as this are the beautifully feathered birds that once were our mainstay. The industry, however, has so fueled the untruths regarding heritage birds that these thoughts have been successfully extinguished. I’m here to say that standard bred poultry can be profitable and farmers can become self-reliant once again.

Jim Adkins, a world-renowned poultry specialist, is coming to Doon Doon, NSW, in the beautiful Tweed Valley in August this year to hold his first ever Sustainable Poultry Workshop in Australia, between 5-7 August, 2014. You can download the PDF flyer here. We hope to see you there!

3 Comments

  1. Nice article, but you didn’t mention a single heritage breed chicken in it. I raised Cornish Cross birds, and yes they sure grow fast, but what would be the best heritage alternative to them? As for eggs, you might have suggested a good heritage egg layer too.

    1. As far as heritage breeds go the choice is nearly endless. There are so many varieties. In my opinion, dual purpose breeds such as Australorps, Rhode Island Reds, Wyandottes, Sussex, Plymouth Rocks, Australian Langshans are great because the hens lay a reasonable amount of eggs and the males yield quite a nice carcass. By choosing one of these breeds you could breed your own layers and use their brothers for meat birds. I must stress, however that there has been an enormous decline in the production qualities of heritage breeds since industrialization has formed their demise from production use. This is where people like Jim Adkins are invaluable. Jim has the knowledge and skill set to revamp heritage poultry through genetic selection and culling to their previous day production levels.

  2. Yes, nice article. I understand that referring to original/barnyard breeds might have necessitated a much lengthier article, but it would have been interesting to read. We’ve just built our chicken coop/run in our homestead high in the Sierra Nevada mountains of southern Spain and look forward to getting chickens of two Spanish breeds: Andalucian Blues and Utreranas. Have two already, what beauties!

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