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Nadine, you ask a good question. Let me see if I can give a good answer.
When you buy stock from another breeder you are NOT getting what they already have. For example, I bought 10 WBS Ameraucana chicks from Paul Smith. Paul got his original birds mostly from Wayne Meredith but also some from Barbara Campbell. Barbara got her original started birds from Wayne too. I got 8 different lines from Paul. Once I finish my breeding program I will have a total of 15 different lines. The folks that are buying hatching eggs from me right now are getting eggs with each egg marked as to which breeding pen it came from. So does that mean that they are all going to get birds that are like the ones Wayne original sent Paul or Barbara. Does it mean that I have the same birds as Paul? Or that someone getting chicks from my #15 pen is gonna wind up with the same birds that I get from my #15 pen? Not at all.
And you asked, what "good" is it? Well, I plan to keep in touch with those who get birds from me. I can use the information such as: Hows their color? Confirmation? Egg color? Egg size? Egg productivity? Were there any faults or DQs? How are the BW eggs compared to the Wheatens? That sort of stuff in comparison with mine to determine what my next breeding will be.
In other words, I not only have the ability to go back to Paul and ask him about things that pertain to my birds but I can follow up with those who have my progeny to determine any corrective actions I need to take in my breeding programs.
The "problem" (for lack of a better word) with getting hatchery stock is that you simply have too many Unknown Factors. You must start from scratch because you have no ability to go back to a source to detect or determine a problem.
As for the statement "Just because they come from a hatchery doesn't mean they are bad stock", that may be true. However, one simply cannot with any degree of sincerity fail to admit that the probability of the stock not coming even close to the SOP is exponentially higher than that from a breeder.
The fact is a hatchery gets eggs from someone so they don't know for certain what the breeding process even was. All they can do is take the word of the person who sells them their eggs. Some hatcheries do maintain their own stock but, even with that being the case, the goal of a hatchery is to "mass produce" eggs for sale in order to make as much money as they can. That is a completely different goal than that of the breeder.
Now, I'm not saying that one can't take hatchery stock and make it better - or even end up with a Show Winner. Certainly one can. I am just trying to answer the question "what good is it" and am saying that the process to do so will take much more time, effort, and expense because of the unknown factors.
Btw, for what it's worth, I tried that with Welsummers. I waited over 18 months to get birds from a breeder that I had planned on getting some from but she was having fertility problems and couldn't get me any. So I got impatient and wound up getting over three or four dozen chicks from three or four different hatcheries. In a very short period of time I culled over half and now have 3 or 4 left out of all of them. I got chicks with stubs. I got chicks with gray in their feet. I got birds that developed white in their feathers. I culled some for crooked breasts. I culled for poor coloring or confirmation. And then several for egg color.
The fact that I wound up with 3 or 4 good birds out of almost 50 coupled with the arguments I made above, I think speaks volumes as to why one should get birds from a breeder if they are truly wanting to preserve, protect, and improve the breed.
Finally, just something to think about as well, the fact that I got 3 or 4 birds out of almost 50 from a hatchery that were worth keeping, I believe is another reason why people who are serious about a particular breed should NOT by from a hatchery. If a hatchery can't make money on a specific breed, they won't sell it. If they won't sell it, they won't buy eggs from those who are selling them that breed's eggs. If those folks can't sell their eggs to hatcheries, they will get something else, and the natural consequence is that only those serious about the breed will perpetuate it which means a much higher QC standard will be maintained and all the faults and DQ's of the breed will be eradicated that much quicker.
IMHO.
God Bless,
