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Teri Metcalf said:
Interesting drama in our backyard this morning. From inside the house I heard a loud thwack against our window. When I went to check I saw a beautiful coopers hawk flying away, and a dead mourning dove on the patio. My husband came in a few minutes later and I told him that I thought the dove had crashed into the window in trying to escape the hawk. He said, that the hawk won't be back. And he went out and picked up the dove, and carried it over to the fence and dropped it into the brush on the other side. About 10 minutes later, the hawk was sitting on the back of a chair on our deck, looking around for the dove. Then he went up to low branch on our old cedar tree to get a better view of the yard, clearly trying to locate the dead dove. Meanwhile, the chickens hiding all under cover in the shrubs.

After another 10 or 15 minutes of watching the hawk, I persuaded Bob to go back out and retrieve the dove. He laid it on the bench of our deck, and then went off to run some errands. When I looked again about a half hour later the dove was gone. And soon the chickens were out and about on their daily foraging. I had no idea that a hawk was so smart and so focused to continue looking for a dead animal for easily 30 minutes after the chase.
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hawks aren't welcome at my house...carried off 3 of my babies this last summer.
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lovingmyhens said:
What's the difference between hatchery or standard bred stock?
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you might get a lot of answers to that question .. but I raise standard rhode island reds.and I have had hatchery ones also.they are larger than hatchery birds much darker richer color. better disposition especially the roosters. it takes them longer to lay the first egg but mine the 1st eggs were larger they wont lay as many eggs in the 1st 2 years but they will lay much longer . both are great chickens to own I have enjoyed both in my flock. depends on your goals for the flock and your circumstances where you are in your chicken raising . in my opinion not a right or wrong answer here just whats right for you..
 
lovingmyhens said:
What's the difference between hatchery or standard bred stock?
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Standard bred stock is bred to the American Poultry Association's (APA) Standard of Perfection (SOP) . This means that the birds have a specific standard that they are supposed to live up to which includes things like weight, type (type of body such as round, brick shape, etc), particular details of color, pattern, comb, feather width. Standard bred birds take longer to mature and thus can get quite large.

Standard bred birds are not "egg laying machines" like most hatchery birds. While egg laying can usually be improved in an SOP flock, they still don't usually start laying as early or lay as often as a hatchery birds. Which means that their years of productive egg laying can be upwards of 4-7 years while most hatchery hens fizzle after just a couple of years of laying. Standard bred birds are also more prone to go broody.

It takes a lot of work to breed to the SOP because you have to look at the birds, see what their faults are, see what their good points are, and then make breeding decisions to try to improve on the flock by offsetting one bird's faults with the good points of another bird. And with being slow to mature, you may have to wait until they are a year old or more until you can decide which one is the best to breed.

Hatchery stock generally gets bred indiscriminately, except for high egg production. Hatcheries can't make money by being picky with breeding. They need as many chickens breeding and laying eggs in order to make money by using the QUANTITY of eggs/birds sold as their business model. This type of breeding may mean that there may be large variations in the offspring's temperament, as well as physical characteristics. They are also usually smaller birds, faster maturing.

Most people see color in chickens but there is a lot more with shape, stance, other physical characteristics that actually make up a bird. These specific characteristics often (usually) start getting lost in hatchery stock. If you were to see birds in black and white photos, you may not be able to tell what breed a hatchery stock is because their physical characteristics aren't as obvious as a well-bred chicken.

There is a place for both kinds of birds. It depends on your goals with your flock as well as the time/money that you have available/willing to spend as to whether you might be better off with hatchery vs standard bred.
 
good morning my Texas neighbors
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woke up this morning to a bunch of chaos "what is all that racket?"....3 chicks have hatched and a bunch have pips....due date tomorrow

2 white leghorns and 1 favorelles so far
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