Quality hatchery?

[Andrea72]

 

[Andrea72]

Sorry, phone takes horrible pics

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[lisaequine1]

Those look like SLW to me. I have hatchery ones as well and they got their lacing once they were mature.

 

[Andrea72]

I sure hope so. I had my heart set on these. I'm looking for reputable breeders in north Florida.....not having any luck. So we ordered from the hardware store.

 

[missnu01]

I think it all depends on what your purpose for having chickens is and what's important to you. Too many people in these forums put down hatcheries in general and will state it as fact that breeders are better, when it's just an opinion based on what they value. Getting a breed that looks nothing like what it should is a different story, though. I've incubated a lot of eggs from hatcheries and breeders, and I've found that the hatcheries (efowl and Murray McMurray) send a much better quality egg than breeders. I always get a way much better hatch rate from the hatchery eggs, too. I can tell a difference in the veining and activity level of the embryos, and once hatched they seem more vigorous than from breeders. Once they grow, my breeder birds are way more beautiful, though. And their personalities are sweeter and more docile. I haven't had a problem with the hatchery birds being too far off standard, but I would think that would depend, too, on which hatchery you get them from. My Barred Rocks, Leghorns, EE's, and Buff Orpingtons from efowl are absolutely stunning. I doubt they are show quality, but they are beautiful representations of their breed. To me, I don't want a chicken that doesn't even look like its breed, but at the same time I've learned how important vigor, rate of lay, and feed conversion is, which is something many breeders don't breed for. So, pretty much I would say it depends on what you want out of a chicken and which hatchery you got them from.

I am perfectly happy with hatchery chickens...they are egg layers and yard art...I mean I want them to look like they should...like I don't want Salmon Faverolles with black spots on the hens and stuff like that...
Which is why I went with Cackle Hatchery...
After seeing pictures of birds on here people got from there I know I'll be happy with them...

Then again I would rather have a strange colored and patterned mutt chicken any day of the week...so I might not be the best to ask...The stranger they look the more I want them...Lol

But I'm excited to see how my farm store chickens turn out...I got Buff Orpingtons, Leghorns, Pekin Ducks, Mallard Ducks, and a couple red sex links. One of the Peking ducks has a small patch of black feathers on it's head...for a week now I've thought it scratched it's head on something...but nope, the black is getting longer as the feathers come in...so in fact I have a black spotted who even knows, that is supposed to be a pekin. Our meat birds are also black spotted... I am totally fine with a few black dots on birds that should be white though so it's no big deal.
I don't have any interest in showing a chicken ever as far as I can tell. I want to hold them, watch them, hatch them, pet them, eat them, and gather their eggs...don't care what the standard is or if they match it...

 

[stefan333]

They're SLW's. The coloring on mine look exactly the same. Here's a link of a thread. Toward the bottom someone posted two pics -one at 5 week and one at 19 weeks, and you can clearly see the pattern by 19 weeks. This should give you some peace of mind that they'll pattern out later.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ced-wyandotte-what-gender-new-pics-post-18/10

 

[Andrea72]

Thanks....that does make me feel better. I will update my pics as they get older. Can't wait to see the change.

 

[stefan333]

Then again I would rather have a strange colored and patterned mutt chicken any day of the week...so I might not be the best to ask...The stranger they look the more I want them...Lol


I don't have any interest in showing a chicken ever as far as I can tell. I want to hold them, watch them, hatch them, pet them, eat them, and gather their eggs...don't care what the standard is or if they match it...

I can't wait to make my mutt chickens. I'm waiting on my rare assortment to hatch, and hopefully I have a fayoumi, cause I wanna mix my fayoumi (maybe they'll pass their disease resistance to their offspring) with my other chickens. Have you found that the mixes are healthier and more vigorous? I know my EE's, which are technically mutts, seem to grow better than the others. I also can't wait to experiment with other mixes just to see what they look like. I'm going to keep some of them unmixed, but I also want to try out the mixes. I spend my entire day thinking of things like, "Which roosters should I keep?", and "I wonder what a Polish mixed with a Barred Rock would look like?"

I was always so interested in having pure breeds until my hens started laying eggs, and we ate our RIR. My whole outlook changed from having pretty chickens to, "oh my gosh, these taste so yummy." My focus is mostly on self sufficiency, but I drive my hubby crazy, cause one day I decide I want to breed my show quality Lavender Orps when they're old enough to sell hatching eggs, another day I decide I want to breed only the Plymouth Rocks to replenish my own stock, then another day I pick up every breed known to man from TSC, then another day I decide I want to incubate more rare chickens, then I also want to experiment with mutts. So my final decision has been: I'm gonna build more coop hoops and do it all. Funny though, the one thing I've never had any interest in doing is showing my chickens. Other than that, I'm going to experience everything chicken.

 

[lisaequine1]

I can't wait to make my mutt chickens. I'm waiting on my rare assortment to hatch, and hopefully I have a fayoumi, cause I wanna mix my fayoumi (maybe they'll pass their disease resistance to their offspring) with my other chickens. Have you found that the mixes are healthier and more vigorous? I know my EE's, which are technically mutts, seem to grow better than the others. I also can't wait to experiment with other mixes just to see what they look like. I'm going to keep some of them unmixed, but I also want to try out the mixes. I spend my entire day thinking of things like, "Which roosters should I keep?", and "I wonder what a Polish mixed with a Barred Rock would look like?"

I was always so interested in having pure breeds until my hens started laying eggs, and we ate our RIR. My whole outlook changed from having pretty chickens to, "oh my gosh, these taste so yummy." My focus is mostly on self sufficiency, but I drive my hubby crazy, cause one day I decide I want to breed my show quality Lavender Orps when they're old enough to sell hatching eggs, another day I decide I want to breed only the Plymouth Rocks to replenish my own stock, then another day I pick up every breed known to man from TSC, then another day I decide I want to incubate more rare chickens, then I also want to experiment with mutts. So my final decision has been: I'm gonna build more coop hoops and do it all. Funny though, the one thing I've never had any interest in doing is showing my chickens. Other than that, I'm going to experience everything chicken.

Sounds just like me!

 

[BGMatt]

One other thing that is often true of hatchery birds that people seem to not mention, is that they often lack breed traits and I'm not talking physical appearance here. Dual purpose breeds bred for egg laying efficiency no longer have good meat qualities, winter layers are no longer winter layers, calm docile breeds are no longer calm and docile. Hatchery birds sacrifice everything for egg production. Which is fine if that's your only goal, but the reason you see so much disappoint is often people read in books or on-line that this breed is like this, or this other breed is like this, and so on. They do their research, pick a breed and then order from the hatchery, and are disappointed these breeds do not meet their expectations.