Famous Hatchery 'Pure Bred' Appearances

[Brahma Chicken5000]

And not all of us even want to be 'next to' Kate Upton either.

 

[Kiki]

Who is Kate Upton?

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Who is Kate Upton?

I’ve heard her name before but I had to google her to know what she does. She’s some model.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Who is Kate Upton?

Pretty sure that's the name of BlackHackle's Light Sussex hen...

(just joking... I totally made that up )

 

[Kiki]

 

[cmom]

Hatchery birds aren't bad and probably most chicken owners have had or have hatchery birds. I do show my birds so I breed to the SOP.
One of my champion RIR's.

 

[cmom]

Loving this thread. There is a place for shows and show breeders to keep the heritage breeds with us. There is also a place for hatchery birds, and barnyard mixes. We all want different things from different types of birds. I, for one, will never breed birds, as I can't have roos here, but I love seeing what the breeds should look like. I already know mine are NOT show quality,lol.

I agree with this.

 

[RedDirtRambler]

Haha! Thank God!

 

[BreanneRN]

Breeding to the SOP doesn't mean you ever actually achieve it, in actual fact there are no perfect birds! There are just some that are a lot closer than a whole lot of the rest, and that is why there is only one "Best in Show" winner! Even with parents that are very close to the standard, off spring will not consistently ever necessarily be as good. It is way easier to improve average quality birds than it is those that are closer to perfect. None of them will consistently produce all winners in every hatch, that is just an unrealistic expectation. Not only that, breeding to the standard of perfection is all about appearance and presentation, so if the bird is an egg layer, most likely production aspects have been back-burnered in favor of appearance, also, things like health and longevity may also have suffered. It is fine to go to the shows and admire a well-presented and carefully bred champion and nice that many enjoy showing and breeding for those particular qualities. But yes, there are take aways when the focus is solely on appearance. And in-breeding and line-breeding can reduce genetic diversity which can affect health and longevity and even intelligence in a line of birds. Frankly, I think many of the hatcheries do alright producing a relatively typey bird for the masses with adequate health and performance aspects also taken into consideration and the price is quite affordable. I personally don't wish to show and don't want to expose my birds to disease and parasites at shows, but I do enjoy looking. If I want better quality, I can breed them up myself to the SOP, although having been around for a lot of years, I notice that there are trends that happen and a certain trait might become "more important" to certain judges and all of a sudden, all exhibitors want that "one thing" and the birds can actually change in appearance over the years (sometimes, not for the better). Go back and find some old pics of champions from 30 years ago and you will find they look quite different from those winners of today. Go back even further and you will see even more differences. Is it really because they are better? Maybe, but also, maybe not. It is important to maintain some perspective. Especially when talking about hatcheries that sell day old chicks that it is impossible to evaluate to the SOP anyway, because they are just too young to do that. And no, I have never worked for any of them, but I have bought birds from several of them over the years and think they do a fairly good job, really. No, the birds aren't all perfect, and yeah, some of those color patterns (lacing and what have you) are not going to be perfect in every bird (but breeders don't get them perfect with every bird either). This is a great thread and useful to help those interested in showing what qualities they should have before taking their bird to the show so they aren't embarrassed and as such is very educational. But I am hoping it does not give people a lot of unrealistic expectations or cause them to feel badly about the birds they have that have not been bred or conditioned for shows.

 

[Kiki]

Breeding to the SOP doesn't mean you ever actually achieve it, in actual fact there are no perfect birds! There are just some that are a lot closer than a whole lot of the rest, and that is why there is only one "Best in Show" winner! Even with parents that are very close to the standard, off spring will not consistently ever necessarily be as good. It is way easier to improve average quality birds than it is those that are closer to perfect. None of them will consistently produce all winners in every hatch, that is just an unrealistic expectation. Not only that, breeding to the standard of perfection is all about appearance and presentation, so if the bird is an egg layer, most likely production aspects have been back-burnered in favor of appearance, also, things like health and longevity may also have suffered. It is fine to go to the shows and admire a well-presented and carefully bred champion and nice that many enjoy showing and breeding for those particular qualities. But yes, there are take aways when the focus is solely on appearance. And in-breeding and line-breeding can reduce genetic diversity which can affect health and longevity and even intelligence in a line of birds. Frankly, I think many of the hatcheries do alright producing a relatively typey bird for the masses with adequate health and performance aspects also taken into consideration and the price is quite affordable. I personally don't wish to show and don't want to expose my birds to disease and parasites at shows, but I do enjoy looking. If I want better quality, I can breed them up myself to the SOP, although having been around for a lot of years, I notice that there are trends that happen and a certain trait might become "more important" to certain judges and all of a sudden, all exhibitors want that "one thing" and the birds can actually change in appearance over the years (sometimes, not for the better). Go back and find some old pics of champions from 30 years ago and you will find they look quite different from those winners of today. Go back even further and you will see even more differences. Is it really because they are better? Maybe, but also, maybe not. It is important to maintain some perspective. Especially when talking about hatcheries that sell day old chicks that it is impossible to evaluate to the SOP anyway, because they are just too young to do that. And no, I have never worked for any of them, but I have bought birds from several of them over the years and think they do a fairly good job, really. No, the birds aren't all perfect, and yeah, some of those color patterns (lacing and what have you) are not going to be perfect in every bird (but breeders don't get them perfect with every bird either). This is a great thread and useful to help those interested in showing what qualities they should have before taking their bird to the show so they aren't embarrassed and as such is very educational. But I am hoping it does not give people a lot of unrealistic expectations or cause them to feel badly about the birds they have that have not been bred or conditioned for shows.