Famous Hatchery 'Pure Bred' Appearances

[Cayuga momma]

I can't seem to find a pic of what a exchequer leghorn rooster should look like. Here is mine when he was a few months old. He is no longer with us.

Maybe someone else can since @BlackHackle is on vacation.

 

[Amer]

I can't seem to find a pic of what a exchequer leghorn rooster should look like. Here is mine when he was a few months old. He is no longer with us.
View attachment 1540875
Maybe someone else can since @BlackHackle is on vacation.

@The Moonshiner maybe could. I can't determine any exchequer would be excellent quality, they aren't accepted in the standard. The people breeding for great show quality just aren't breeding them.
But you never know. Let's see what The Moonshiner says.

 

[Stick Chicken]

I find that one reason that breeders' birds look nicer, other than genetics, is because they cull...a lot. They can't afford for a less than perfect chicken to leave their property or it can destroy their reputation. Most of the time, they sell adults so that they can see how they turned out, unlike hatcheries that sell many as chicks. No one knows how a chick is going to turn out until it grows up.

Of course, hatcheries are not necessarily working as closely in achieving the standard of perfection like breeders who are selling show quality birds. They want to make money, but they also just want to provide people with chickens that they can raise and use for eggs and meat and most of the time, they sell for pretty cheap compared to breeders who offer such outrageous prices for birds who could possibly be throwing horrible chicks that they cull so no one ever knows about them.
Also, it seems extremely difficult to find breeders, and honestly, not everyone wants to pay top dollar for a bird that they aren't planning on showing.

But I digress. I apologize if anyone has already said this, but I didn't feel like reading through all 61 pages. Nevertheless, it is nice to see what the APA thinks these breeds should look like, though it would also be interesting to see the comparisons between the APA standard and the standard of these birds in other countries such as where they originated.
Again, sorry for interrupting this thread.

 

[Amer]

I find that one reason that breeders' birds look nicer, other than genetics, is because they cull...a lot. They can't afford for a less than perfect chicken to leave their property or it can destroy their reputation. Most of the time, they sell adults so that they can see how they turned out, unlike hatcheries that sell many as chicks. No one knows how a chick is going to turn out until it grows up.

Of course, hatcheries are not necessarily working as closely in achieving the standard of perfection like breeders who are selling show quality birds. They want to make money, but they also just want to provide people with chickens that they can raise and use for eggs and meat and most of the time, they sell for pretty cheap compared to breeders who offer such outrageous prices for birds who could possibly be throwing horrible chicks that they cull so no one ever knows about them.
Also, it seems extremely difficult to find breeders, and honestly, not everyone wants to pay top dollar for a bird that they aren't planning on showing.

But I digress. I apologize if anyone has already said this, but I didn't feel like reading through all 61 pages. Nevertheless, it is nice to see what the APA thinks these breeds should look like, though it would also be interesting to see the comparisons between the APA standard and the standard of these birds in other countries such as where they originated.
Again, sorry for interrupting this thread.

I have found breeder birds to be the same price as hatchery birds for adult birds.. They are just culls, however, they are still better than hatchery birds.
From Murray McMurray the BRpullets cost 24 dollars,
Cackle, however, charges 110
For one BR from Meyer you can get 13.27
Purely Poultry $35.

 

[BreanneRN]

I find that one reason that breeders' birds look nicer, other than genetics, is because they cull...a lot. They can't afford for a less than perfect chicken to leave their property or it can destroy their reputation. Most of the time, they sell adults so that they can see how they turned out, unlike hatcheries that sell many as chicks. No one knows how a chick is going to turn out until it grows up.

Of course, hatcheries are not necessarily working as closely in achieving the standard of perfection like breeders who are selling show quality birds. They want to make money, but they also just want to provide people with chickens that they can raise and use for eggs and meat and most of the time, they sell for pretty cheap compared to breeders who offer such outrageous prices for birds who could possibly be throwing horrible chicks that they cull so no one ever knows about them.
Also, it seems extremely difficult to find breeders, and honestly, not everyone wants to pay top dollar for a bird that they aren't planning on showing.

But I digress. I apologize if anyone has already said this, but I didn't feel like reading through all 61 pages. Nevertheless, it is nice to see what the APA thinks these breeds should look like, though it would also be interesting to see the comparisons between the APA standard and the standard of these birds in other countries such as where they originated.
Again, sorry for interrupting this thread.

Totally agree, and here's another reason they look different... Those birds with the blue ribbons on the cages at the shows have been "fitted" (conditioned for show). They have been pampered, fed special foods, their weight has been watched, the one there may be one of many kept conditioned, but that one just looked particularly good that day, and that was the one that was washed, trimmed, manicured, and taken to the show... So even if you have the best bird, don't count on winning unless you have put that extra time and effort into conditioning and grooming, which can be a real art form and can take quite a degree of experience to do properly...

 

[Amer]

Totally agree, and here's another reason they look different... Those birds with the blue ribbons on the cages at the shows have been "fitted" (conditioned for show). They have been pampered, fed special foods, their weight has been watched, the one there may be one of many kept conditioned, but that one just looked particularly good that day, and that was the one that was washed, trimmed, manicured, and taken to the show... So even if you have the best bird, don't count on winning unless you have put that extra time and effort into conditioning and grooming, which can be a real art form and can take quite a degree of experience to do properly...

I've found all you need to do for a clean legged bird is vaseline it's comb and legs as well as trim the nails and beak after washing the bird. Also, scrub the feet with a toothbrush.
Beards and foot feathers and crests will require more than just plopping them down to a bath though.
My birds look pristine after that, however, they are not quite up to standard. (I'm relatively new to breeding poultry, my foundation fowl were... less than perfect.)
The biggest difference between Standard bred and hatchery birds is.... size. Usually the standard Rocks are at least twice the size of hatchery Plymouth Rocks, as well as any American breed I've seen.
And that can't be changed by any kind of special feeding. The judges definitely will be checking for muscle, what meat is made out of.

 

[3riverschick]

Jase
Jase the Butcher is right. Shorter, rounded, fine textured ( clean) wattles are best. Long wattles tend to catch water in cold climates and can have the water frozen leading to frostbite of the wattles. Plus, the texture of the wattles is indicative of the texture of the rest of the birds skin. Coarse skin on the wattles can mean coarse skin on the rest of the bird.
Why do we care? Because coarse skin does not stretch well and it tends to lay up a layer of fat underneath it. Both the coarse skin and the fat do not stretch well. This means there is less room for the reproductive organs when they try to swell at onset of laying. Thus the bird does not lay as many eggs as one which has fine textured skin( evidenced by smooth skin on the wattles) and no layer of fat under the skin. Another reason why we should not give fat producing corn to birds during the laying season.
Best,
Karen in PA, USA

 

[Mosey2003]

I really don't think breeder birds are much more expensive than hatchery birds, especially if you're buying point of lay pullets - everyone sells those for a premium. I spent $30/dozen for breeder eggs, managed to kill all but four of them (turner died and I had no idea, it was new and worked before), and the breeder gave me a dozen chicks for free because they felt bad for me. That's less than $5/chick, certainly not expensive. Had all the eggs hatched, it would have been $2.50/chick. And these birds weigh twice what my hatchery do. I have 7 month old pullets that weigh 7lbs!

 

[Scorpy89]

What does a person means by "culling" a chicken?

 

[Kusanar]

What does a person means by "culling" a chicken?

It means removing them from the gene pool. Most people mean that they butcher and eat that bird, but it could be as simple as removing that bird from the breeding flock and giving to someone that only wants layers and doesn't breed, or if you can tell for sure what egg is hers, never hatching or allowing her eggs to be hatched.