chickens at farm amd fleet

[farmer10]

What kind of breeds do farm and fleet sell??? Will they sell.chickens that I can show?

 

[Fred's Hens]

If by "show" you mean a fair where the emphasis is on the raising of the bird and you the handler, perhaps you can. But if you mean a sanctioned show by the APA or ABA, then absolutely not.

Feed stores merely re-sell hatchery birds and such birds are not bred to the breed standards and are inferior examples of the breed that are said to represent. They can often be healthy chicks from a feed store, but standard bred birds? No way. Those will have to come from a top breeder who exhibits and has her/his poultry judged and who has earned a reputation for having top bred stock.

Hope that helps. As to the choices available this week at your local store, why not give them a call? I'm sure they get different birds in every week.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Feed stores merely re-sell hatchery birds and such birds are not bred to the breed standards and are inferior examples of the breed that are said to represent. They can often be healthy chicks from a feed store, but standard bred birds? No way.

This is mostly true, but not always - there are hatchery birds that win shows. It all depends on where you are and what the competition is, and where the birds are coming from.

It also depends on breed - for some of the stranger breeds, the hatcheries are selling the offspring of freshly imported birds, whereas most local breeders don't have good enough genetic material to work with - a lot of the crested breeds have been mixed with Polish birds - and the new hatchery birds are a lot better than what's locally available.

 

[farmer10]

What kind of chicken should I get to show at the Iowa county fair??? Because right now I'm not sure.. I'm all new to this.. What is a hatchery chicken

 

[CrazyTalk]

A hatchery chicken is any chicken from a hatchery (as opposed to a small farm/breeder/etc).


If you want to show birds - you should go through some breed listings and figure out what you like - different breeds have different behaviors - some are more flighty, some are slower, etc. Once you figure out that - you can figure who to get good stock from.

 

[Fred's Hens]

This is mostly true, but not always - there are hatchery birds that win shows. It all depends on where you are and what the competition is, and where the birds are coming from.

It also depends on breed - for some of the stranger breeds, the hatcheries are selling the offspring of freshly imported birds, whereas most local breeders don't have good enough genetic material to work with - a lot of the crested breeds have been mixed with Polish birds - and the new hatchery birds are a lot better than what's locally available.

Can you give me some examples?

 

[Fred's Hens]

What kind of chicken should I get to show at the Iowa county fair??? Because right now I'm not sure.. I'm all new to this.. What is a hatchery chicken

In another of your posts, you mentioned you had joined 4H. Much of this conversation should be conducted with your 4H teacher/leader. Each area has slightly different rules and you'll want to know what your local 4H chapter is doing. Most of the time, 4H focuses upon you, as the one who has raised the bird. Much of the purpose in 4H is to learn proper terms and poultry knowledge and how to properly care for the birds and handle the birds.

Again, you really need to be discussing all this with your 4H leader and ask him/her about what will expected at your fair.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Can you give me some examples?

Of what? Hatchery birds that are decent?

Cackle's Spitzhauben (of which my avatar is one) are drastically better than what the breeders around me have. I could probably get better birds from Texas (There's some great stock there) - but Cackle's birds are 2nd generation imports - the local birds are mostly Polish.

This is what a Spitz Rooster should look like (Ignore the feather sticking out the back of his neck)- mine's crest is a tad wider (when looking at him from the front, but the same from the side), but mine has better legs (bluer) and better spangling. Mine is a hatchery bird.



This is what the birds the local breeders have (and are showing) look like this-



The crests are a mess - there's lacing in spots where there's supposed to be spangling, etc.

The quality of hatchery birds is drastically better than what is available from breeders - because the hatcheries are the only one with access to new genetics. The last imports happened in 2013 - so things should change in the next couple of years.

 

[Fred's Hens]

While accepted in the UK, the breed is not accepted by either the APA nor the ABA, so there's no Standard written for the breed, therefor they cannot be judged or placed at any sanctioned show.

Truly, your birds are fantastic. Keep up the good work and perhaps you and your fellow fanciers can get them accepted.

 

[CrazyTalk]

There's a submitted standard for the APA - it's provisional at this point. There's another 2 years of so many birds needing to be shown at APA shows before it's approved. They can be shown - they just fall under "Other Large Fowl" or some such - required ads in the yearbook/journa, etc - it's such a runaround. Ranging way off topic though - like my chickens - who are often found out in the middle of nowhere in the woods.


Farmer10 - figure out what breed you want - peruse the breed listings and such - look at both the appearance of the birds, and the temperment/behavior - you don't want to end up with birds that you don't like. Once you've got a breed figured out - then go find some. Don't just buy whatever you can find. I like my Spitz - but if I was going to do it again - I'd pick a larger bodied breed that's less flighty/rangy - something that wasn't so prone to leaving my fencelines.

Find a bird that suits you - and then start worrying about getting showable stock. Getting birds you like is the important part.