Because there is no "Breed Police" running around giving tickets out. LOL.
In all seriousness? This topic ignites very, very strong feelings in people. Folks who procure their beloved pet birds from hatcheries do not appreciate folks saying things about their birds. It is human nature.
All chickens are just chickens. Chickens. Gallus gallus domesticus, I believe. All one species. The "artwork", if you will, of molding them into a particular "breed", described as such and such and so and so, is a human invention. All the "breeds" are a human invention. Other than a few landrace bird groups, most everything we call a breed was made by human breeders, tweakers of genetics to achieve a certain, detailed look to a bird. If you go by a strict interpretation of a breed's description in the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection, only those Reds produced by very careful breeding even come close enough to the Standard to be called good representatives of the breed. The same can be said for all the other breeds as well.
Hatcheries mass produce birds for available, inexpensive products for consumers who buy them. They are generally healthy birds and that is all folks care about. They typically only sort of, kind of look like the breed they are said to be. Are they? Some are a bit closer than others. Some birds sold as Rhode Island Reds are woefully far off and one has to practically suspend all belief to accept the claim.
So to re-cap, are all these reddish birds sold as RIR real RIR? It depends on who you ask and what you really want to hear for an answer. Are the hatchery reds good back yard layers? In many cases, yes indeed.
Are they the rich dark Reds, with the looooong flat backs, rich feather quality, protruding front keel silhouette of a true bred, true to Standard Rhode Island Red? I won't paste photos of the two kinds of birds side by side, but we could do so. Are they the same? It doesn't matter to many people, but to others, it matters a great, great deal. Different goals, different perspectives.
Excellent post
And great pictures everyone, I'm really enjoying this breed focus!
Not RIRs though because I've heard the hatchery RIRs can be mean which is why I didn't get any but yeah. I'd like to eventually find some breeder ones though, maybe next year. I got BR, BA, BO, EE, and a free chick. 9 total, 2 each except the free. Maybe the free one will be an RIR lol but hatchery birds can definitely be great, especially if it's just for backyard eggs and pets, like mine, and not for show. Some are really pretty too amd I've even heard of some hatchery ones winning at shows, depending on hatchery and breed. I've heard if grand champions even. Not with RIRs though I don't think. Hatcheries also happen to be most convenient and cost effective for me so definitely love them 
) but it seems to me if they're so vastly different or mixed they wouldn't even be the same breed? But ah well. I'm sure both are equally as awesome
