Famous Hatchery 'Pure Bred' Appearances

[Mimi13]

And all I can think of now is, “The dingo ate my baby!” ... and this chicken thread.

Surely there are some Seinfeld people out there.

 

[oceansunset73]

Just have to pop in and say this is probably the most interesting thread for me, so far.

 

[Tortoise]

Yep, I remember. Too funny the way Elaine said it. Can't type the accent with it

 

[Mimi13]

Yep, I remember. Too funny the way Elaine said it. Can't type the accent with it

Yes indeed. Just the words don’t do it justice, but I hear it perfectly in my head. I’ve got to do something about these voices I hear!

 

[OhZark Biddies]

And all I can think of now is, “The dingo ate my baby!” .

Ever looked into the story behind “the dingo ate my baby”?

I forget the details as it’s been a lot of years, but there was a really interesting ‘unsolved mystery’ aspect to it.

 

[CannedMonster]

This is a great thread.

Any organism will adapt to environmental conditions over a few generations. A lot of animals have way more chromosomes than humans. And that will be expressed as all sorts of traits within a bred line.
Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 46.
Chickens have 39 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 78.

Private breeders and backyard owners will influence their line by selecting for traits they desire, be it SOP, size, feather color, egg color, etc. After several generations birds from the same breed line might be quite different with two different breeders. Yet still be the same "breed".

Hatcheries are breeding for profit. There is going to be a lot of variation in their chicks because, you get to sort out the desirable traits to continue the line if you want.
Hatcheries can continue a breed without paying a lot of attention to the finer traits that define SOP of the breed.
I believe some hatcheries may focus on one or two breeds and maintain "show" quality, but the rest of their catalog is going to be just kind of generic. There are just too many breed for hatcheries to maintain high standards for all of them. Most people just want eggs and a good bird.

I have been raising Barred Holland's for a few years and have some from two different sources. Both are true to the breed, but the hatchery stock is nowhere near to SOP. Many of the less desirable traits like comb points, small size, even recesive feather coloring start to show up because the hatcheries are not taking the time to raise many mature birds and select traits within the breed. They are just breeding the line.
The ones I have from a private breeder, are closer to SOP. But still a ways to go considering I started with just 24 random eggs from a desirable breeding of several birds from the same breed.
I'm not raising mine to show, but I would like to keep them as close to the described breed as possible. Still it takes a little effort (human influence) to keep the desired traits present in that big bowl of genetic soup.

If you are not interested in keeping true to a breed then a backyard mutt chicken is the way to go. Just keep the traits you want and eventually you will have your own backyard super breed, unique to you.
If you just want eggs or meat, some of the hatchery crosses are hard to beat.

I think Hollands are really cool birds.
I had thought for a while that all barred birds laid brown eggs.
I haven’t really seen any offered at hatcheries so I figured I’d probably never have any.

 

[cholland]

I think Hollands are really cool birds.
I had thought for a while that all barred birds laid brown eggs.
I haven’t really seen any offered at hatcheries so I figured I’d probably never have any.

That's the unique thing about Barred Holland's, they lay white eggs.
Ideal and Sandhill hatcheries both have BH. But the hatchery stock have issues like brown feathering and not quite white eggs. I have one Ideal BH that lays an egg darker than my orphingtons!
If you are interested in Barred Holland's there is a fiarly active Facebook group, and several people have eggs in the spring.
They are a rare breed, but I think they are great for backyard flocks. Usually very friendly and easy to keep.

 

[BlackHackle]

I wasn't trying to be rude, I just think that rooster has a very odd shape for a welsummer, unless the photo is just angled badly. I also don't understand why a top-of-the-line show quality specimen would have a completely wrong earlobe color?

Oh, I get it lol. Yea, now that I think of it, that hen does have issues. Do you think you could find a better hen for me?

 

[Kessel23]

Maybe we should start looking at ducks if chicken pictures are so hard to come by, here is a rouen duck that you would get from a hatchery

And here is one that had a to transplant not just a organ but it's whole body, unfortunately they were fresh out of duck bodies so they had to use a turkey.

It clearly did not mater though because he takes 1st in every show.

 

[BlackHackle]

unfortunately they were fresh out of duck bodies so they had to use a turkey.

Turkeys...nature's ducks...