Well actually the first question is usually more along the lines of are there such things as endangered species chickens. And, the answer is: "Yes, there are."
I found out about endangered species chickens from two sources:
1. The American Livestock Breeders Association, http://www.albc-usa.org/
2. Murray McMurray Hatchery, http://www.mcmurryhatchery.com/
The A.L.B.C. had a booth at the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival one year around the time I started my farm. The person running the booth was very friendly and interesting; she wore an A.L.B.C. tee shirt with a beautiful line drawing of a chicken which started our conversation on the subject. It stuck in my head that when I "someday" got chickens in my own backyard I would find ones that were endangered. I had a friend, Karen L., who had chickens, but she got them as adult layers. There was a place in Westminster, MD that used to do that a long time ago, but the diminishing profit didn't allow them to continue. It wasn't what I wanted anyway. Southern States also sells intoxicatingly adorable peeps every spring that I was always temped to get, but again, it wasn't what I really wanted to do. Then I found McMurry Hatchery on the Internet. I loved the artwork on their catalogs. A silly reason to be attracted to them over any other hatchery, but it got me to look further. McMurry Hatchery, to my luck and surprise, has a supportive relationship with the A.L.B.C. In their catalog they have a section on "rare breeds"; they publish statistics siting the A.L.B.C.
Hurrah, I found my source for birds, and it was really fun choosing.
Over a ten year period I have had a number of flocks. I usually like to keep a flock around 30 birds; it just seems the right size for the coop that I have. Birds generally have a nice laying span of about three years. It takes them about six months to start laying from peeps. Then the very first eggs they lay are called "pullet" eggs; they are miniature sized eggs. Very cute. You could have a 10 egg omelet with "pullet" eggs and be telling the truth when you said you ate the whole thing. When we are finished with our birds we found a local family that doesn't mind butchering them, and they eat them. It feels complete. Our family eats plenty of chicken, but I just don't want to think about a pet being on my own plate. And, sometimes we have lost chickens to predators.
Goodness, chickens have a lot of predators. It seems, humans aren't the only ones that know they taste good. Lots of predatory birds will try to swoop down and take them away from above, then there are the sneaky foxes, also plenty of rodent like creatures that attack in the night. Believe it or not we lost an entire flock --26 birds, to a family of MINK. Yep mink, right here in Maryland. If it weren't for some lingering snow on the ground, our local trapper would have never figured out how they were getting in, and exactly what was getting in. He found the foot prints and distinguished them from a few other leading suspects. He actually got the lead male, and then the problem stopped. My last 9 birds were in a dog create hanging from ropes tied to the ceiling beams of our barn, at this point, trying to keep them safe.
So, we have tried lots of different kinds of birds over the years; we stick with those on the A.L.B.C. lists. They prioritize the list from "a bit worried" to "urgently small numbers" (my terms). We find combinations of birds that are about the same size & weight, so no one has any advantages at the feed trough. I love all the different colors of the chickens.
The answer to the title question:
The reason that some chickens are on the "endangered" list is the concept that once upon a time this great country, and other places around the world, were not so encroached upon by humans. Then there was a much greater variety of chickens and locally specific different kinds of birds. The loss of that physical space is one reason, but the mass production, commercial egg laying industry, and large corporate size farming practices have also tremendously reduced variety. The public wants uniform big white eggs, and sometimes uniform big brown eggs. This means that really only two or three kinds of chickens are in mass demand to lay all these eggs. That diminishes breed variety.
We are not actually breeding the birds our selves, so in one sense we are not increasing numbers that way. But, the folks that work solely on bringing these birds back can't do it without being able to out-place birds. So we are happy to give a home to some and increase total nation wide numbers that way. That is important. Plus all the folks that eat our eggs know this story, and we work to increase awareness, also important.
Buy local, eat fresh. Save an endangered breed of chicken. A good thing; I think.
