Have you ever bitten into a store-bought chicken and thought “Hmm this doesn’t taste like grandma’s chicken from back in the day”? Well, you’re not imagining things! The chicken most folks eat today is very different from what our grandparents enjoyed. This is where heritage chickens come into play.
As someone who’s raised both commercial and heritage birds, I can tell you there’s a world of difference between them. Today, I’m gonna share everything you need to know about heritage chickens – what makes them special, why they matter, and which breeds might be perfect for your backyard flock.
What Exactly is a Heritage Chicken?
According to The Livestock Conservancy a heritage chicken must meet all of these specific criteria
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APA Standard Breed – The chicken must come from parent and grandparent stock of breeds recognized by the American Poultry Association (APA) prior to the mid-20th century, with traits that meet the APA Standard of Perfection guidelines.
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Naturally Mating – Heritage chickens must reproduce through natural mating. Both the grandparent and parent stock must have mated naturally
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Long, Productive Outdoor Lifespan – These birds must have the genetic ability to live a long, vigorous life outdoors. Breeding hens should remain productive for 5-7 years, and roosters for 3-5 years.
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Slow Growth Rate – Heritage chickens must grow slowly, reaching appropriate market weight in no less than 16 weeks. This allows them to develop strong bones and healthy organs before building muscle.
In simple terms, a heritage chicken is hatched from a heritage egg, sired by an APA Standard breed established before the mid-20th century, grows slowly, mates naturally, and has a long productive outdoor life.
Heritage Breeds vs. Commercial Breeds: What’s the Difference?
When most people picture backyard chickens, they think of reddish-brown hens like ISA Browns or Hy-line Browns. These commercial breeds dominate egg farms, but they’re quite different from heritage breeds.
Here’s how they compare:
| Characteristic | Heritage Breeds | Commercial Breeds |
|---|---|---|
| Maturity | Mature slowly | Mature quickly |
| Lifespan | Live for 6-12 years | Live 3-4 years |
| Egg Production | Lay 3-6 eggs/week, depending on breed | Lay an egg almost daily |
| Laying Longevity | Produce eggs reliably for several years | Reduce production significantly after 2 years |
| Diet Requirements | Hardy and good foragers | Require perfectly balanced diet |
| Brooding Behavior | Often go broody and make good mothers | Rarely go broody, poor mothers |
| Egg Colors | Wide variety of colors available | Mostly white or light brown eggs |
| Variety | Many different breeds for different purposes | Few breeds specialized for eggs or meat |
| Breeding | Suitable for breeding at home | Cannot be bred reliably at home |
I once tried breeding some of my commercial layers, and let me tell you – the results weren’t pretty! The chicks had all sorts of health problems, and they never grew into productive birds. With heritage breeds, you can maintain your flock generation after generation.
Why Should You Care About Heritage Chickens?
You might be wondering, “Why should I bother with heritage chickens if they don’t lay as many eggs as commercial breeds?” Well, there are several good reasons:
1. Preserving Genetic Diversity
If people don’t keep heritage chickens, these unique genetic lines will disappear forever. The Rare Breeds Trust of Australia keeps a list of Australian heritage breeds at risk of extinction. Some of these breeds only exist in Australia!
2. Finding the Perfect Fit for Your Situation
Commercial chickens are all pretty similar, but heritage breeds come in endless varieties. Some thrive in hot climates, others in cold. Some are great foragers, others are docile and kid-friendly. With heritage breeds, you can choose chickens perfectly suited to your specific situation.
3. Building Resilience for the Future
The genetic diversity in heritage breeds is crucial for adaptation. If disease or environmental changes threaten chickens in the future, diverse genetics provide better chances for survival. Think of it as not putting all your eggs in one basket (pun intended)!
4. Enjoying Better Taste and Quality
Many heritage chicken keepers swear their eggs and meat taste better than commercial varieties. In my experience, heritage eggs have richer yolks and more flavor.
Popular Heritage Chicken Breeds
There are dozens of heritage chicken breeds, each with unique characteristics. Here are some of the most popular ones:
For Egg Production
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Australorp: These friendly black birds lay about 5 eggs per week with a long laying life. They’re quiet, adaptable, and great for families with kids.
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Rhode Island Red: These robust red chickens are excellent foragers that lay 4-6 eggs weekly. They’re hardy and long-lived, though roosters can be aggressive.
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Leghorn: Economical eaters that are excellent layers of white eggs. They’re flighty but self-sufficient if you have space.
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Sussex: Friendly, curious birds that lay reliably and forage well. They come in several color varieties including the beautiful Speckled Sussex.
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Welsummer: These gorgeous golden-brown hens lay beautiful deep brown eggs, sometimes with speckles. They’re calm and friendly, and the roosters are rarely aggressive.
For Dual Purpose (Eggs and Meat)
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Plymouth Rock: Worth keeping for their lovely zebra-striped plumage alone! They’re friendly, easy to tame, and hardy. Different strains may be better for either eggs or meat.
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New Hampshire: Related to Rhode Island Reds, these birds lay well and make good table birds, though they can be somewhat hard to find in Australia.
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Wyandotte: Gorgeous birds with laced feathers in various colors. They’re calm but like to be at the top of the pecking order.
For Unique Eggs
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Araucana: These birds lay stunning blue, lavender, pinkish, or gray eggs. They’re active foragers with an upright stance resembling game birds.
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Marans: Famous for their chocolate-brown eggs, these gentle birds are tough and disease-resistant. They’re exceptionally clean and can even be trained!
For Ornamental Purposes
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Sebright: One of the oldest small bantam breeds, Sebrights weigh only about 1.5 pounds when fully grown. Their beautifully accented plumage makes them striking ornamental birds.
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Cochin: With their fluffy ball-like appearance, Cochins are stunning birds that look like walking puffballs. They’re extremely gentle and make excellent pets.
Are Heritage Chickens Right for You?
There’s no single “best” heritage chicken breed – it depends on your goals and situation. Consider these factors:
- Space available: Some breeds need lots of room to roam, while others do fine in smaller yards.
- Climate: Certain breeds handle heat better, others excel in cold weather.
- Your experience level: Some heritage breeds are more challenging than others.
- Primary purpose: Eggs, meat, pest control, or just beautiful birds to enjoy?
- Family situation: If you have small children, prioritize docile breeds.
I personally started with Australorps because I have kids and wanted a friendly, productive breed. Now I’ve expanded to include Welsummers for their gorgeous eggs and Plymouth Rocks because they’re just so pretty!
Keeping Heritage Chickens
The basics of keeping heritage chickens are similar to keeping any chickens. They need:
- Secure housing to protect from predators
- Clean, fresh water daily
- Quality feed appropriate to their age and purpose
- Space to move around and express natural behaviors
- Regular health checks
Some heritage breeds have special needs – birds with feathered feet need drier conditions, and some breeds are more cold or heat sensitive than others.
The Importance of Preserving Heritage Breeds
When we lose a heritage chicken breed, we lose centuries of careful breeding and unique genetic traits forever. Australia’s biosecurity restrictions are so tight that if a heritage breed disappears locally, it may be impossible to reintroduce it.
By raising heritage chickens, you’re participating in living history and helping preserve genetic diversity for future generations. It’s rewarding knowing that your backyard flock connects you to a tradition of chicken keeping that spans centuries.
Getting Started with Heritage Chickens
If you’re interested in heritage breeds, here are some steps to get started:
- Join a poultry club: Local clubs can connect you with breeders and provide valuable advice.
- Start with eggs or chicks: Heritage breeds can be more expensive than commercial layers, so starting with eggs can be more affordable.
- Research breeds suited to your area: Climate adaptability is important for success.
- Prepare proper housing: Heritage breeds generally do best with access to outdoor space.
Final Thoughts
Heritage chickens offer something special that commercial breeds can’t match – a connection to our agricultural past and a sustainable future for chicken keeping. While they might not lay an egg every single day like a commercial hybrid, they offer longevity, self-sufficiency, and unique characteristics that make them wonderful additions to any backyard or farm.
I’ve found raising heritage chickens to be one of the most rewarding parts of my homesteading journey. There’s something magical about watching these birds that look just like the ones my grandparents raised scratching around my backyard, knowing I’m helping preserve something precious for future generations.
Have you raised heritage chickens before? Which breeds are your favorites? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments!
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I love an heirloom tomato; Black Krim and Aunt Ruby’s are some of my favorites to grow in the garden. I’m a huge apple nerd as well, and I love antique varieties like Roxbury Russet and the Zabergau Reinette. I’ll admit I’ve never tried heritage breeds of chicken (although I roasted an actual wild turkey once), so when my husband came home from the grocery store with an heirloom bird, I was intrigued.
Heritage breeds of roasting chickens are reportedly more flavorful than typical grocery-store fowl, with the tradeoffs of having less breast meat and being way more expensive. But the chicken my husband brought home looked and tasted more or less like a normal grocery store chicken—and it was $3.19 a pound. That’s maybe on the higher end for a grocery store, but nowhere near what I’d expect for heritage breed prices.
I spent some time researching the brands and the words on the label before I had my “aha” moment—this was sold as an heirloom chicken, not a heritage chicken. Wait, what?
“Heirloom” is for vegetables
I first learned about heirloom tomatoes in the early aughts, in the context of sustainable food and organic gardening. These are varieties like the lumpy Brandywine, their seeds passed down through generations, unlike the modern hybrids you’re more likely to find at the grocery store.
Heirlooms have a lot going for them. They’re often varieties grown to have a specific feature or serve a particular purpose. Extra juicy, perhaps, or they may have an unusual flavor or color. The reason they fell by the wayside is often because they didn’t have what it takes to survive in the world of commercial mega-farming—the juiciest tomatoes lost out to the tomatoes that were less likely to bruise in their shipping crates.
But if they don’t work on a factory farm, heirloom tomatoes are still great for home gardeners. You can enjoy tomatoes (or beans, or carrots) that wouldn’t work in an industrial-scale operation because you aren’t running an industrial-scale operation. Notably, heirloom varieties of many plants can be propagated without setting up a separate breeding program. “open-pollinated” is the term you’ll see on labels; it means you can save the seeds, plant them again next year, and get the same kind of tomato.
The opposite approach would be “hybrid” tomatoes, which are fresh (F1) crossbreeds of two different varieties. If you harvest an Early Girl tomato, its seeds will not make more Early Girls. You’d have to start from scratch and cross the parent strains again. Seed companies do this; home gardeners don’t bother.
Want to plant some heirloom seeds in your garden? Try these unusual-looking late season veggies:
Meanwhile, in the world of apples, varieties that have been passed down over the generations are known as “antique” rather than heirloom. I once heard an apple expert describe “heirloom” as a general term for varieties that we suspect are old, and “antique” for those whose history is well-documented; I’m not sure if that distinction is commonly used or was just their personal way of thinking of it. (Fun fact: apples never grow true from seed, so they are propagated by grafting a branch of the tree you want onto another tree’s roots. “Open-pollinated apples” are not a thing.)
HERITAGE Breed Chickens! (And Why They’re SUPERIOR)
FAQ
What is a heritage chicken breed?
The designation of a Heritage chicken breed has several purposes. The first is to protect the genetic purity of older breeds that have been replaced by modern birds. Modern breeds grow faster, lay more eggs, and have short lifespans. There are many outstanding breeds developed in the past, and it would be a shame to lose them.
Are heritage chickens recognized everywhere?
There are lots of breeds that many consider as Heritage breed chickens, and even a lot of the established Heritage chicken breeds are not recognized everywhere. But this list contains breeds that most countries accept as true Heritage chicken breeds, even they are not officially recognized by a particular country. They are in no particular order.
Are heritage chickens considered classic chickens?
Think of Heritage breeds as Classic chickens. The APA is brutal in its enforcement of recognition. There are lots of breeds, like the Marans, that are recognized as Heritage chicken breeds in other countries, but not in the United States (although that could change shortly…).
Why are heritage breed chickens important?
Heritage breed chickens are important. Here are three reasons why all chicken keepers should care about heritage breeds: Heritage breeds are living history. Many people put decades of work into developing and perfecting the different breeds. If we don’t continue to keep them, this work will be lost.
Are heritage chickens good?
Not the best egg-layers, but good enough for most individuals. Not as good for meat as modern ‘broiler’ breeds, but good enough if you just want a fresh chicken for dinner. They are known as Dual Purpose breeds. It would take an entire website to describe every one of the recognized Heritage Chicken Breeds.
What is the difference between a commercial chicken and a heritage chicken?
Some of these breeds are only present in Australia. Commercial chicken breeds are all very similar and require certain conditions to thrive. Heritage breed chickens, on the other hand, come in all sorts of colours and sizes, with different comb types.
What is the difference between a Heritage Chicken and a regular chicken?
Unlike hybrid chickens used for large-scale production on factory farms, heritage chickens are able to breed on their own, live long and productive lives outdoors, have healthy organs, and grow at a rate that their bodies can support.
Are heritage chickens good to eat?
While a commercial chicken might be bland, “the flavor of [a heritage chicken’s] meat is intense,” Baldini says, “and the fibers in the meat are very strong and difficult to break down.”
Do heritage chickens taste different?
Heritage breeds of roasting chickens are reportedly more flavorful than typical grocery-store fowl, with the tradeoffs of having less breast meat and being way more expensive.
Why is it called Heritage Chicken?
Heritage breeds are the livestock equivalent of heirloom vegetables. Heritage breed chickens are the type of chicken that might have been raised by your grandparents. All modern chicken breeds have been created from heritage breeds. Some heritage breed chickens are still common, like Australorps and Rhode Island Reds.