show quality from HATCHERY

[Queen of the Lilliputians]

I don't have enough experience to make broad judgements here..

But I will tell you I ordered my RIRs and BRs from hatchery (through the local feed store). Went to a chicken show and.. HOLY COW. Huge difference. The RIRs are almost a totally different color (and I think my girls are pretty dark for production), so dark they verged on black. The BRs in the show had beautiful clean, small barring. My girls.. Well, they ARE beautiful

but their barring is broad, and smudgy. There really was no comparison.

I do love my girls, though, and wouldn't have traded them for every bird there. They just didn't hold a candle in the show department, and I know VERY VERY little about showbirds (although the d'Anvers I bought WERE showbirds.. go figure??! The breeder was keeping them for herself, but decided to concentrate on other varieties of d'Anvers)

So here's the other thing.. what I'd heard is that if you buy new chicks, there is NO WAY to tell if the little guys will be SQ or not. You have to wait until they get bigger to make that determination. So.. maybe go to some chicken shows, buy a couple of adult birds there that you like the looks of, and then breed those together? I guess if I were showing that's what I'd do. You'd also be able to get the # of chicks you want, and be able to cull later for who's terrific prospect and who's not.


Meghan

 

[hcammack]

I think my pet chicken is not a hatchery itself I have noticed that it has almost exactly the same things available at the same time as meyer hatchery and they have the same 3 chick minimum. HMMMM.....

Henry

 

[Mac]

Breeders vs hatchery. I'm just beginning to research for next year too. Another concern about breeders (and again, I haven't spent much time on this yet), but the few breeder sites I looked at only offered straight run. I only want females. I'm prepared to pay more for sexed birds and I'd drive and pick them up. I only have room for say 6 more hens. And I'm looking at 2 each of three different breeds. And I do see a difference in the breeder vs hatchery quality. Don't know what to do.

 

[hinkjc]

Mac - you are correct in that most breeders cannot sex their birds. They either don't have the time or the hired hands with the skills necessary to do so, like most hatcheries do. If your goal is just to have laying hens, then by all means use a hatchery. But if you want a bird that will more than likely meet the standard of the breed, then a breeder is a better choice.

Jody

 

[Frizzledhen]

Breeder or hatchery? I bought 4 silkies from a show breeder and gave all of them away because I was so disapointed in there quality (bought as day old chicks). I had 4 silkies from Ideal and they were better than the ones I got from the breeder although still not show quality. I have ordered 97 bantams from MM and Ideal. Out of the 97 I may have 4 or 5 that may do well in the shows. The best one I own is from Ideal, a black frizzle cochin. But it was very expensive to get just a few from so many. I would buy from a breeder again but would buy older birds from a proven show line. It may be more expensive in the beginnig but cheaper in the long run. There is always a chance of getting a pretty good bird from a hatchery but it may take buying alot of them to get just one of show quality.

Gayle

 

[blue90292]

ya'll do understand that some breeders will hatch 100 to 200 birds to get the 4 or 5 they plan to show.

i recently went to a show and the guy who showed his bantam polish hatched a hundred birds to get the six he brought. they were the most beautiful polish i had ever seen. they looked just like the pictures in the APA book. he laughed cuz he said they ended up coming from the same two parents. he had brought in a couple of new birds from a different line to try and better his birds, but he ended up getting everything scrambled, he said.

then the silvers, the lacing, there was no fuzziness about it at all. but to get that kind of lacing, he has an okay laced female breed with a very badly laced, almost black male. when he does that, the lacing comes out very distinctive and very thick. i was amazed at how clear the lacing was on their necks and tails. but breeding those two show qualities wouldn't produce the same birds, he said. he said he has two flocks for all of his breeds, the show quality flock and his breeding flock to get the show quality flock.

the partidge or i guess they call them dark cornish? were awesome. the lines were perfect. they looked like someone drew them on the chicken's feathers. the guy i know, who breeds them and goes to shows here in texas and oklahoma, hatched 250 birds this year to get his prize winning pullet.

i was a little embarassed with my hatchery birds that we showed (they both came from mcmurray and free range so some of the white feathers were dirty and feathers were not all that perfect), but you have to start somewhere, the old timers told me. they were so happy to see that my son and i were even interested in showing our birds and greatful for the different breeds we brought. we plan on bringing a lot more different breeds next time. we don't have the capability to hatch that many birds, but hope that this will help us better our flock to where one day we will have beautiful birds also.

 

[chickbea]

It is pretty amazing to see them, isn't it? I have an old lady friend who has been working on her NHRs for umpteen years, and there's no comparison between them and mine! (Not that I don't think mine are gorgeous as well, but you know...)

 

[hinkjc]

blue - you are so right about lots of hatching till you get a show quality bird. Breeders put more emphasis on the right qualities, altho every bird could never possibly be show quality (even if they're from a show winner). So those who sell SQ eggs are selling eggs bred to standard, however they can't guarantee you'll get a SQ bird to hatch. I hatch at least 2000 chicks a year and usually only select a few that will be put into my breeding pens. The most a breeder can offer you is a breeder potential bird (as a chick) IMO. No one could honestly say a chick will be a show winner. Altho, if you're working with the right breeder, you do have better odds of getting birds that fit the standard better.

I can understand why someone suggested buying them older because then you can decide if the bird is show worthy. However, it also won't be their win if you think about it because you didn't create the bird. Sometimes you don't have a choice but to buy what is available and work with it yourself to improve it. Through a heavy selection and cull process you can establish a good breeding pen in several years.

Jody

 

[tx_dane_mom]

Quote:
Wow...and I thought breeding show quality great danes after studying their pedigrees was a gamble! I've been considering the idea of showing birds/acquiring show stock but after this....man, it makes me just want to have utilitarian stock, period. Crazy stuff thinking 1 in 100 will be worth it...
Kristi

 

[countyroad1330]

I know this post is a little old, but I wanted to give my input. We got 10 chicks from our local Atwood's this spring, who orders from Ideal. Here's what we got:

Not Show Quality
2 orange RIRs
1 red Rir
1 Production Red
1 Brown Leghorn
1 banty hen that can't be identified

Show Quality
1 OE roo
1 White Leghorn
2 Barred Rocks (pair)

I later picked out some feather-footed banties from their 'Special Run' bin, and they all seem to be turning out show quality. I would think that buying from a breeder would be the best route. Unlike large hatcheries, they monitor the chickens closely.