A couple years ago we tried some rare breed chickens. They were beautiful and it was an interesting project. But we ran into problems trying to replace breeding stock. Since the breeds were rare, it was difficult trying to find breeders anywhere near us and I was having to look at buying day old chicks from the hatchery and wait a year for them to become productive or pay to have one shipped from one of the few breeders here in the US which was cost prohibitive.
So we sold all those chickens and started over with a trio of Buff Orpingtons and a few Black Australorp pullets (young females that have not started to lay yet). Both breeds lay large brown eggs and I’m happy to have fresh eggs in the refrigerator again.
Years ago, we free-ranged our chickens and the hawks wiped us out taking over 200 birds over a 2 year period. With the rare breeds chickens, we kept them in coops so we could control the breeding and keep them safe. Since those birds were raised in a coop from birth, they did not know how to defend themselves (or run and hide when a hawk came close). But these birds we have now seem to know how to stay safe so they are running loose on the farm.