The World's Rarest Chicken Could Cost You Thousands

People in the U.S. eat a lot of meat — more than 274 pounds per year on average. The most commonly consumed of those meats is not beef or pork like you might expect, but rather chicken. Americans gobbled down 96.4 pounds of broiler chickens per capita in 2020 (via Sentient Media). That might have something to do with its ubiquitous presence in our lives. According to the USDA, chicken has been the meat most available for U.S. consumption since 2010 when it overtook beef.

That availability takes countless different forms, but many of them are cheap and affordable as well as tasty, such as the entire rotisserie chicken you can buy at Costco for $4.99, which is likely to remain that price for the foreseeable future (via Reader's Digest). The South is known for making some mean fried chicken, and from sit-down restaurants to fast food menu prices, the cost remains pretty reasonable, even during a year when we've been ravaged by inflation.

While most types of chicken from nuggets to wings are relatively inexpensive here in the States, not every piece of poultry comes cheap. The world's rarest chicken could cost you thousands.

You can be forgiven if you've never heard of the Dong Tao chicken, also known as the Dragon Chicken. It's endemic to one village that bears its namesake, located in Vietnam outside of the capital, Hanoi. Dong Tao is a funky-looking bird, to say the least, with stocky red legs that resemble those of a certain aforementioned mythical beast. Buying just one of these chickens can set you back $2,000 (via Insider).

The exorbitant price tag derives from a number of factors. First of all, Dong Tao are extremely rare, and their meat is valued as a delicacy (per Eco Peanut). Once reserved for the tables of royalty, it is now sold at luxury restaurants and has also become a staple of the Vietnamese New Year. Dragon Chickens are endlessly pampered and receive special attention since in addition to being sold to high-end restaurants, they often compete in chicken beauty pageants as part of the country's New Year celebrations (via Amusing Planet).

Additionally, they tend to produce fewer eggs than regular chickens so breeding them demands considerably more effort. Compounding this problem is that Dong Tao chickens have a bit of a clumsy streak and a bad habit of trampling their own eggs (per Vietnam Pictorial). High demand and low supply combine to make the Dong Tao chicken one expensive bird.