There a characteristic to a breed, but a RIR or many other breeds will have different behavior when produced by a hatchery or a real breeder. As an example flighty birds tend to be flighty no matter how they are bred and that is certainly breed characteristic. The Shamo's I raise do not get along with other chickens but hatchery Shamo's males and females can run together. They are the same breed but mine are from Asia and they have a totally different behavior. My point was that you can't lump all breeds into one catagory of behavior.
Walt
Apparently you have just lumped a breed characteristic of Shamo's by saying they don't get along together - yet hatchery Shamo's (which I understand hatcheries cross-breed a lot of their chickens) are yet another characteristic - proves that a hatchery shouldn't call them Shamos. Pure breeds that are not meddled with by hatcheries have definite characteristics but hatcheries are cross-breeding and diminishing those characteristics out of a lot of breeds to the point they don't even qualify in the SOPs and some hatcheries will make statements to that fact. Hatcheries have crossed Speckled Sussex with Russian Orloffs, Crevecoeurs crossed with Polish, and Leghorns are being used to increase production in our old favorite dual-purpose heritage breeds. With all that cross-breeding you never know what temperament will arise from hatcheries.
There is a main characteristic for every breed established - combative, non-combative, timid, outgoing, assertive, aggressive, mannerly pet, wild temperament, flighty, flightless, mellow, etc. For example, as beautiful as they are, I would never get a 3-foot tall Malay as a pet around children because obviously it will not be trustworthy as a family pet. I would not get an ornamental long-tail or a Silkie bantam if I want to sell eggs for profit at a Farmer's Market. And I wouldn't get Egyptian Fayoumi or agile Jaerhons if I don't want birds that are known to take flight out of the yard. If I want a gentle flock it's more likely safer to pick breeds like Ameraucana, Brahma, Cochin, Polish, or Silkie, for instance, rather than Cornish, Berat, Malay, or a Longcrower. Just can't sell me on the fact that there isn't a main characteristic of every breed and the feedback received from numerous breed owner experiences have confirmed it on different breed threads.
But hey we can have fun exchanging ideas and experiences anyway.
