I agree with Saladin's first post in this thread. I think that one post said it better than any of the others. But as you can easily see, no one can agree on the definitions on Standard, Heritage, or Production. I could add my take on what they mean to me, but as much fun as it would be to stir other people up, I don't think it would add anything positive to this conversation. I'll behave myself a bit this morning. Not totally, but a bit.
For your stated goals, you do have many different ways you could go. Not all hatcheries are the same and not all breeders are the same, so I'll generalize a bit on the hatcheries. With a major hatchery, you have a pretty good idea what you will get. There are exceptions, but you generally get a chicken that looks a lot like the breed is supposed to. It depends on the ability and goals of the person choosing their breeding chickens, but they tend to follow the SOP. With their pen breeding methods so they can mass produce the eggs they need to hatch 80,000 to 100,000 chicks a week, they are not going to produce show quality chickens, no matter how good the person choosing the breeders is or how tightly he follows the SOP. From your original post, I believe you understand the differences in strains within the breeds. For the hatcheries that hatch their own, whether they keep the layers themselves or get eggs from certain special breeders that provide hatching eggs, each hatchery in essence has its own strain. What qualities that strain has depend on the goals and skills of the person selecting the birds that are allowed to breed. I know I'm repeating myself, but I think that is an important point that is often lost.
Hatchery birds do tend to lay pretty well. They come from a commercial operation where people try to enhance profit so they can take care of their families. Some may breed specifically for egg production, but many do not. However, since it is a commercial for profit operation, if they determine (and they can) which hens are not being productive, they will remove that hen from the laying flock so they don't spend money on a hen that is eating food and not producing anything to sell. If you do that over a few generations, you tend to get chickens that lay pretty well. It's not a nefarious underhanded plot to take over the world, just something that occurs, whether intended or not. And I'd think generally, it is intended. I do similar things in my flock.
Since they are a commercial flock, the breeding birds in most hatcheries may not be chosen for large size. The larger the chicken, in general, the less efficiently it converts feed to eggs. It does not make sense to breed a less efficient bird in a commercial flock. I don't know how many hatcheries actually take this into consideration, but many have people with advanced degrees in chickens from major universities working in their operation. If I were in their position, I think I'd consider this. But this paragraph is mostly my personal speculation. I really don't know how many, if any, take this into consideration.
So from most major hatcheries, you are probably going to get a chicken that pretty much has the pattern and colors of the breed, pretty much has the general shape of the breed though this can vary a lot, probably lays a bit better than the breed is known to, and probably does not reach the size that some chickens of that breed can.
From a breeder, I am not going to even generalize. That purely depends on the goals of the breeder and how good he/she is. Some breed for show quality with egg laying, reasonably rapid growth, or anything else you may be interested in as not important whatsoever. How many points on the comb would be more important than egg laying ability. Some breed for all the traits the breed should have and still try to breed birds that meet the show quality standards. Some specifically breed for long productive lives. Some don't. Some get hatchery birds, don't even own a copy of the SOP, and advertise purebred birds.
With chicken genetics, if you do not specifically choose your breeders each generation to maintain and enhance the traits you want, they will quickly lose those traits. Even the best of breeders hatch a whole lot of chicks that do not meet their standards. It is a difficult never-ending process.
If you can find a breeder that is breeding for goals that are compatible with yours, you will get better birds for you than hatchery birds. But unless you learn how to select your breeders to maintain and enhance those traits, the quality of your flock will drop. You can get hatchery birds and over time develop your own strain with the traits you want. If you can find a breeder that has already done a lot of that preliminary selection process for you, you start out way ahead. But he keys are finding that breeder that is doing what you want, then learning and working to maintain those traits.
In general, I would not pay too much attention to the classifications you mentioned, Standard, Heritage, or Production. I think you will be much better off discussing specific traits with a breeder rather than using terms that may mean different things to each of you. That said, I would be leery of "production" birds. Again, it can mean different things to different people, but one meaning can be the breeds that have been developed for commercial egg laying, the Dekalb, ISA Browns, and such. These will not really meet your stated goals. They normally have a lot of leghorn in them, which means small carcasses without much meat. They have been selectively bred to produce a lot of large eggs in a short time. They can have medical problems and can burn out. They are specifically bred for commercial operations and often do not do real well in a backyard flock. Just something to be aware of.
Good luck with your goals and the adventure. And don't be put off by some of the discussions of some people. When you are passionate about something, you can get passionate in your discussions. I think it is great to see how passionate some people get. It means they really care.
