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I would steer away from the fads, like silkies and BLRW. Decide what qualities you want in a chicken and go for that. For me, it has most to do with practicality, attractiveness and personality. I find that in rocks. I don't find them to be "boring" or "ordinary" because they have so much more personality than my other chickens. I chose partridge because I love the penciling and the deep mahogany color, but I also loved my barred rocks.
What it boils down to is that if you want to be more than a "backyard breeder", with quality birds that people will want to buy chicks from, don't get these birds from Meyer. If you just want to make babies and sell chicks, sure, go for it.
You have so many wonderful resources at your fingertips with this forum. I posted in the "want to buy" section and was contacted by Dick Horstman, who breeds rocks and won the national poultry show best partridge rock. I like your thoughts about narrowing it down to a select few, but once you get down to that select few I'd recommend doing your research and if you HAVE to buy from a hatchery, at least research which hatchery has the best stock. I know Meyer has some questionable stock for some birds; my columbian wyandottes from them are definitely "hatchery quality" and several people have posted the same issues I've found with my birds.
I would steer away from the fads, like silkies and BLRW. Decide what qualities you want in a chicken and go for that. For me, it has most to do with practicality, attractiveness and personality. I find that in rocks. I don't find them to be "boring" or "ordinary" because they have so much more personality than my other chickens. I chose partridge because I love the penciling and the deep mahogany color, but I also loved my barred rocks.
What it boils down to is that if you want to be more than a "backyard breeder", with quality birds that people will want to buy chicks from, don't get these birds from Meyer. If you just want to make babies and sell chicks, sure, go for it.
You have so many wonderful resources at your fingertips with this forum. I posted in the "want to buy" section and was contacted by Dick Horstman, who breeds rocks and won the national poultry show best partridge rock. I like your thoughts about narrowing it down to a select few, but once you get down to that select few I'd recommend doing your research and if you HAVE to buy from a hatchery, at least research which hatchery has the best stock. I know Meyer has some questionable stock for some birds; my columbian wyandottes from them are definitely "hatchery quality" and several people have posted the same issues I've found with my birds.
