Red&Yellow :
I beg to differ with the previous commenter on the 'hatchery' classification. In hatcheries, you have no clue what the folks could be breeding into that Wyandotte. They usually only loosely conform to the standards of the breed, and can have some pretty wild differences between two birds, even from the same hatchery and hatch...
In other words, you won't be winning any awards at shows with him, which is important to some people, as is pedigree.
(Although he looks better than most hatchery GLW roos. VERY nice looking fellow)
I agree with you in that hatchery birds loosely conform to standards. Most are bred to be better production birds and not so much is put into stardard form or feathering. For someone who is just getting into the hobby for meat or eggs the hatchery stock is fine and in some cases superior for their needs.
I have met breeders who claim to have pure blood lines that were questionable at best. So unless its a top name breeder with a strong reputation buying from a local breeder is a total crap shoot. The problem with that is that top name breeders get top dollar for their birds. I was just looking at one ( I think the name was Greenfire Farms) and they want $99.00 for a pair of birds. That isn't very feasible for the person who just wants good egg production.
As they say...to each his own.
GLW is correct 
