It all depends on what you want your chickens to do for you. You have to know what you want before you can get it. Hatchery birds are massed produced so they are fairly cheap. They normally lay pretty well for the breed but you are not going to win many chicken shows with them. Different hatcheries have different people selecting which chickens get to breed so they have different skill levels plus not all hatcheries have the same goals. There will be some differences between hatcheries, but a mass produced bird that lays well and will not win shows is a fairly good assessment.
Breeders come in all kinds of shapes and forms. Some are just people that got hatchery birds and sell eggs or chicks. They don’t necessarily even know what the SOP is let alone how to breed for it. Some are great experts at breeding for show but may not pay any attention to things the judges don’t see. For example, a judge will not see the color of the egg the chicken lays, especially roosters, so egg color or shade may not be a criteria in their breeding program. Some but not a lot breed for show as well as the personality and production traits the breed should have. Some breed more for production traits than for show qualities. Some are working on project birds, maybe a color/pattern not recognized by APA or something else. Some people just like playing with barnyard mixes.
Breeders cover a real wide range of the spectrum. I’m not trying to put any of them down as long as they are straightforward on what they are breeding to. They all have a legitimate place.
So just try to figure out what you want and good luck on finding chickens that meet your criteria.
Breeders come in all kinds of shapes and forms. Some are just people that got hatchery birds and sell eggs or chicks. They don’t necessarily even know what the SOP is let alone how to breed for it. Some are great experts at breeding for show but may not pay any attention to things the judges don’t see. For example, a judge will not see the color of the egg the chicken lays, especially roosters, so egg color or shade may not be a criteria in their breeding program. Some but not a lot breed for show as well as the personality and production traits the breed should have. Some breed more for production traits than for show qualities. Some are working on project birds, maybe a color/pattern not recognized by APA or something else. Some people just like playing with barnyard mixes.
Breeders cover a real wide range of the spectrum. I’m not trying to put any of them down as long as they are straightforward on what they are breeding to. They all have a legitimate place.
So just try to figure out what you want and good luck on finding chickens that meet your criteria.
kinda nervous first time with duck eggs hope they hatch
