13/09/2026
A little bit of honesty from behind the scenes of breeding poultry 🐣
Sometimes it’s really easy to feel like an imposter.
The market is absolutely flooded with fertile eggs, chicks and poultry, and sometimes I catch myself wondering what makes mine any different.
Then I remind myself of the years I’ve spent working on my breeding lines.
For me, breeding has never just been about putting a rooster with some hens and selling the eggs. I’ve spent years selecting birds, studying genetics, bringing in new bloodlines and, probably most importantly to me, breeding for temperament.
I want to produce big, beautiful, healthy birds that are also genuinely lovely to have around. My Brahmas and Pekins have also done incredibly well in poultry shows, which gives me confidence that I'm producing quality birds while still keeping temperament at the forefront.
And breeding definitely comes with lessons.
I regularly test fertility and do everything I can to give my eggs the best possible start, but fertile eggs will always be a gamble. Once an egg leaves here, there are so many factors involved — handling, transport, incubator conditions, development and sometimes simply Mother Nature and luck.
I've also learnt firsthand how much the decisions made before an egg is even laid matter.
I've purchased fertile eggs myself to introduce new genetics and received very small pullet eggs — some around half the size I would consider suitable for hatching. I've hatched birds from outside lines and seen a huge difference in their eventual size and temperament compared with the birds I've bred here.
If anything, those experiences have actually made me more confident in what I've spent years developing within my own flock.
There will always be someone with more birds, more colours, more eggs available or a bigger setup. And I think it's easy, particularly with social media, to look around and wonder whether you're "good enough" to call yourself a breeder.
But good breeding isn't about how many fertile eggs you can produce.
For me, it's about knowing your birds, being selective about what you breed from, constantly trying to improve your lines and caring about what those little chicks grow into. ❤️
So I suppose this is just a reminder — partly to myself — that imposter syndrome gets all of us sometimes.
I'll just keep doing what I've been doing: learning, improving and breeding birds I'm genuinely proud to put the Cluckin Poultry name behind. 🐥
