Breeder birds will do the same thing becoming smaller is from how tightly bred a bird is rather than who bred it. That can be done with hatchery or breeder birdsI don’t need show quality, but I would like to breed for sustainability for meat. I’ve read many stories about how hatchery birds, even after 3-5 years of breeding, still dwarf in comparison with the amount of meat a breeder bird has.
I’ll eventually do some crossing, so I’m not worried about 100% show standards, but I’d like to start with birds as purebred as possible and bigger than the horror stories I’ve read.