According to the medical book Dongui Bogam (동의보감) compiled by the royal physician Heo Jun (허준), parts of the chicken had the ability to cure human illnesses. LEE Hyeong-Heum, the fourth great-grandfather of Ogye Farm’s current successor, regarded Yeonsan Ogye not as simply a source of protein but as a medicinal ingredient to increase stamina. He eventually became the first person to serve black chicken soup, then considered to be good for health, to Cheoljong, the 25th Joseon King (1849–1863). The king enjoyed it so much, the consumption of the soup was henceforth restricted to the royal family.

Since that fateful day, the expertise and knowledge of raising and preparing black chicken were passed down from parent to child, a 5-generation legacy that has been kept alive by the Lee family. But like all trends, the Joseon Dynasty ended, and along with it went the black chicken’s favour. Unlike other breeds of chicken, the Yeonsan Ogye was neither a quick grower nor an efficient producer of eggs. The chickens took around one year to reach maturity, a length five times longer than many other breeds, and only produced around two eggs per week. It should come as no surprise that the breed was classified as unproductive and less profitable than other common chickens. For the layman, the black chicken was useless — a symbol of wealth and power rather than a useful, domestic animal. Almost all of the farms that were raising Yeonsan Ogye abandoned the once honoured breed, leaving only LEE Hyeong-Heum’s family to cultivate the species on their own.

1980

During the Japanese Occupation (1910–1945) and the years subsequent, the Korean government had little interest in its native assets. Under colonial rule, Korea’s identity was suppressed to discourage rebellion and labeled as inferior by the Japanese. After World War II, the nation was rebuilding, trying to catch up to the rest of the world in terms of power and prestige. Few resources could be spared to protect cultural assets, and in that moment, moving forward was more important than protecting the past. It was not until years later that the government began to rethink its stance on protecting its cultural assets. A result of that rethinking resulted in the recognition of the Yeonsan Ogye black chicken as the 265th Natural Korean Monument in 1980. The title did not result in any concrete changes for the Lee family that had until then been keeping the species alive at their own cost.