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- #11
Thanks. With chickens it really is a gamble who is going to be a winner. There are just so many factors that come into just breeding, raising, and culling, not to mention preference of judge and competition at each show. For instance, as I said before, the nicest birds don't often make the best offspring. It all depends on what genes they have hidden and what they can pass on to their offspring. An ugly roo or hen can surprise you by what they can potentially create. Thats why it is so hard to create a good bird, you never know what needs to be bred to what in order to make her. Also, you can't evaluate chicks until they are older. Like, much older. About a year. A good looking chick could molt and look like trash. A bad looking chick could molt and look stunning. Since it is a given rule of thumb that only 1 bird out of 10 will mature into something worth keeping, thats a year of feeding 10 birds just to get 1 bird in return. And what about the breeders who really want to go the extra mile and really advance their stock? How many do they have to raise? The answer is, really, 100-200 a season. Thats what it takes to get good birds. At the last show, I met someone who said they raised 300 buff orps this year. Thats true dedication to the breed. And his results at shows and the look of his birds will definitely show it.