Incest????

I have one rooster whos father recently died. We have two of his sisters and his mother in addition to a couple of non-related hens. How do I prevent him from mating with his relatives? Will he want to? Do I need to re-home them or sahould I get another rooster?

In animals, it's 'linebreeding' not incest. Yes, he will want to, he's an animal...he doesn't differentiate between one hen & another (kin to him or not.) I personally would not fret about one generation being bred in, unless it is something that is really going to bother you, then if so, take him & put him w/the girls he is NOT related to & get another boy & put him w/the original Roo's family.
But, just so you know, in order for their to be consistency in breeds of chickens/ducks, etc, linebreeding/inbreeding/incest MUST occurr.
HTH,
Kristi

Yes I used to be worried about this too till I found out to keep a GOOD gene it is best to linebreed.
My roosters go over their mums quite often.

Hi Kristi

Thanks for your reply. The problem is that all our chickens (we only have about 10) live together and "free range" around our property thus it would be impossible to seperate them. I was hoping I could do it "naturally" and that it would be as simple as if I brougt in another rooster then he would no want to be with his mom and sisters.

There's nothing to do, really, to keep him off his kin. He can't tell they're related, and if he could, he wouldn't care.

One generation is okay, and oftentimes beneficial, even; it can help express good genes. But, beyond one generation is when nasty recessive stuff starts to rear its head. So I'd say that Dad to daughter is okay once, but don't let any more family blood into the line to avoid propegating anything bad.

You can even breed brother to sister for a couple of generations, is the general consensus. Breeding closely related birds intensifies traits, both good and bad. After awhile, sure, you do want to bring in new blood, but linebreeding is perfectly acceptable.

Making it a moral or 'ickiness' issue is just a human thing - chickens are chickens, and this is what chickens *do*, not a big deal.

As far as the practical effects of inbreeding go, the best way I've heard it put was something like this:

All individuals carry potentially deleterious recessive genes (note that recessive does not equal harmful - it's just that recessive genes are the only ones that can lurk 'hidden' in parents and surprise you in their offspring. Dominant, codominant etc traits are *easy* select against). Do you want to force your flock's 'bad' recessives to show themselves so that extensive culling can eventually get rid of them, or do you want to just keep the disadvantageous recessives hidden so the 'bad' trait seldom or never appears?

The first route is what show breeders do, as a rule. The second is what most other people do.

If you are concerned about inbreeding bringing out unwanted traits, it really does not take *much* outside blood to fix the problem - like, bringing in an un- or ditantly-related rooster every couple generations.

Summary: don't worry about it


Pat

I agree 100% with all that is here.

What hasn't been mention is that if you bring another rooster into the flock you may have a bloody fight on your hands. It is a risk you take if you decide to do so. The older they get the more aggressive they can be when it comes to mating the hens and marking their territory.

I wouldn't worry either... and if you worry that much, just don't hatch out their eggs.

Always been told nothing to worry about with inbreeding in chickens til 3rd or 4th generation for a backyard flock.....Just add a new rooster to your flock every few years....