I am raising the same thing and I contacted someone that I found on the web that raises full blood SLW. I will share with you what he shared with me. I found this very informative.
Here is goes...
I will do my best to describe to you the differences in hatchery stock and my stock. I am going to refer to the hatchery stock as production birds, which leads us to our first difference. A hatchery will mass produce the birds for quantity so they can fill hundreds of orders. In that process, several appropriate characteristics are lost for the breed standard. We will begin with the fact that they will cross a Silver Penciled Rock Rooster with the Silver Laced Wyandotte Hens to increase fertility. This cross gives them a bigger hatch rate.
Pure Wyandotte Roosters are notorious for not being fertile until they about a year old. This is basically true for most rose combed breeds. Straight combed breeds are more fertile early in their life, thus the hatchery can get those numbers out to fill those orders. If you breed the birds that you have from the hatchery, you just may get a straight comb bird. Ask around, or even ask Muarry McMuarry about the straight combs thrown by their Silver Laced Wyandottes. Here on the farm, I breed the birds for quality. This takes longer as I wait for the maturing of each male and only pick the best one to breed with the best hens.
The next thing that usually goes on the birds is size, especially in the male birds. The birds of the Rock family are longer legged and more narrow bodied than the Wyandotte family. Crossing the two will usually result in the male genetics being more dominant than the female genetics. While your hatchery male may appear large, he is actually more tall than heavy with a narrow upright appearance like the Rocks. Our male is 10.5lbs, short thick legged, and heavily laced over his entire body. Our hens average about 8 to 9lbs. The time of year that you hatch the chick will play a role on how large the bird gets. The earlier in the year you hatch, the larger the bird will get. We are hatching right now and actually began hatching early January. Hatchery birds usually go year round, which may result in smaller stock in addition to the genetics from the Rock males crossed in.
The hatchery males usually have pure black on their breast and under carriage. The Silver Laced Wyandottes are suppose to be exactly what their name says. They are to have solid lacing over the entire body. Each lace lines up perfectly with the next laced feather over the birds entire body. They are just striking to look at with the contrast of the black and silvery white coloring. While we are on coloring, all Wyandottes are suppose to have solid yellow beaks and legs with solid black toe nails. The hatchery stock will have pearl, green, and black legged birds thrown from their flock. I am not exactly sure why that is, but I have seen it.
The last thing I will cover on the birds is shape. When you look at a pure Wyandotte, you are suppose to see a round dot shape, thus giving the bird it's name. Due to the crossing of Rocks into the flock, hatchery stock will have birds with a pointed erect tail and long legs that is characteristic of the Rock breeds. Your Barred Rocks have erect tails right? Your Wyandottes should have short bunty tails and short thick legs. The Wyandottes should be closer to the ground than the Rocks. See if your hatchery stock has any with tails that match your Barred Rocks. There is a photo on my website of a Wyandotte hen that shows the perfect round dot appearance as is correct of the breed.
I will finish by saying this. If you are breeding Wyandottes for pure egg production and just plain fun to have around, then the hatchery stock is fine for you. However, if you want to show the birds in both Nationally recognized shows or just local fairs, then you need the pure thing to win. As I stated on my site, our stock of Wyandottes have placed or even won several National shows across the United States. It is all about what you enjoy and wish to do with your flock. I would never critisize a person for having what they enjoy. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask. It is my pleasure to chat with folks and share my experiences of breeding chickens.
Sincerely,
Buddy E. Henry
Backwoods Poultry Farm
www.backwoodspoultryfarm.com
