Where do you get heritage breed meat chickens from???

[Willow's Meadow]

A lot of the hatcheries don't have them. So where do you get heritage chickens from???

 

[treldib]

IIRC In meat chicken context, all breeds other than Cornish X and other broilers are classified as "Heritage Chickens".

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

although some people may refer to all breeds other that CX as heritage most do not ; "the term heritage breeds" has an accepted specific definition:

Heritage Chicken must adhere to all the following:

1. APA Standard Breed. Heritage Chicken must be from parent and grandparent stock of breeds recognized by the American Poultry Association (APA) prior to the mid-20th century; whose genetic line can be traced back multiple generations; and with traits that meet the APA Standard of Perfection guidelines for the breed. Heritage Chicken must be produced and sired by an APA Standard breed. Heritage eggs must be laid by an APA Standard breed.
http://www.albc-usa.org/heritagechicken/definition.html

To answer the OP's question; you buy them from breeders, just like you would any other purebred farm animal or pet.
You can find many of them here on the BYC. You can buy eggs and hatch your own, chicks, or even adult breeders. If you're looking for a specific breed just give us a holler and one of us cna probably point you in the right direction.
Good luck!

 

[Illia]

From breeders. Hatcheries do not offer heritage, dual purpose breeds. They offer diluted, production-type forms of the breed. For example, an Orpington is a heritage breed. . . Hatcheries only offer skinny, small, typical looking Orpingtons good for egg laying.

Good sources for Orpingtons include Hinkjc, Steve_of_sands_poultry, and a couple others I can't remember the names of

Good sources for Plymouth Rocks include kathyinmo and several others. She also has true, purebred, dual purpose New Hampshires, too.

There are also several dedicated Buckeye, Delaware, Sussex, and Chantecler breeders on here too. All really good heritage breeds, you just need to find a reputable source. The Heritage Large Fowl thread on the breeds/genetics section has a lot of dedicated breeders there, even people like Chris09 who breed and raise the rare Rose-combed Rhode Island Reds.

 

[95yj]

If your planning on keeping a sustained flock then definitely get them through a breeder, but if you want to just raise a single batch it won't hurt to get them through the hatchery since they'll all end up in the freezer anyway. Just my $0.02

 

[Baybrio]

I've raised the Cornish X from Welp, the colored meat chicks from JM Hatchery, my own mix chicks (Buckeye x Faverolle) and Chantecler from Ideal. Of course the Cornish X were the biggest etc. But I was really surprised that my male Chantecler grew just as quickly as the colored chicks from JM Hatchery. I did not raise them together so it could be that something kept the JM flock from reaching potential but I was still very pleased with the Chantecler.

You might also want to look into Myers Meat Chicks hatchery (not Meyers a bigger hatchery that sells many types of chicks). I have not ordered from Myers but they seem to have a few interesting meat bird selections.