hatchery, breeder, show quality...oh my

[rodriguezpoultry]

I prefer to use the terms "utility" or "production" stock for birds from a hatchery.

These birds lay much larger amounts of eggs than the actual show stock.

Breeder stock are birds that are bred for the standard, but are not able to be shown for one reason or another (dubbed too close to the head, squirrel tail, etc).

As for TRUE heritage breeds going endangered, I can't agree more readily. Do you KNOW how hard it was to find Standard Barred Plymouth Rocks that weren't production birds? good LORD...Took me about a year to track them down.

Production birds often have hybrid vigor. It's when two different lines of the same breed are bred together. The offspring from these breedings have increased egg production as well as an increase of livability. I love hatchery birds, but I prefer to stick to the standards set by the APA. Without show quality breeders, the traits of the breed could be lost forever.

 

[halo]

Breeder stock and show stock can be exactly the same thing. I have seen breeders with gorgeous birds, that could easily show, but choose not to, because showing isnt important to them. I think its pretty absurd to think that a "show" RIR or BR or leghorn should be considered as something prettier and not as productive as a breeder bird. Show stock should conform to the standard. Period. They cant get better than the standard. And personally, I wouldnt have a RIR or BR or any of the larger layer breeds that are "show" stock, if they arent great layers. Whats the point?

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

The point is because they are conforming to the standard. Back in the day, when the breeds were originally developed, feed was not what it is today. They left their birds out on their own. Egg output was moderate at BEST. These breeds were raised for meat and eggs. Extra males were eaten, females were eaten after their use for eggs was spent. They are dual-purpose birds.

Hatchery birds are lighter than show birds which means they are only fitting a single part of the original purpose of the fowl.

I agree, breeder birds should be able to show. BUT, like I said. Generally they are the birds that have had an accident, such as frostbite got to them, they were dubbed too close to the head, they have a crooked toe. All of these are minor issues, but the breeder simply chooses not to show them.

It's not the showing that's important, it's the breeding towards the standard. However people choose to do it is up to themselves. Some of us prefer to compare our birds to other breeders, some of us are content to keep breeding according to their own standards.

 

[eschwaderer]

We have a few smaller local hatcheries who keep and breed their own line of heritage birds that I'm told are very close to the standard for their type. I think that it depends on the hatchery. Perhaps if the demand for heritage breeds were to increase, more hatcheries would make the standard a priority in their breeding.

 

[Krys109uk]

I agree with Rodriguespoultry.

I think one of the problems with supposed purebreeds for the mass market is that most people buying chickens for a few eggs wouldn't really know what their chosen breed was supposed to look like. They've just seen paintings in a catalogue. They don't necessarily question what they are sent. And then for egg or pet purposes it probably doesn't matter. It is only when those people start breeding & selling that it could, potentially, have a negative impact upon the breed.

 

[charlotteda]

Many years ago when I was raising and showing D'anvers, I met an old gentleman.. Mr. Fortner. He was 78 and in poor health when I met him but that man really loved chickens. He never had any really expensive birds but he had good quality stock. I learned a lot from him..he has passed on now but I will always remember one thing he said:

"Costs the same amount to feed a poor quality chicken as it does a nice quality one."

He is right . I'm not interested in showing but if I buy a Barred Rock... I want it to be a barred rock. Not perfect conformation but be compareable to the standard in type, function and temperment.

What spurred my thoughts on this topic was my desire to have just a couple of barred rocks. If I order eggs, its dumb to get less than a dozen so I was tempted by the local feed stores which would make it possible for me to get only 2 or 3 chicks and pullets at that.

Thank you all for the comments.

Charlotte

 

[DawnSuiter]

Do most of our "commercial hatcheries" hatch their own? I thought they would've gotten their chicks from a local farmer or at least the eggs to hatch...

In this last year I've learned that all of these terms are subjective and the ONLY thing I can determine from these labels is the following

production quality - a bird created to produce eggs or meat, no more no less.

hatchery stock - came from a major hatchery, a large operation where hundreds of chicks are handled.. very little personal attention is given to each chick if any and ther is not a lot of attention paid to standards of breed. most hatcheries offer production quality stock.

breeder stock - came from someones house or farm, they know the birds, they feed the birds, they don't have thousands, maybe a few hundred at most. they breed the birds because they enjoy it and maybe it makes them some money. some breeders are better than others and some may have really good exhibition quality stock. Breeder stock may or may NOT win you shows, one must judge for themselves as to the showing potential of the stock.

show quality - from a line of poultry that has won shows or in fact the particular bird(s) have already won in some sort of shows requiring breed standards to be met. this term has however been muddied over the years and is now 'abused' and so could be misleading, and again one must judge for themselves as to the quality of the stock.

and so out of that came what I see as the best term:

exhibition quality - these are birds bred to standards, they look the part, act the part and are show stoppers! bred by individuals with a serious pride in the beauty of their birds. These are clearly the best birds, closest to standards. However, one must still use caution and judge the stock themselves as inevitably this term will be abused in the future as well.