Laingcroft, one certainly can. One can, indeed, do many things, but paths end in destinations. There is an infrastructural recipe that leads to powerful success when one's intention is to breed (not simply reproduce) but breed, seeing definite yearly improvement in specific areas. Certainly, as long as it does not detract from the truth of your infrastructural needs, having a grab bag laying flock "just for pretty" won't overly interfere with breeding goals, although it does add to expense and work load. I know one excellent breeder that does, indeed, keep a flock of pretty whatevers just to see on occasion.
Our pretties have always been hard working girls,not merely a collection though I do admit I like to "collect" a variety for the layer flock. Even it has evolved to predominantly Swedish Flower Hens (their color variety and small crests keep me happy with one breed) and EE/OE hens. Before we started breeding with a purpose, we sold (and still do) eggs at farmers markets along with produce. It's the layer flock that helps offset the costs of feed for all. I'm certainly not going to sell breeder eggs to my "eating egg" customers!
However, it also depends on the goals. Bob refers to chicken collectors. The work of chicken collecting is of very little consequence for the good of the fowl collected. It is a dead end. In his work "Creative Poultry Breeding", Dr. Carefoot rights, " The future of quality stock is to breed aggressively with the intention of improvement. If every breed has but a handful of breeders competing fiercely, quality would most certainly improve dramatically. Consequently the urge to collect breeds of poultry, as some collect postage stamps, does little to improve the breeds kept. In the opinion of the author the fancier wishing to keep rare breeds alive would be more effective if he concentrated mainly on one or two breeds, hatched and reared plenty..." (190). No one is arguing that one can't keep a trio of 8 different breeds, but it will lead to very little. It will advance not the birds nor the keeper. Years later one will generally know what one knew at the beginning. One might be better skilled at dealing with mites and lice and other environmental hazards that will visit a yard regardless of the number of breeds kept, but one will have little to no extensive experiential knowledge of breeding for meat or for eggs, for form or for color. One will know nothing of all of the variables that go into breeding and know even less about the variables that come out of breeding. One will have practically zero idea of what is possible with concentration and steadfast discipline.
One learns to understand other poultry by understanding one's own. The knowledge of one or two breeds, ever deepening through unwavering commitment, will give you the skill set needed to understand the other breeds you see at the show. The actual hands-on knowledge of breeding for productivity will lead you to see the structural strengths and faults of every breed you encounter. The studying of specific standards and the long-term application of those standards in a permanent breeding program will guide you in grasping the effects of other standards on their respective breeds.
On can keep a few of this and a few of that, but one will move in a circle like the dog chasing the tail. After a long walk one will arrive back at the beginning. Then one will be frustrated or bored and move on to something new. This is a scenario some on here have seen time and again. Every year I meet people who are going to change the chicken world. They tell me what they're going to do. They're all excited. They're clueless. I try to gently suggest this or that, but "oh, no" they have it all figured out, and I never see them again. On the other hand, if one begins with the proper gear and provisions, if one follows the map and does not deviate from the course, if one does not continue to change path every so often because on an underdeveloped ability to control attention span, if one isn't tempted left and right by the next new thing that sparkles, if one submits to the authority of a mentor, if one associates with like minded peers, if one accepts the difficult with the leisurely, one can arrive at a great vantage point and appreciate the wealth of knowledge and experience that comes with that. This experience is in many ways what the "Heritage Poultry" thread, and the "Old and Rare" thread, and the "Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry" thread is about. One does not restore and advance the science and art of heritage poultry by collecting chickens; rather, the transformation is first in the keeper who, by conforming to the way of the masters who have gone before and by becoming a true breeder of standard-bred poultry, brings breeds toward perfection one or two at a time, renewing the art for a new generation.
Absolutely. I've been raising chickens for a dozen years now but only began breeding with purpose in late 2011 - so I still have much to learn. I'm not interested in showing per se (to the extent of becoming a "name" or traveling a show circuit) but only on the occasions when I need an objective look at the flock. I've also been around the block enough to know that while there may be a destination in mind, breeding quality, like gardening, is a never ending process. There is always room for improvement. Hopefully in the time I have left on this Earth I can make some progress, even if it is only a little bit.
BTW -- I love your Dorkings! I've already signed on to the 2014 waiting list!
) of the other breeds a person likes is just fine - if that's what (s)he really wants to have - even if that person can only manage to work on i.e. improve, one or two breeds.
