A Controversy: Breeders vs. Hatcheries

[Orange Ribbon]

Daggone, Boggy Bottom Bantams, 100% death rate on most every order from hatchery you have made? You must be the world's most unluckiest person!

 

[BlackBart]

I have bought birds from both. The Hatchery birds when mature are smaller. Several of them have died from no apparent reason. I received birds I didn't order or the birds had faults IE: breed is supposed to have yellow legs but the ones shipped actually had white legs. I have bought from two different Hatcheries. Selection is limited when it comes to importing to Canada.

The Breeder birds are bigger, take longer to lay, cost more to buy but IMO healthier and to the breed standard. BUT not all private breeders are ethical either. Do your research.

If it comes down to price, you don't care about the size, breed standard or the fact some might die. Go with the Hatchery birds.

 

[Criskin]

Quote:
Coincidentally, I received a small order (9 birds) from Ideal today. All were alive and seem healthy. I bought a lotto ticket on my way home from picking them up at the post office. If I win, I'll split it with you, Orange Ribbon!

Edited to add that it took them 2 days to arrive.

 

[ronniewayne]

i have ordered chickens from murrary mcmurrary, ideal, mt healthy,purely poultry,privet, bought feed store chicks,and ordered from a REPUTABLE BREEDER...( a person dedicated to the improvement of a breed ameraucanas in this case) most of the hatchery chicks were less than sop ...but my surival rate has been in the 95% range with most small groups at 100% from either source...a few even the wrong color for the breed ...most were very good layers..with the rsl "comets" from mt healthy being the best layers i have ever had over 300 eggs in first production yr...i free range mine and they are pretty good foragers....that being said your purpose for the chickens will tell you where you need to get them ;just for backyard eggs a hatchery would be the least expensive choice....for show or to perpetuate a heritage breed go to a breeder of that breed....i m o happy chicken trails to you

 

[cworsham]

Anyone know Australop breeders in or around Ohio?

 

[Oregon Blues]

Hatcheries are fine. They sell inexpensive birds that are generally healthy, and that's what a lot of people want. They don't care what color the legs are or if the hens weighs in at the correct size.

Hatchery birds can vary in quality by breed. The occasional hatchery bird might be quite nice. Most aren't showable birds, but many people don't want to show, so they don't care. A heck of a lot of people can't even see th difference.

Like my neighbor who insists that his 20 pound short haired terrier mix is a Papillon and looks identical to my 6 pound show winning Papillons. To his eye, he can't see any difference.

Buying from a breeder, you have to know what you are looking for. Quality can vary. While looking for my foundation Swedish ducks, I went and looked at 2 different breeders, who claimed to be selling show stock, yet had horrible Swedish ducks. Well, darn, upon questioning, they admitted that their ducks had come from a hatchery and they were trying to "breed up".

So sorry, but if your breeding stock came from a hatchery, you are going to hatch out hatchery quality chicks for many many generations. It takes a very long time to breed up from a bad start.

I have purchased Swedish ducks from a hatchery and some that are show quality this year. They might as well be a completely different breed they are so different.

The show birds have better markings, better body shape, much better temperaments, much better feed conversion. And they cost a heck of a lot more.

The hatchery birds are all going into the freezer. Which is what I bought them for in the first place. Because the show birds are a bit costly to put on the table.

I would never sell a cull to anyone who wanted to start breeding or who wanted to show. Culls go into the freezer.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Quote:
75% actually on average.

Might have been misleading the way it was wrote.

Uusually 50% doa or dying and 50% of the remaining ones over the next few days.

Big difference is this is all bantams ( I own no large fowl and never will), they dont ship nearly as well as large fowl chicks, and all seemed very tiny and weak as individuals also...gave them 4 chances, same result every time though. By the way, all that grew up, were either 100% off in color, type, or even breed in a few cases.

Did do great from Mc Murray once, but they did get here in about a day and a half from ship time.

A lot has to do with shipping duration, the rest is the over all vigor of the chicks being shipped too though. Time isnt a hatchery issue, but the vigor of what is being shipped is.

They shouldnt send out scrawny half sized chicks... and count them as part of your order, they just dont make it.

Only reason I was trying hatchery orders was for new d'anver and phoenix color projects. So quality wasnt an issue, they'd be made into mutts anyway then worked back into the breed of choice. Sad thing is I tried this for 4 season and have nothing to show for it but that 4 pound orange old english "bantam" roo...LOL

Live and learn. I just buy started birds from breeders now and work the colors in that way.

 

[speckledhen]

Speckledhen, you've mentioned those Red Sex Links in different posts and your bad experiences with them. I wonder if the ones you are getting are the commercial layers, the Dekalb or ISA's maybe, that are designed to lay real well for a while but then burn out. They are also designed for the commercial conditions and may be a little too delicate to chase grasshoppers or scratch for worms. Some hatcheries specifically tell you that their RSL are crosses between certain breeds, while some don't do that. Different people report different results for their hatchery RSL. I think this is just another case that not all hatcheries are the same, same as not all breeders are the same.

No, Ridge, I don't own any sex links at all, never have had the commercial sex links because I never liked their looks. Those are even worse for internal laying than the ones I do have as they are super high production types. I had the most common hatchery layers like the RIRs, Barred Rocks, Wyandottes and Buff Orpingtons, the ones most folks get in the feed stores when they get the shipments in from places like Ideal, Privett and McMurray. Those are the ones that died from internal laying, all those breeds, all from the same hatchery.​

 

[Kavellion]

I have got chicks from a hatchery when I started then I moved on to buying hatching eggs from breeders. The hatching eggs take longer and your flock will grow slower than just saying bam gimme 25 and you wont have instant gratification like that. But the ones you do get are going to be something special. But when you need a cockeral would i buy a grown one. Well no because thats a cull right there. Would I buy hens. No to that also as it would smell to much like a cull. If you want to start a quality flock get hatching eggs and then you can be the one selling your culls and keeping the good birds.

 

[spangledcornish]

First form the prospective of county 4-H leader, I sugest that families who are new to poultry start with with hatchery birds, while they fall short of the Standard it does give you a "feel" for the breeds. Because the next step is you find the breeds you like and want to invest a little more into, find a reputable breeder, ( this takes two things you having an understanding of the breed and the breeder having an understanding of the breed)

From the "breeders prspective" , I would consider myself more of a breeder now than even 5 years ago, (granted I have not been doing this all that long). I think there are stages that most go through, you want to have better birds you, buy better bird (or so you think) you breed have some chicks of breed A, then you get breed B, C, and so on. then you are just a producer, and you start to realize that the offspring that I am getting are not as good as the parents that you are buying, or you don't realize the improvement that you think you should. finally realize that instead of 8 breeds I cut back back and focus on say 4 breeds. then Items like breeding pens and better records come into play. And you start to feel like progress is being made and this is when I think you become a breeder.

I will also say when I first started I thought SQ was SQ, not always, what I have and will show may be closer to one persons opinion of the standard vs anothers so know what you are looking for in the birds you are buying.