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SOP is the official breed standard of perfection, developed by each breed club. It should incorporate size, absolute disqualifications for showing, and conformation, all geared towards the bird's purpose and appearance. Having birds that look like their breed is a good thing, if it also...

Value your broodies! Mine stay for life here! I use zip tie leg bands, a different color for every year, and you can get numbered zip ties through poultry supply sites. Figure out some way to ID your birds, because over time, it will get hard. Now that I'm doing white Chanteclers, it's...

You might need or want to get a few other hens noted for broodiness, if you SS aren't. That won't interfere with the SS breeding program, especially if you pick hens who produce eggs of other colors. I've had broody French Marans and BLR Wyandottes, for example. And the big game hens are...

Here we overwinter about forty birds, including usually six males, two for each breeding group. They have to co-exist peacefully, given that the coop has five separate areas the are open to each other but out of sight lines. And several feeders and two or three waterers. Cockerels raised...

I like to keep two cockerels, or a cockerel and a cock bird, so there's a 'spare' if something goes wrong with one of them. And years ago I too wanted to raise SS, and had difficulties with aggression in many of the cockerels, and gave up on breeding them. May you have better boys than we had...

Breeding is HARD!!! In theory, it's best to start with birds from a show breeder, but that's tricky too. What were their goals? If it's all about good looks, egg production may have been ignored, not helpful at all. And, birds out of the 'best stock' will still show a lot of variation. Some...